Since April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 must keep digital records and report to HMRC every quarter. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027. We set you up and file the lot, for a fixed monthly fee.
Use the figures from your tax return, before any expenses are taken off. If you own a property jointly, use your share of the rent.
For sole traders, CIS builders and landlords. You don’t need to become a software expert.
We look at your income and tell you exactly when MTD starts for you, or that it doesn’t yet. No guessing from HMRC letters.
We register you with HMRC for MTD and link your records, so you’re ready before your first quarter starts.
Use an app, keep your spreadsheet with bridging software, or choose Shoebox and we keep the digital records for you.
We review your figures each quarter and send the update to HMRC before the deadline. You don’t have to log in anywhere.
After the year ends we make the year-end adjustments, claim your allowances and submit the final declaration, which replaces your tax return.
Quarterly figures mean we can tell you during the year roughly what you’ll owe, so you can set money aside.
Each quarter you send HMRC a summary of your income and expenses from your digital records. You still pay tax on 31 January and 31 July, the same as now. The final declaration after the year ends replaces your Self Assessment return.
The update for 6 April to 5 July is due by 7 August. Tax for the year is still due the following 31 January.
quarterly updates, then a final declaration
What counts, when it starts and what you actually have to do.
Add up your self-employed turnover and your rental income, before any expenses. If you own a property jointly, count your share. Wages, pensions, dividends, savings interest and partnership income don’t count towards the threshold.
Whether you join is based on the tax return from two years earlier. Your 2025/26 return, due by 31 January 2027, decides whether you join in April 2027. HMRC writes to many people, but it’s up to you to sign up, so don’t wait for a letter.
Every sale and expense has to be recorded in MTD-compatible software, or in a spreadsheet linked to HMRC with bridging software. You can keep paper receipts as evidence, but the records themselves must be digital.
Updates don’t have to be perfect. Mistakes can be put right in the next update, and year-end adjustments like capital allowances go in the final declaration. What matters is sending each update on time.
Under MTD, each late quarterly update earns a penalty point. Reach four points and you get a £200 penalty, then another £200 for every late submission after that, until the points are cleared. Late payment penalties grow the longer tax stays unpaid.
Open a separate bank account for the business or the property if you haven’t already. It makes digital records far easier. Then start recording digitally before you have to, so your first real quarter is a formality.
General guidance for the 2026/27 tax year, not advice for your situation. Ask us before acting on it.
We only work with sole traders, CIS builders and landlords, the people MTD for Income Tax is aimed at.
Keep your own records and we check and file them, or send us everything and we keep the records for you.
Quarterly updates and the final declaration are covered by a fee agreed in writing before we start.
The person filing your updates answers your emails, within one business day.
No. The quarterly updates are reports, not payments. You still pay on 31 January and 31 July, as you do now.
No. Only self-employed and rental income, before expenses, counts. Wages, pensions, dividends and interest don’t, although they still go on your final declaration.
Yes, as long as it’s linked to HMRC with bridging software. We can set that up, or move you onto an app if it suits you better.
Not this part. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is for sole traders and landlords. Limited companies are not affected by it.
If age, disability, where you live or religious beliefs mean you can’t reasonably keep digital records, you can ask HMRC for an exemption. Or let us keep the records for you.
Yes. Once you sign up we contact them for the handover, get authorised with HMRC and pick up where they left off. You don’t need to have the awkward conversation.
Tell us a little about you and we’ll come back within one business day with a fixed monthly fee.