For sole traders, self-employed individuals and landlords with gross annual incomes exceeding £50,000 from self-employment or property, you are now mandated to abide by Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax regulations.

Applied from 6 April 2026, these new responsibilities require those affected to provide quarterly updates of their income and expenses to HMRC.

The first date you need to mark in your calendar for quarterly update reporting in the 2026/27 tax year is 7 August 2026.

What do you need to provide by 7 August?

For this first submission, you will need to provide a summary of your income and allowable business expenses for the period 6 April to 5 July 2026.

This should include:

  • All sales or income received between 6 April and 5 July
  • A breakdown of your business expenses by category, such as travel, office costs, software, professional fees and other allowable costs
  • Any corrections to figures already entered in your software during the period

If your income has fallen, even if it is nil during the current period, you will still need to submit an update provided you earned £50,000 or more in the 2024/25 tax year.

Separate quarterly updates are required for each business or property rental. The quarterly updates will include the digital records for your self-employment and property income and expenses from the previous three months, together with those digital records already created since the 6 April and any corrections you have made to these.

The periods that your quarterly updates cover will make it easier for you to correct errors throughout the tax year, so there is no need to resend the original quarterly update after making a correction.

If you are not sure what information you need to provide, you can contact our team, who are happy to advise you.

How to submit your quarterly MTD update

The update must be sent using HMRC-recognised MTD-compatible software, either by you or an agent on your behalf.

This could be bookkeeping software such as Xero, QuickBooks, Sage Accounting or FreeAgent or a spreadsheet linked to HMRC-compliant bridging software.

Our team can help you find and onboard the software you feel most comfortable using.

If you are obligated to report your income under this first phase of MTD, making the switch sooner rather than later means you can get comfortable with the new process and avoid last‑minute stress before 7 August.

Speak to our team for help preparing for your first MTD quarterly update.