HMRC’s Making Tax Digital programme is already live — and if your gross income from self-employment or property exceeds the qualifying threshold, your obligation to file quarterly digital updates with HMRC is either here or fast approaching. At Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants, we take the complexity out of MTD completely. From your initial eligibility assessment and HMRC registration through to software setup, quarterly submissions, and your year-end final declaration, our specialist MTD accountants in London manage every step on your behalf — so you can focus on running your business, not stressing about HMRC deadlines.
Making Tax Digital is the UK Government’s most significant reform of the tax system in a generation. Introduced by HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC), MTD moves away from a single annual tax return and replaces it with a system of quarterly digital updates submitted via HMRC-approved software, followed by a year-end final declaration to confirm your final tax position.
The programme launched with MTD for VAT, which became mandatory for all VAT-registered businesses in April 2022 regardless of turnover. It is now expanding into MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA), which applies to self-employed individuals and landlords once their combined qualifying gross income exceeds the HMRC threshold — with the first mandatory wave from 6 April 2026.
Important: HMRC calculates your MTD eligibility on your gross income before expenses — not your taxable profit. This catches many business owners off guard. If you are unsure whether MTD applies to you, speak to our team today for a free eligibility check.
All business income and expenses must be recorded in real time using HMRC-compatible software throughout the year. Paper records alone are no longer sufficient.
Instead of one annual return, you submit a summary of income and expenses to HMRC every three months. These are mandatory under MTD for ITSA — missing one earns you a penalty point.
Once all four quarterly updates are submitted, you confirm and finalise your tax position through a single digital declaration, due by 31 January each year.
MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment affects a wide range of individuals and businesses across the UK. You must comply if your qualifying gross income from self-employment and UK property combined exceeds the HMRC threshold for your mandation year. MTD for VAT already applies to every VAT-registered business, regardless of turnover.
MTD for ITSA currently applies to:
☉ Sole traders and self-employed individuals
☉ Freelancers, consultants, and gig economy workers
☉ Landlords with rental income from residential or commercial property
☉ Buy-to-let property investors and holiday let owners
☉ Online sellers, eBay traders, and e-commerce businesses
☉ Contractors and CIS workers with self-employment income
☉ GPs, locum doctors, dentists, and other healthcare professionals
☉ Architects, surveyors, and other self-employed professionals
☉ Individuals with mixed income from both self-employment and property
☉ Creatives, artists, tutors, and influencers with trading income
MTD for VAT: Already mandatory since April 2022 for every VAT-registered business in the UK. If you are VAT-registered and not yet filing through HMRC-approved software, you are already non-compliant — contact us immediately.
Understanding your exact MTD mandation date is essential. Missing a registration deadline or quarterly filing can trigger penalty points, financial penalties, and HMRC interest charges. Below is the complete MTD timeline:
Date | MTD Milestone | Who It Affects |
April 2022 | MTD for VAT — Already Mandatory | All VAT-registered businesses, any turnover |
6 April 2026 | MTD for ITSA — Phase 1 | Sole traders & landlords with gross income over £50,000 |
7 August 2026 | First Quarterly Update Due | Q1 (6 Apr–5 Jul 2026) deadline for Phase 1 |
31 Jan 2027 | Year-End Final Declaration | First MTD final declaration + last traditional Self Assessment |
6 April 2027 | MTD for ITSA — Phase 2 | Gross income over £30,000 from 2025/26 |
6 April 2028 | MTD for ITSA — Phase 3 | Gross income over £20,000 — majority of self-employed |
MTD for VAT: Already mandatory since April 2022 for every VAT-registered business in the UK. If you are VAT-registered and not yet filing through HMRC-approved software, you are already non-compliant — contact us immediately.
Under MTD for ITSA, your annual Self Assessment return is replaced by four quarterly updates plus a final year-end declaration. The standard quarterly deadlines for the 2026/27 tax year are:
Quarter | Period Covered | Submission Deadline | Notes |
Q1 | 6 Apr – 5 Jul 2026 | 7 August 2026 | First ever MTD quarterly filing |
Q2 | 6 Jul – 5 Oct 2026 | 7 November 2026 |
|
Q3 | 6 Oct – 5 Jan 2027 | 7 February 2027 |
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Q4 | 6 Jan – 5 Apr 2027 | 7 May 2027 |
|
Final | Full Year 2026/27 | 31 January 2028 | Year-End Declaration |
Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants provides a full, end-to-end Making Tax Digital service for sole traders, landlords, freelancers, partnerships, and small businesses across London and the UK. Whether you need help with MTD for VAT, MTD for ITSA, software setup, HMRC registration, quarterly submissions, or your year-end final declaration — we handle everything so you never have to deal with HMRC alone.
