Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, without the fog.

If your gross self-employment and property income is high enough, you have to keep digital records and send a quarterly update through software on HMRC's list. The MTD checker applies the three published tests to figures you type. This page is the explanation behind it.

The three start dates

HMRC looks at an earlier year's qualifying income, then tells you the following start date. "Over" means more than the figure, not equal to it.

• Qualifying income over £50,000 in 2024/25: use it from 6 April 2026.
• Qualifying income over £30,000 in 2025/26: use it from 6 April 2027.
• Qualifying income over £20,000 in 2026/27: use it from 6 April 2028.

Someone whose 2024/25 qualifying income was over £50,000 should already have been using it from 6 April 2026. HMRC writes when it thinks you are in. Not getting the letter does not remove the obligation. You still have to check.

What counts as qualifying income

It is the total, before expenses, of your self-employment turnover and your property income. GOV.UK's own illustration is £25,000 of rent plus £27,000 of self-employment, which is £52,000 and over the first line. More than one trade, or more than one property, is added together. Your share of a jointly owned property is the part that counts, not the whole rent if the other owner has the rest.

Employment income, dividends (including from your own company), the State Pension, private pensions, and your share of a partnership's profit are not qualifying income. A partnership's own Making Tax Digital timetable has not been set. Foreign property can count if you were UK resident and it belongs on the UK return. The qualifying-income guidance is the place to read the awkward cases: ceased businesses, bare trusts, and income that only existed for one year.

If you only traded for part of the year, HMRC may annualise sole-trader income. Its example is six months of trading, doubled. Property income is annualised by you. The checker on this site does not do that. It uses the numbers you type.

What you actually send

During the year the software adds up the digital records and sends totals for each income and expense category. That quarterly update is not a return and it is not a bill. For most people in 2026/27 the standard quarters, and the deadlines HMRC has published, are:

Some people can use calendar quarters instead (1 April to 30 June, and so on). The deadline dates do not move. After the fourth update you adjust anything the running totals cannot know: the trading allowance, expenses that are not allowable, capital allowances, and the accounting basis. You then still submit the tax return. For 2026/27, HMRC has said that return goes in from the software by 31 January 2028. The return for 2025/26, due 31 January 2027, is still the ordinary Self Assessment return.

There are no penalty points for missing a quarterly update in 2026/27. You still have to have sent them before you can file. Late returns and late payment keep their own penalties. From the following year, points apply: one point for a missed deadline, and a £200 penalty at four points, with another £200 each time after that. Points for VAT are a separate count.

Getting out, and not being in

If every self-employment and property source stopped before 6 April 2026, you do not need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Tell HMRC if their records still show the income, because they will otherwise sign you up from the last return. You still file for the year in which the income existed.

Once you have started, you can choose to opt out only after your qualifying income has been under the relevant threshold for three tax years in a row. One quiet year is not enough.

Exemptions exist, including for people who are digitally excluded. An exemption is applied for, or applied automatically from information HMRC already holds. This site cannot tell you that you have one. The exemption guidance is linked below. If you are exempt you still report the income, just not through the quarterly service.