Making Tax Digital
Checker UK 2026-27
Check whether Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to you, from which date, and when your next quarterly update is due. The threshold is measured on gross turnover before expenses — not profit — which is why so many landlords and sole traders are in scope without realising it. From September 2026 HMRC has started signing up people who should have joined in April and did not.
Read the full answer — method, rates and figures
Quick answer: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords whose QUALIFYING INCOME is more than the threshold for the relevant year. Qualifying income is GROSS income before expenses — self-employment turnover plus UK and foreign property income added together, taken from the Self Assessment return filed for the previous tax year.
It is not profit. Employment (PAYE) income, partnership profit shares, dividends, savings interest and pensions do not count.
Thresholds are phased: more than £50,000 on the 2024-25 return means mandation from 6 April 2026; more than £30,000 on the 2025-26 return means 6 April 2027; more than £20,000 on the 2026-27 return means 6 April 2028. The first quarterly update for those mandated in April 2026 covered 6 April to 5 July 2026 and was due 7 August 2026 — that deadline has PASSED, and the next one is 7 NOVEMBER 2026, followed by 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027; deadlines are unchanged if you elect calendar quarters.
HMRC said on 23 July 2026 that more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords were in scope. FROM SEPTEMBER 2026 HMRC SIGNS UP ANYONE WHO SHOULD BE USING MTD FOR 2026-27 AND HAS NOT SIGNED THEMSELVES UP — but sign-up is not compliance: HMRC uses only the information it already holds, and you must still choose compatible software and send any missed quarterly updates for the year so far.
Quarterly updates are cumulative year-to-date summaries, not tax returns: a final declaration and payment are still due by 31 January. For 2026-27 only, HMRC has confirmed no late-submission penalty points for late quarterly updates, but that soft landing does not cover the final declaration and does not affect late-payment penalties or interest; from 2027-28 four points trigger a £200 penalty.
Sources: The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/336); GOV.UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax guidance; GOV.UK “Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”; GOV.UK press release 23 July 2026.
HMRC checks your qualifying income against the return you filed for the previous tax year.
Jointly owned? Enter only your share of the rent, not the whole property’s.
Counts if you are UK tax resident.
Excluded from the test — none of this income counts towards the MTD threshold.
Not part of the test — entered only to show the gap between your turnover and your profit.
Qualifying income (gross, before expenses)
£56,000
Tested against the £50,000 threshold for the 2024-25 return.
In scope — Making Tax Digital applies from 6 April 2026
- • Over the threshold by £6,000
- • First quarterly update for this phase: 7 August 2026
- • Covering the 2026-27 tax year; final declaration due 31 January 2028
Your profit is below the threshold — you are still in scope
Turnover £56,000 is over £50,000, but after £21,000 of expenses your profit is £35,000. MTD is mandated on gross qualifying income, so the profit figure does not get you out. This is the most common reason people believe the rules do not apply to them.
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Making Tax Digital
Applies from 6 April 2026
Qualifying income
£56,000
Your profit
£35,000
Threshold
£50,000
Quarterly update deadlines — 2026-27
Electing calendar quarters changes the period covered, not the date it is due.
| Standard period | Calendar option | Due |
|---|---|---|
| 6 Apr 2026 – 5 Jul 2026 | 1 Apr 2026 – 30 Jun 2026 | 7 August 2026 |
| 6 Jul 2026 – 5 Oct 2026 | 1 Jul 2026 – 30 Sep 2026 | 7 November 2026 |
| 6 Oct 2026 – 5 Jan 2027 | 1 Oct 2026 – 31 Dec 2026 | 7 February 2027 |
| 6 Jan 2027 – 5 Apr 2027 | 1 Jan 2027 – 31 Mar 2027 | 7 May 2027 |
| Final declaration + balancing payment | 31 January 2028 | |
Who has to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
Sole traders and landlords registered for Self Assessment whose qualifying income is more than the threshold for the relevant year. Qualifying income is gross income before expenses — self-employment turnover plus UK and foreign property income, added together across every source, taken from the Self Assessment return you filed for the previous tax year. More than £50,000 on the 2024-25 return meant joining on 6 April 2026; the threshold falls to £30,000 on the 2025-26 return for a 6 April 2027 start, and £20,000 on the 2026-27 return for 6 April 2028. Because each phase is tested against a return you have usually already submitted, you can normally tell a year ahead whether you are in. HMRC also checks it for you and writes to those it believes are in scope, but the letter is a notification, not the trigger — the obligation follows from the figures on the return.