Before anything else, we assess your full income position — self-employment earnings, rental income, and any other qualifying sources — to confirm whether and when MTD applies to you. We then manage your HMRC registration from start to finish, ensuring you are enrolled on the correct mandation date with the right income sources declared. Getting this right from the outset protects you from backdated penalties.
If your business is VAT-registered, MTD for VAT applies to you right now. Our team manages your complete VAT compliance cycle — setting up HMRC-approved VAT software, maintaining your digital VAT records, preparing your VAT return figures, and submitting them to HMRC on time, every quarter. We also advise on VAT schemes, partial exemption, and the most tax-efficient VAT position for your business.
Our specialist MTD for ITSA service is comprehensive. We manage your digital record-keeping throughout the year, prepare and submit all four quarterly updates to HMRC, and handle your year-end final declaration — all through MTD-compatible software. We also reconcile your records, maximise allowable expenses, and ensure your tax position is as efficient as possible before every submission.
We are certified partners of Xero, QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent, and Sage — and we work with the full range of HMRC-approved platforms, including bridging software for clients who prefer to keep using spreadsheets. We set up your software, connect it to HMRC, migrate your existing records, and provide hands-on training. Our team is always on hand if you ever have a question about your software or a submission.
You do not need to track four deadlines a year or worry about what to submit — we do all of that for you. Our team prepares each quarterly update from your digital records, reviews the figures carefully, and submits them to HMRC on time. After each submission, we send you a clear summary along with an updated estimate of your likely tax liability for the year — so you can plan your cash flow and budget for your tax bill well in advance.
HMRC requires digital records to be maintained throughout the year — not put together retrospectively at year end. Our cloud bookkeeping service ensures your income and expenses are recorded accurately in real time using MTD-compatible software. We offer flexible arrangements — whether you want to manage day-to-day recording yourself with our guidance, or prefer to hand the whole thing to our team.
Landlords with combined rental and self-employment income above the HMRC threshold are directly in scope of MTD for ITSA. Our dedicated landlord MTD service covers rental income tracking, property expense recording, mortgage interest reconciliation, letting agent fee management, and all quarterly submissions — plus wider tax planning including capital gains tax advice for property disposals.
Not everyone is required to join MTD. HMRC provides exemptions for individuals unable to use digital tools due to disability, age, or health conditions, or those in locations without reliable internet access. If you believe you may qualify, our team will assess your eligibility, prepare the exemption application, and manage all communication with HMRC on your behalf.
Making Tax Digital is not simply a bureaucratic box-ticking exercise — it represents a fundamental shift in how UK taxpayers interact with HMRC, and it brings with it both compliance obligations and genuine practical benefits for your business finances. The UK Government introduced MTD to close an estimated £8.5 billion annual tax gap caused by avoidable errors and omissions. By moving to real-time quarterly digital submissions, HMRC gains a live view of UK income — reducing inaccuracies and improving compliance across the board.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is established in law under Sections 60–62 and Schedule 14 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2017, with detailed technical requirements set out in the Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021 as subsequently amended. Under HMRC’s official guidance, individuals within scope of MTD are required to:
HMRC has confirmed it does not currently intend to introduce Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax. Limited companies filing corporation tax are not directly affected by the current MTD programme — though VAT-registered companies must comply with MTD for VAT.
Our structured onboarding process is designed to make your transition to Making Tax Digital as straightforward and stress-free as possible, whether you are new to MTD or moving across from another accountant.
We review your full income position, confirm your qualifying gross income, determine your mandation date, and explain exactly what MTD means for your specific circumstances — in plain English, with no jargon. This initial consultation is completely free and comes with no obligation.
