Making Tax Digital Deadlines 2026: Full MTD Timeline Guide

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is already live, and if you’ve missed the details, the short version is this: it started on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000, and it means four quarterly updates a year rather than one annual tax return. This guide sets out every making tax digital deadline you need, from the exact 7th of the month filing dates through to the penalty system that replaces the old late filing fines. It’s already in force for some, so if you’re above the threshold and haven’t signed up yet, this is worth reading properly rather than skimming.

Who has to use Making Tax Digital, and when

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for IT) applies to sole traders and landlords based on their gross qualifying income from self-employment and property, combined, before expenses. HMRC phases the requirement in gradually rather than switching everyone over at once:

• From 6 April 2026: qualifying income over £50,000 (based on your 2024/25 tax return)
• From 6 April 2027: qualifying income over £30,000 (based on your 2025/26 tax return)
• From 6 April 2028: qualifying income over £20,000 (based on your 2026/27 tax return)

That “qualifying income” figure matters, since it’s your gross turnover, not your profit. A sole trader invoicing £55,000 a year with £40,000 of expenses still has qualifying income of £55,000, well above the current threshold, even though their actual taxable profit is much lower.

If you run two sole trader businesses or have rental income alongside self-employment, HMRC adds these together to determine whether you cross the threshold. Employment income, dividends, savings interest and pension income don’t count toward qualifying income at all; only self-employment and property income are counted.

Partnerships and limited companies aren’t currently in scope for MTD for Income Tax, and HMRC hasn’t given a firm date for bringing them in.

MTD for Income Tax 2026: what actually changed on 6 April

For the roughly 900,000 sole traders and landlords who crossed the £50,000 threshold, the annual Self Assessment return was replaced by a new five-submission cycle: four quarterly updates plus one final declaration. This is the biggest change to income tax reporting since Self Assessment itself began, and it’s worth understanding the shift properly rather than treating it as a rebrand of the old system.

Each quarterly update is a running summary of your income and expenses, submitted through MTD-compatible software rather than HMRC’s website or a paper form. Crucially, these are cumulative: your second quarterly update covers the whole tax year to date, not just the most recent three months, so an error in an earlier quarter simply gets corrected in the next one rather than needing a separate amendment.

Quarterly updates aren’t final tax calculations. They give HMRC a running picture of your position, but your actual tax bill is still worked out at year-end through the final declaration, in exactly the same way your old Self Assessment return worked it out once a year.

MTD quarterly update deadlines: the exact dates

This is the part everyone actually needs pinned down. Under the standard quarters, which HMRC applies by default unless you actively choose otherwise, the periods and deadlines run as follows:

So for the 2026/27 tax year, someone brought into MTD from April 2026 would have quarterly deadlines of 7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027, with the final declaration due by 31 January 2028.

If tax year quarters don’t suit how you already keep records, particularly if you’re also VAT-registered and used to reporting on calendar months, you can elect for calendar quarters instead: periods running 1 April to 30 June, 1 July to 30 September, 1 October to 31 December and 1 January to 31 March. You have to choose this in your software before your first update of the tax year, and once you’ve submitted under one system you can’t switch mid-year. The filing deadlines themselves, the 7th of the following month, stay the same either way; only the period boundaries shift.

The final declaration: still due 31 January

After your fourth quarterly update, you complete a final declaration, which brings together your quarterly figures, corrects any estimates, and adds any other income (dividends, savings, pension income and so on) that quarterly updates don’t cover. This replaces what used to be your annual Self Assessment return.

The deadline hasn’t changed from the old system: 31 January following the end of the tax year. For 2026/27, that’s 31 January 2028. Any tax you owe is also due by that date, exactly as it was under Self Assessment. All four quarterly updates must be submitted before you can file the final declaration, so leaving one outstanding blocks your year-end filing entirely.

Making Tax Digital thresholds: the phased rollout in full

It’s worth being precise about how the three-phase rollout actually works, since the thresholds are based on a lookback year, not your current income.

Your qualifying income for a given tax year is checked against your tax return from two years earlier. So whether you’re mandated from April 2026 depends on your 2024/25 tax return figures, not what you’re earning right now. If your income later drops below the threshold that brought you in, you don’t get to leave MTD; once you’re mandated, you stay in, according to HMRC’s guidance.

One detail that catches people out: the £20,000 threshold planned for April 2028 was announced at a fiscal event but, as of this update, legislation confirming it is still working through Parliament. It’s reasonable to expect it to proceed, but if you’re right on the edge of that lower threshold, keep an eye on confirmation rather than assuming it’s fixed in stone a year and a half out.

MTD ITSA software: what you’ll actually need

You can’t file quarterly updates or your final declaration through HMRC’s website or on paper anymore once you’re within MTD. The thing you need is MTD-compatible software, and HMRC maintains a list of recognised products on GOV.UK rather than approving a single official tool.

You don’t necessarily need full accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks if your bookkeeping is simple. Bridging software lets you keep records in a spreadsheet and connect it to HMRC’s systems purely for submission purposes, which suits people with straightforward affairs who don’t want to change how they already keep records. If you use an accountant, they can hold and submit your records on your behalf using their own compatible software, and in that case you don’t need to interact with any software directly yourself.

Whichever route you choose, check directly with the software provider that it covers what you need, since not every product on HMRC’s list supports every situation, particularly around property income or multiple businesses.