Is HMRC signing people up to Making Tax Digital automatically?
Yes, and it has started. GOV.UK states: “From September 2026, HMRC will start to sign up anyone who needs to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and has not signed themselves up.” That means sole traders and landlords whose 2024-25 Self Assessment return showed qualifying income above £50,000 and who did not join when mandation began on 6 April 2026. The distinction worth holding on to is between registration and compliance, because they are not the same thing. HMRC’s guidance is explicit that “you’ll need to use software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax to send any missed quarterly updates for the year so far” — being signed up does not choose your software, build your digital records, or file anything on your behalf. It also warns that “when HMRC signs you up, we use only the information we already hold about you”, which “may not include any changes to your circumstances since you last submitted a tax return”. Signing up yourself is the better route for that reason: you keep the software choice and can correct your details before the 7 November 2026 update falls due. Source: GOV.UK, “Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”, read 4 September 2026.
Is the threshold based on profit or turnover?
Turnover, and this is where most of the confusion sits. HMRC’s guidance is explicit that qualifying income is the amount before expenses. A landlord collecting £62,000 in rent whose mortgage interest, letting fees and repairs leave £28,000 of profit is over the £50,000 line and was mandated from 6 April 2026, despite a profit barely half the threshold. It cuts the other way too: a consultant billing £45,000 with almost no costs is not in scope, even though their taxable profit is higher than the landlord’s. The rule also aggregates — you cannot keep two £30,000 trades separate, because turnover from every self-employment and every property is added together. The one number that matters is the sum of your gross figures.
Which income is excluded from the test?
Employment income taxed through PAYE, your share of profit from a partnership as an individual partner, dividends, savings interest, the State Pension and private pensions, UK REIT and PAIF distributions, and income covered by qualifying care relief. None of it counts, however large. A partner drawing £200,000 of profit share who also lets a flat for £10,000 a year has qualifying income of £10,000 — partnerships have not been brought into MTD for Income Tax at all, and a date for them has not been set. An employee on £80,000 with £22,000 of rental income is tested on the £22,000 alone. Foreign property income does count if you are UK tax resident, and jointly-owned property counts at your share of the rent rather than the property’s total.
What is due at each quarterly update?
A summary of income and expense totals from your digital records, sent from MTD-compatible software — not a tax return, not a tax calculation, and not a payment. Businesses with turnover under £90,000 can report consolidated totals rather than a category breakdown. Updates are cumulative: every submission restates the year to date, so a mistake in one quarter is fixed by sending corrected figures in the next rather than by amending anything, and a missed update is absorbed by the one that follows it. For those mandated on 6 April 2026 the first update covered 6 April to 5 July 2026 and was due 7 August 2026; the next falls due 7 November 2026, then 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Those dates do not move if you elect calendar quarters — the election changes the period end from 5 July to 30 June, not the due date. The Self Assessment return has not gone anywhere: a final declaration and payment for 2026-27 are still due by 31 January 2028.
What happens if you miss a quarterly update?
For the 2026-27 tax year HMRC has confirmed a soft landing — no late-submission penalty points are issued for late quarterly updates, for those making a genuine attempt to comply. It is worth being precise about how narrow that is, because the concession is easy to over-read. It covers quarterly updates only: the final declaration for 2026-27 still carries points. It applies to 2026-27 only, so anyone joining from April 2027 on the £30,000 threshold gets no equivalent. And it is not a payment concession — the late-payment penalty regime and interest run as normal, which for most people is the expensive part. From 2027-28 the points system applies in full: one point per missed deadline, a £200 penalty once you reach four points, and a further £200 for each subsequent miss while you remain at the threshold. Quarterly updates must also be submitted before the tax return can be filed, so a skipped quarter becomes a blocker in January regardless of penalties.