We assess your needs, recommend the most appropriate and cost-effective MTD-compatible software, and handle the complete setup on your behalf — including connecting your software to HMRC's systems via the official API. If you already use accounting software, we review whether it is MTD-compliant and upgrade it if necessary.
We complete your MTD registration with HMRC, ensuring you are enrolled on the correct mandation date with the right income sources and business details on record. We also ensure your agent authorisation is in place so we can file on your behalf throughout the year.
We migrate your existing financial records into your new digital system, establish your chart of accounts, and set up the bookkeeping processes that will keep your records clean, accurate, and fully HMRC-compliant throughout every tax year going forward.
Each quarter, we prepare your income and expense summary from your digital records, review the figures, and submit them to HMRC on time — every time. You receive a clear submission summary after each filing, along with an updated running estimate of your likely tax liability for the year.
At year end, we prepare your MTD final declaration, maximise your allowable reliefs and deductions, and confirm your final tax liability. We also provide proactive tax planning advice — identifying opportunities to reduce your liability for the year ahead and helping you budget your next payment on account.
HMRC operates a points-based penalty system for MTD for ITSA. Each missed quarterly update or final declaration earns one penalty point. Accumulate four points within a rolling two-year period and HMRC charges a fixed £200 financial penalty — and the points continue accumulating. In addition, HMRC can levy fines of up to £3,000 for digital record-keeping failures. Late payment penalties start at 3% from day 15, rising at day 30, and accruing at 10% per annum from day 31.
When you work with Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants, you will never miss a deadline. We manage your entire MTD submission calendar, file on your behalf every quarter, and keep you informed throughout.
HMRC has announced a penalty easement for the first four quarterly submissions from April 2026. However, submissions remain mandatory — a missed filing still earns a penalty point. Do not assume the easement means you can delay without consequence.
When you work with Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants, you will never miss a deadline. We manage your entire MTD submission calendar, file on your behalf every quarter, and keep you informed throughout.
Whether MTD applies to you now or in the near future, the time to prepare is today — not the week before your first quarterly deadline. At Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants in London, we make Making Tax Digital straightforward, compliant, and completely stress-free for sole traders, landlords, freelancers, contractors, small businesses, and limited companies right across the UK.
Call us on 020 8646 0800, WhatsApp us on 07429 584191, or book your free 15-minute MTD consultation online. Our ACCA-qualified MTD accountants will assess your eligibility, set up your software, register you with HMRC, and handle every quarterly submission on your behalf — at a fixed monthly fee, with complete transparency and zero hidden charges.
Making Tax Digital (MTD) is HMRC’s programme to modernise the UK tax system through digital record-keeping and regular electronic submissions. For Income Tax, MTD for ITSA replaces the traditional annual Self Assessment return with four quarterly updates throughout the year, followed by a single year-end final declaration. MTD for VAT has already replaced traditional VAT return filing for all VAT-registered businesses since April 2022. Your obligation to pay the correct amount of tax remains unchanged — MTD changes how often and in what format you report to HMRC.
MTD for ITSA is being introduced in three phases: from 6 April 2026 if your gross qualifying income from self-employment and property exceeded £50,000 in 2024/25; from 6 April 2027 if it exceeded £30,000 in 2025/26; and from 6 April 2028 if it exceeds £20,000. Critically, HMRC uses your gross income before expenses — not your taxable profit. If you are unsure, contact Hayes Accountants for a free eligibility check.
Yes — unincorporated landlords whose combined gross rental income and self-employment income exceeds the relevant HMRC threshold fall directly within scope of MTD for ITSA. This applies to residential landlords, commercial landlords, holiday let owners, and multi-property investors. The threshold is based on gross rents received before allowable deductions such as mortgage interest, letting agent fees, or maintenance costs.
You need HMRC-approved software capable of maintaining digital records and submitting data to HMRC via their APIs. Popular choices include Xero, QuickBooks Online, FreeAgent, and Sage Cloud. If you prefer to keep using spreadsheets, bridging software can connect your existing records to HMRC’s submission system. Hayes Accountants are certified Xero and QuickBooks partners and will advise, set up, and manage the right software for your needs — often at preferential partner rates.
