Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became a legal requirement on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords earning more than £50,000. The first real milestone has now arrived: your first quarterly update must reach HMRC by 7 August 2026. The good news is that it is a short summary, not a tax return, and with your records in order it takes minutes to send. Here is exactly what to do.
Who needs to send a quarterly update
If your combined qualifying income from self employment and property was more than £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year, you are within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax now and the 7 August deadline applies to you. HMRC reports that more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords have already signed up. The rules extend to those earning more than £30,000 from April 2027 and more than £20,000 from April 2028, so this affects most established business owners and landlords sooner or later. If you are unsure where you stand, our guide to the MTD deadlines and thresholds sets out the full timeline.
What a quarterly update actually is
A quarterly update is a simple summary of your income and expenses, added up by your software from your digital records. It uses the same income and expense categories as Self Assessment, and HMRC only receives the totals, never your individual invoices or receipts.
Three points reassure most of our clients. First, you make no accounting or tax adjustments before sending it. Second, each update is cumulative, covering the tax year to date, so any earlier mistake is simply corrected in your next update. Third, even a quiet quarter counts: if you had no income or expenses, you still send the update to tell HMRC.
Your annual tax return continues as normal. The quarterly update does not replace it, and your 2026/27 return and payment remain due by 31 January 2028. Filing habits that served you well still apply, and it always pays to complete your tax return early.
The deadlines for 2026/27
Most people use standard update periods that follow the tax year. The first covers 6 April to 5 July 2026 and is due by 7 August 2026. The remaining deadlines are 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. If your accounting period runs 1 April to 31 March you can choose calendar update periods instead, which makes record keeping simpler; the deadlines stay the same. Choose before you send your first update, because the choice is fixed for the tax year once an update goes in.
How to send yours in three steps
Step one, bring your records up to date in your MTD compatible software. If your bookkeeping has drifted over the summer, a short catch up session sorts it, and our bookkeeping team can tidy things quickly.
Step two, review the totals your software has prepared. It builds the update for you from your digital records, so this is a sense check rather than a form filling exercise.
Step three, press send. You can submit any time between the end of the update period and the deadline. Afterwards your software shows an estimate of your tax bill for the year so far, which is a genuinely useful planning tool ahead of January.
What happens if you miss the deadline
HMRC has confirmed there will be no penalty points for late quarterly updates during the whole 2026/27 tax year, so your first year is a safe space to get the routine right. You still need all four updates submitted before you can file your tax return, so it is worth building the habit now. From the 2027/28 tax year, each missed deadline earns a penalty point and four points trigger a £200 penalty.
Not signed up yet?
There is still time. You can sign up on GOV.UK, or we can sign you up as your agent and recommend software that fits how you work. Exemptions exist for people who are digitally excluded, and we can advise whether you qualify.
We make MTD simple
Our Making Tax Digital service takes the whole process off your plate: software set up, digital record keeping, quarterly updates submitted on time and your year end return handled by our team here in Oxfordshire. If your first update is looming and you would like a steady pair of hands, we are ready to help.
Staying on top of your quarterly figures is really about protecting your cash flow, and we explain why in why cash flow is the lifeblood of your business. We look after sole traders and landlords right across the county, including accountants in Witney and clients in and around Burford.