Assumptions and limits of this checker
Stated so you can judge the output. (1) It tests qualifying income against the published thresholds and returns the mandation date and deadlines that follow — it does not assess exemptions, which are decided by HMRC on application. (2) It assumes the figures you enter are gross amounts from the relevant Self Assessment return; if you enter profit rather than turnover the verdict will be wrong in your favour, which is the failure mode worth avoiding. (3) The expenses input plays no part in the test and exists only to show the turnover-versus-profit gap. (4) It does not cover partnerships, trusts, or companies, none of which are in MTD for Income Tax. (5) It assumes UK tax residence for the foreign property input. (6) The penalty position reflects HMRC’s confirmed 2026-27 soft landing for quarterly updates; penalties are ultimately assessed by HMRC. This is general information, not tax advice — check your own position with HMRC or an adviser.
Sources
- The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/336) — quarterly update periods, the calendar-quarter election, and the 7 August / 7 November / 7 February / 7 May update dates.
- GOV.UK — “Check if you’re eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”: phased thresholds of £50,000 (2024-25 return), £30,000 (2025-26) and £20,000 (2026-27).
- GOV.UK — “Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”: qualifying income is gross turnover before expenses; excluded sources listed.
- GOV.UK press release — “Deadline approaches for first Making Tax Digital quarterly update”, 23 July 2026: 7 August 2026 deadline, more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords in scope.
- GOV.UK — “Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax” (read 4 September 2026): the September 2026 automatic sign-up, the requirement to send missed quarterly updates yourself, and the warning that HMRC uses only the information it already holds.
- GOV.UK — “Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords: step by step” (read 4 September 2026): automatic sign-up applies to those whose 2024-25 qualifying income was above £50,000.
- GOV.UK — “Find out if you can get an exemption from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax” and the digital-exclusion application guidance.
- HMRC Making Tax Digital for Income Tax service guide (developer.service.hmrc.gov.uk) — cumulative year-to-date updates and the under-£90,000 consolidated-expenses option.
Last updated: 4 September 2026 — HMRC’s September automatic sign-up added; deadlines re-stated from 7 August 2026 to the next update on 7 November 2026.
This checker is general educational information only — it is not tax, legal or financial advice and does not consider your circumstances. Confirm your Making Tax Digital position with HMRC or a qualified adviser before relying on it.
Last reviewed 10 October 2026 by the Richify AI agent team.
Reviewed by Felix, Richify's AI CFO — an AI author, presented as one.
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Get Richify — It’s FreeHow it works
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax replaces the once-a-year Self Assessment rhythm with quarterly updates sent from software. Whether it applies to you turns on one number:
- Qualifying income — gross self-employment turnover plus gross property income, added together across every source, taken from the Self Assessment return you filed for the previous tax year. Before expenses.
- The phased thresholds — more than £50,000 on the 2024-25 return meant joining on 6 April 2026; more than £30,000 on the 2025-26 return means 6 April 2027; more than £20,000 on the 2026-27 return means 6 April 2028.
- Four quarterly updates — due 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Cumulative year-to-date totals, not four separate returns.
- The tax return survives — a final declaration and payment are still due by 31 January, exactly as now.
Income that does not count: employment (PAYE), partnership profit shares, dividends, savings interest, State and private pensions, REIT and PAIF income, and qualifying care relief. Source: GOV.UK Making Tax Digital for Income Tax guidance and The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026.
How to use this calculator
- Pick the Self Assessment return your figures come from. HMRC tests your qualifying income against the return you filed for the previous tax year — the 2024-25 return decides whether you were mandated from 6 April 2026.
- Enter GROSS self-employment turnover and GROSS property income — the figures before any expenses. This is the step most people get wrong: MTD thresholds are turnover, not profit.
- Enter your share only for jointly-owned property, and include foreign property if you are UK tax resident.
- Add your employment, partnership, dividend and pension income in the excluded box. Nothing there counts towards the threshold — it is shown so you can see it being left out.
- Read your verdict: whether you are in scope, from which date, and the deadline for your first quarterly update. If you are close to a threshold, check the headroom figure before the next tax year.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
Will HMRC sign me up to Making Tax Digital automatically?