Yes — provided you also use compliant bridging software to connect your spreadsheets to HMRC’s systems. The key rule is that there must be a continuous digital link between your records and the HMRC submission — you cannot manually retype figures from a spreadsheet into a separate portal. For most clients, however, we recommend moving to a dedicated cloud accounting platform, as this simplifies quarterly submissions and reduces the risk of errors.
For 2026/27: Q1 (6 Apr–5 Jul) due 7 August 2026; Q2 (6 Jul–5 Oct) due 7 November 2026; Q3 (6 Oct–5 Jan) due 7 February 2027; Q4 (6 Jan–5 Apr) due 7 May 2027. The year-end final declaration for 2026/27 must be submitted by 31 January 2028. You may also opt to use calendar quarter periods ending on the last day of each month, with deadlines one month later.
HMRC uses a points-based system: each missed quarterly update or final declaration earns one penalty point. Four points within a rolling two-year period triggers a £200 financial penalty — and points continue accumulating. HMRC can also levy fines up to £3,000 for digital record-keeping failures. Late payment penalties apply from day 15. HMRC has announced an easement for the first four quarterly filings from April 2026, but submissions remain mandatory.
No. The quarterly updates are informational summaries — they are not tax payments and do not trigger an immediate liability. Your income tax payment dates remain unchanged: tax for 2026/27 is due 31 January 2028, with a payment on account due 31 July 2027 if applicable. The quarterly updates provide HMRC and you with a real-time picture of your earnings throughout the year, helping you plan your cash flow and budget for your eventual tax bill.
No. HMRC has confirmed it does not currently plan to introduce Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax. Limited companies filing corporation tax returns are not directly affected. However, VAT-registered limited companies must already comply with MTD for VAT. Directors who also have self-employment or rental income may be personally in scope of MTD for ITSA — contact Hayes if you are unsure about your personal obligations.
HMRC provides both automatic and discretionary exemptions. Automatic exemptions cover individuals unable to use digital tools due to age, disability, or health conditions. Discretionary exemptions may be granted for remote locations with no reliable internet access, religious grounds, or other exceptional circumstances. Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants can assess your eligibility and manage the exemption application process with HMRC on your behalf.
We offer transparent, fixed monthly fee MTD packages tailored to sole traders, landlords, and small businesses. Fees cover all four quarterly submissions, your year-end final declaration, software setup, and ongoing support. Pricing depends on the complexity of your income sources and whether you require bookkeeping assistance. Contact us for a free, no-obligation quote — our fees are highly competitive, particularly compared to the cost of HMRC penalties for non-compliance.
You must keep digital records of all business income, invoices, purchase receipts, and expense records throughout the tax year using HMRC-compatible software — not compiled at year end. Records must be retained for at least five years after the 31 January submission deadline for the relevant tax year. For landlords, this includes all rental income, mortgage interest statements, letting agent invoices, repair costs, insurance documents, and all other allowable property expenses.
If you are newly self-employed, HMRC requires you to file at least one traditional Self Assessment tax return first. Your MTD mandation date is then determined by your qualifying income on that initial return. For example, starting in 2025/26, HMRC will use your 2025/26 Self Assessment return to determine whether you join MTD from April 2027 (income over £30,000) or April 2028 (income over £20,000). You can also volunteer to join MTD early through HMRC’s testing phase — Hayes can help you explore this option.
MTD introduces four annual submission deadlines, new software requirements, HMRC registration obligations, and digital record-keeping rules — all with penalty points for any mistakes or missed filings. An experienced MTD accountant like Hayes ensures every submission is accurate and on time, maximises your allowable expenses and tax reliefs, handles all HMRC communication on your behalf, and provides year-round support so you are never caught off guard by a deadline or regulatory change. The cost of professional MTD support is, for most clients, far less than the risk of getting it wrong.
Stop juggling your finances alone. Hayes Chartered Certified Accountants and Tax Consultants offers everything a business or individual needs under one roof — Bookkeeping, VAT returns, payroll, self-assessment tax returns, pension auto enrolment, year end accounts, corporation tax, capital gains tax, CIS tax returns, tax rebates, landlord taxation, management accounts, cash flow management, budgeting and forecasting, tax advisory, company formation, registered address, company secretarial services, and Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliance. One team. Every service. Zero hidden fees.
Book your free consultation today and find out how much we could save you.