Signing up for MTD: HMRC won’t do it for you

This is genuinely easy to miss, and it’s different from how MTD for VAT worked. With VAT, HMRC automatically signed up all remaining eligible businesses. With Income Tax, HMRC will not automatically enrol you, even once you’ve crossed the qualifying income threshold, according to HMRC’s own guidance.

If your income reaches one of the thresholds, HMRC will contact you to confirm you need to prepare, but signing up is still something you or your agent have to actively do. If you have an accountant, they can sign you up on your behalf using their agent services account, but they need your authorisation first, and it has to be done client by client rather than in bulk.

Leaving sign-up until close to your first quarterly deadline is a genuinely bad idea, since you’ll also need compatible software set up and tested before you can file anything. It’s worth treating sign-up as its own task with its own deadline, well ahead of your first quarter’s 7th of the month filing date.

Penalties: the points-based system

Making Tax Digital brings a points-based penalty system for late submissions, replacing the old flat £100 fine that used to apply the moment a Self Assessment return was even one day late. This system already applies to MTD for VAT, and it now covers MTD for Income Tax too.

Here’s how it works. Each time you miss a quarterly update or final declaration deadline, you receive one penalty point. It doesn’t matter whether the submission is a day late or three months late; the point is the same either way. Once you accumulate four points, which is the threshold for quarterly filers, HMRC issues a fixed £200 penalty. After that, every further late submission also triggers another £200 charge, for as long as you remain at the threshold.

Points below the threshold expire automatically after 24 months. If you’ve already reached four points and paid the £200 penalty, clearing your record takes more: you need 12 consecutive months of on-time submissions, and you must have all your outstanding submissions from the preceding 24 months filed, according to HMRC’s penalty guidance.

There’s an important first-year concession worth knowing. For the 2026/27 tax year specifically, HMRC confirmed a soft landing: no penalty points are being issued for late quarterly updates during this first year for those brought in from April 2026, according to HMRC’s guidance and Autumn Budget 2025 confirmation. This doesn’t cover the final declaration, though, so the usual points system still applies if that’s filed late, and it’s a one-year concession rather than a permanent grace period for quarterly filing.

Late payment penalties run separately from the points system and apply on a percentage basis the longer tax remains unpaid, on top of ordinary interest.

Exemptions: who doesn’t have to comply

Not everyone above the income thresholds is required to use MTD. HMRC recognises two broad categories of exemption.

Automatic exemptions don’t require you to apply; HMRC applies them based on information it already holds. These include trustees or personal representatives filing a return for someone who’s died, people without a National Insurance number by the relevant date, and Lloyd’s members for their underwriting income specifically.

Exemptions you need to apply for cover situations HMRC can’t determine automatically, mainly digital exclusion. You may qualify if your age, a health condition or disability genuinely stops you using a computer, tablet or smartphone for record-keeping, if you’re a practising member of a religious society whose beliefs are incompatible with digital communication, or if you can’t get reliable internet access at your home, business or any suitable alternative location.

HMRC applies a strict interpretation here. Simply preferring paper records, being unfamiliar with software, or the cost and hassle of switching are not accepted grounds on their own, according to GOV.UK’s exemption guidance. If you think you qualify, apply well ahead of your relevant start date; HMRC aims to process applications within 28 days, but recommends continuing to prepare for MTD in case the application isn’t accepted.

If exempt, you don’t disappear from the tax system entirely; you continue filing a standard Self Assessment return each year, exactly as before.

FAQs

When did Making Tax Digital for Income Tax start? 

MTD for Income Tax began on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000, based on their 2024/25 tax return figures. It’s already in force for that group, with further groups joining in April 2027 and April 2028.

What are the MTD quarterly update deadlines? 

Under standard tax year quarters, the deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May each year, covering periods running from 6 April onward. If you elect for calendar quarters instead, the deadlines shift to align with calendar months, but the 7th of the month filing rule stays the same.

What income threshold applies for Making Tax Digital in 2026? 

The threshold for the first phase, starting 6 April 2026, is qualifying income over £50,000 from self-employment and property combined, based on your 2024/25 tax return. This drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and £20,000 from April 2028.

Do I need to sign up for MTD myself, or does HMRC do it automatically? 

You or your agent must actively sign up; HMRC does not automatically enrol taxpayers into Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, unlike MTD for VAT. HMRC will contact you to confirm you’re likely required to join, but sign-up itself remains something you need to complete yourself.

What happens if I miss a quarterly update deadline? 

You’ll receive one penalty point, and reaching four points triggers a fixed £200 penalty, with a further £200 for each subsequent late submission. For the 2026/27 tax year specifically, HMRC has confirmed no penalty points apply for late quarterly updates during this first year, though this concession doesn’t cover the final declaration.

Can I be exempt from Making Tax Digital? 

Yes, exemptions exist for certain automatic circumstances, such as trustees filing for someone who’s died, and for digital exclusion, where age, disability, location or religious belief genuinely prevent digital record-keeping. Digital exclusion exemptions must be applied for and are assessed by HMRC on a case-by-case basis.

Do I still need to pay my tax by 31 January under MTD? 

Yes, the final declaration and any tax owed are both still due by 31 January following the end of the tax year, exactly as under the old Self Assessment system. MTD changes how you report throughout the year, not when your tax bill itself is due.

What software do I need for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax? 

You need software recognised by HMRC as MTD-compatible, which ranges from full accounting packages like Xero and QuickBooks to simpler bridging software that connects a spreadsheet to HMRC’s systems. HMRC maintains a list of compatible software on GOV.UK, and it’s worth confirming with any provider that it covers your specific situation before relying on it.