Yes, if you should already be in it. GOV.UK states: “From September 2026, HMRC will start to sign up anyone who needs to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and has not signed themselves up.” That means sole traders and landlords whose 2024-25 return showed qualifying income above £50,000 and who did not join by 6 April 2026.
Being signed up is not the same as being compliant, and the distinction is the whole point: HMRC does not choose your software, does not create your digital records, and does not file for you. Its own guidance says you will still need compatible software “to send any missed quarterly updates for the year so far”.
Signing yourself up first is better than waiting, because HMRC uses only the information it already holds — which may pre-date changes to your circumstances.
Is the £50,000 MTD threshold based on profit or turnover?
Turnover. HMRC calls it qualifying income and defines it as your gross income before expenses, taken from the Self Assessment return you filed for the previous tax year.
A landlord receiving £62,000 in rent with £28,000 of profit after mortgage interest, letting fees and repairs is over the £50,000 threshold and was mandated from 6 April 2026. This is the single most common misreading of the rules, and it works in both directions: someone with high turnover and thin margins is in scope, while a consultant with £45,000 of fees and almost no costs is not.
When is the next Making Tax Digital quarterly update due?
For anyone mandated from 6 April 2026, the next deadline is 7 November 2026, covering the quarter to 5 October 2026 — or to 30 September if you elected calendar quarters. The first update was due on 7 August 2026, covering 6 April to 5 July 2026; HMRC said on 23 July 2026 that more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords were in scope for it.
The remaining deadlines for 2026-27 are 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Deadlines do not move if you elect calendar quarters — the election changes the period covered, not the date it is due.
Because updates are cumulative, a missed first update is not filed separately: the November submission restates the year to date and brings you up to date in one go.
What income does not count towards the MTD threshold?
Employment (PAYE) income, your share of profit from a partnership as an individual partner, dividends, savings interest, the State Pension and private pensions, UK REIT and PAIF income, and income covered by qualifying care relief. Only self-employment turnover, UK property income, foreign property income and certain investment management fees count.
A partner in a partnership with £200,000 of profit share and £10,000 of rent has qualifying income of £10,000, not £210,000 — partnerships are not yet in MTD at all.
Do I still have to file a Self Assessment tax return?
Yes. Quarterly updates do not replace the tax return and they are not a tax bill.
They are summary totals of income and expenses sent from your records, and they are cumulative — each one restates the year to date, so an error in one quarter is corrected simply by sending the right figures in the next. At the end of the year you still make a final declaration and pay by 31 January as before.
For the 2026-27 tax year that final deadline is 31 January 2028.
What happens if you missed the first quarterly update deadline?
For the 2026-27 tax year only, HMRC has confirmed a soft landing: no late-submission penalty points are issued for late quarterly updates where you are making a genuine attempt to comply. That concession is narrower than it sounds.
It does not cover the final declaration, which still attracts points; it does not apply to anyone brought into MTD from April 2027 onwards; and it is not a late-payment concession — late-payment penalties and interest are charged as normal. From 2027-28 the full points regime applies: one point per missed deadline, and a £200 penalty at four points, with a further £200 for each subsequent miss while at the threshold.
Can I get an exemption from Making Tax Digital?
Some exemptions are automatic and need no application: qualifying income below the threshold, trustees and personal representatives filing for someone who has died, people without a National Insurance number on the 31 January before the tax year starts, and Lloyd's members for their underwriting business. Beyond that you can apply on the grounds of digital exclusion — where using digital tools is not reasonably practicable because of age, disability or location, or where you are a practising member of a religious society whose beliefs are incompatible with electronic record-keeping.
Lack of confidence with technology, the cost of software, or a preference for paper are not usually accepted, and nor is simply having very few transactions.
The threshold drops to £30,000 and £20,000 — when does that affect me?
If your 2025-26 return shows qualifying income above £30,000 you join from 6 April 2027, with a first quarterly update due 7 August 2027. If your 2026-27 return shows qualifying income above £20,000 you join from 6 April 2028, first update due 7 August 2028.
Because each phase is tested against a return you have usually already filed, you can normally know a year in advance — which is the point of checking headroom now rather than waiting for HMRC to write to you.
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Further Reading
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