Does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax apply to you?
HMRC is replacing the single annual Self Assessment return with four updates a year. Find out whether that includes you, and from when.
Three thresholds, three start dates
HMRC is not switching everyone over on the same day. If your gross self-employment and property income together came to more than the threshold in the tax year being tested, you start keeping digital records and sending quarterly updates from that April. Each wave tests one specific year rather than an average of recent ones, so in two cases out of three the year that decides your start date has already finished.
From 6 April 2026
£50,000
- Tested on
- 2024 to 2025
- First full year
- 2026 to 2027
From 6 April 2027
£30,000
- Tested on
- 2025 to 2026
- First full year
- 2027 to 2028
From 6 April 2028
£20,000
- Tested on
- 2026 to 2027
- First full year
- 2028 to 2029
Gross is the word to hold onto
Qualifying income adds up everything you bill from self-employment and any rental income, before a single receipt for stock, tools, van fuel or insurance is taken off. An electrician who invoices £42,000 and spends £9,000 keeping the van on the road and the toolbox stocked still has £42,000 of qualifying income, not £33,000. Run a rental alongside the trade and the two figures are simply added together and tested as one total.
Getting caught changes the shape of your year rather than what you owe. Each quarterly update rebuilds the whole year's figures from scratch rather than only covering the latest three months, so getting an early quarter wrong is fixed by sending truer numbers with the next one, not by filing a formal amendment.
Five filings instead of one
Four quarterly updates and a final declaration replace the one return you send today. The dates below are wave one's, for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Later waves follow the same pattern shifted by a year.
| Due | Period covered | Filing |
|---|---|---|
| 7 August 2026 | 6 April to 5 July | Quarterly update 1 |
| 7 November 2026 | 6 April to 5 October | Quarterly update 2 |
| 7 February 2027 | 6 April to 5 January | Quarterly update 3 |
| 7 May 2027 | 6 April to 5 April | Quarterly update 4 |
| 31 January 2028 | The whole tax year | Final declaration |
How QTRLY works
Record what you earn and spend as you go, and the quarterly figures are already sitting there when a deadline arrives rather than being reconstructed from a carrier bag of receipts. Your start date and every deadline are worked out from your own numbers and shown in advance. Once the HMRC connection is live, each update files straight from your records.
Who this is for
- Sole traders with self-employment income over the threshold.
- Landlords with property income over the threshold.
- Anyone running both a trade and a rental, tested together.
Not for
- Limited companies. They pay Corporation Tax, and Making Tax Digital for Income Tax never applies to a limited company.
- Partnerships, for now. They are in scope eventually, but HMRC has not set a start date yet.
Questions
I turned over £35,000 last year. Am I definitely caught?
Yes. HMRC's threshold is £30,000 of gross income, checked against your 2025 to 2026 tax year, so £35,000 puts you over it and you must start Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2027. It is the amount you billed before anything comes off, not your take-home profit, so £35,000 invoiced with £12,000 spent on stock, tools or the van is still £35,000 for this test.
Five separate filings a year sounds like a lot. Is that really right?
It is. One Self Assessment return becomes four quarterly updates plus a closing declaration once the tax year ends, five submissions in total. Each quarterly update covers everything since the start of the tax year, not just the latest three months, so if an earlier one had a mistake in it you just send truer numbers next time rather than filing a correction.
When exactly do the quarterly updates fall due?
7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, covering the three months up to 5 July, 5 October, 5 January and 5 April. You can ask to report on calendar quarters ending on month ends instead if that fits your bookkeeping better, but those four submission dates stay fixed either way.
I also do a bit of PAYE work. Does that push me over?
No, PAYE wages play no part in this. Only gross self-employment and property income is added up against the threshold, so a payslip job, dividends, savings interest, your State Pension, a private pension or a partnership profit share never count towards it. If you are self-employed on the side of a day job, it is only what the trade brings in that gets tested.
I work under CIS. Do I count the invoice or what actually hits my account?
The invoice, in full, before the contractor's CIS deduction comes off. Bill £40,000 in a year with 20% deducted at source and your qualifying income is still £40,000, not the £32,000 that actually reached your bank. The CIS tax already taken is dealt with separately, set against whatever you owe once your return is done.
If I use the income calculator on the homepage, does anyone see my numbers?
No one does. It runs on your own device and never leaves your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, logged, or kept once you close the tab.
Can I file to HMRC through QTRLY right now?
Not yet. QTRLY is in early access, and the first thing being built is somewhere to keep your records and get reminded before a deadline lands. Filing straight to HMRC comes next, and nothing reaches HMRC through us until that is ready and you have turned it on yourself.
Get ready before the quarterly filings start
QTRLY is in early access for sole traders and landlords. Create your account now and be ready before your start date.