Your first Making Tax Digital deadline is now just 10 days away. If you are within scope of the first phase of the Making Tax Digital (MTD) rollout, i.e., your r combined gross property and self-employment income exceeded £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year, you must submit your first quarterly update to HMRC by 7 August 2026 using MTD-compatible software.
Miss it, and you risk falling behind from the very start of the new tax regime, creating a backlog that becomes increasingly difficult to recover from before the first Final Declaration is due in January 2028.
In this article, we explain who must comply with MTD, what the 7 August deadline requires and what happens if you ignore it.
Key Takeaways
- Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for landlords and sole traders whose combined qualifying income from property and self-employment exceeded £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year
- As explained in HMRC's guidance on quarterly updates, your first quarterly update, covering the period 6 April to 5 July 2026, must be submitted by 7 August 2026; the remaining deadlines for the 2026/27 tax year are 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027, and 7 May 2027
- As set out in HMRC's Making Tax Digital guidance, you cannot submit your 2026/27 Final Declaration, due by 31 January 2028, until all four quarterly updates have been successfully filed
- There are no late submission penalty points for quarterly updates during the 2026/27 tax year under the temporary easement; however, taxpayers are still required to file every quarterly update, and late payment penalties and HMRC's late payment interest can still apply where tax is paid after the statutory deadline
- As confirmed by HMRC in its update notices for Making Tax Digital, taxpayers who submitted SA109 (Residence, remittance basis etc.) pages with their 2024/25 Self Assessment Tax Return are automatically deferred from MTD for Income Tax until at least the 2027/28 tax year, meaning they are not required to join the regime from April 2026
Does Making Tax Digital Apply to Me?
Making Tax Digital (MTD) began applying to you from 6 April 2026 if you are a landlord or sole trader whose combined qualifying income from property and self-employment exceeded £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year. The qualifying threshold income falls to £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028. So, even if MTD does not apply to you this year, it could in the next year or the year after that.
MTD is a legal requirement set out in the Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/336), made under the powers in sections 60 and 61 of the Finance (No. 2) Act 2017.
When Do You Need to Start Complying with MTD?
"Qualifying income" isn't always easy to understand and it can be hard to know when and how one falls into MTD's scope. That's why we built this easy and intuitive MTD checker. Just answer a few simple questions and confirm your MTD status in a matter of seconds!
What Happens If You Miss the 7 August Making Tax Digital Deadline?
Missing the 7 August 2026 Making Tax Digital deadline means starting your first year of MTD behind. While HMRC has temporarily suspended penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026/27 tax year under the “soft landing” approach, the filing obligation still exists. Every missed quarter creates another three months of digital records that must eventually be reconstructed and submitted before you can complete your 2026/27 Final Declaration. Please note that you cannot submit your Final Declaration, due by 31 January 2028, until all four quarterly updates have been filed. According to HMRC's guidance on quarterly updates, delaying one submission means carrying unfinished compliance work into the next reporting period, increasing the risk of falling further behind.
Similarly, the soft landing should not be mistaken for permission to delay. As HMRC explains, the temporary easement simply means you will not receive penalty points for filing a quarterly update late during the 2026/27 tax year. It does not remove your legal obligation to submit the update. If you leave one quarter outstanding, it still has to be completed before you can move on, making each subsequent deadline harder to meet and increasing the risk of carrying a backlog into the next tax year.
That backlog becomes expensive from 2027/28. Once the soft landing period ends, late quarterly updates fall within HMRC's points-based penalty regime under the Finance Act 2021, with a £200 fixed penalty applying once the relevant points threshold is reached.
Even during the soft landing year, HMRC has not relaxed the penalties around late payment. If you do not pay your Income Tax by the statutory deadline, late payment penalties and HMRC's late payment interest will apply.
Worked Example: Missing One Quarterly Update Creates More Work Later
David owns two rental properties and runs a small plumbing business. His combined qualifying income for the 2024/25 tax year was £56,000, so he has been required to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax since 6 April 2026.
His first quarterly update, covering the period 6 April to 5 July 2026, is due by 7 August 2026. However, David decides to leave it until later after hearing that HMRC will not issue penalty points for late quarterly updates during the first year of MTD.
The deadline passes, but the filing obligation does not. David's first quarterly update remains outstanding, and he is still required to submit it before he can complete his 2026/27 Final Declaration.
Meanwhile, his business continues as normal. Rent is collected, repairs are carried out, invoices are issued, and expenses continue to accumulate. As each week passes, David has more transactions to record and review while also needing to return to an earlier reporting period that has not yet been filed. What could have been completed while the information was still fresh gradually becomes more difficult to organise, reconcile and submit accurately.
By the time David comes to prepare his 2026/27 Final Declaration, he cannot simply move on to the year-end process. He must first ensure that every required quarterly update has been submitted. The work has not disappeared—it has accumulated.
The temporary soft landing has protected David from penalty points for filing the quarterly update late during 2026/27, but it has not reduced the amount of compliance work he must complete. Delaying the first quarterly update has simply shifted that work into the future, where it competes with his ongoing bookkeeping and year-end tax obligations.
What Should You Do In the Next 10 Days?
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Conclusion: Don't Let a 10-Day Deadline Become a 2028 Crisis
In just 10 days, your first Making Tax Digital deadline will arrive. The best time to prepare for it was 6 April 2026. The second-best time is today.
UK Property Accountants is an ACCA- and CTA-qualified specialist firm working exclusively with UK landlords. Whether you're unsure if you're within scope, need help setting up HMRC-recognised MTD-compatible software, or want an expert to prepare and submit your first quarterly update, our team is here to help you.
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FAQs
The deadline depends on which part of Making Tax Digital you are referring to. For landlords and sole traders who joined Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from 6 April 2026, the first quarterly update, covering the period 6 April to 5 July 2026, must be submitted by 7 August 2026. The remaining quarterly update deadlines for the 2026/27 tax year are 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027, and 7 May 2027, followed by a Final Declaration due by 31 January 2028.
Only if you are not legally required to use it or you qualify for an exemption or deferral. Some taxpayers are exempt when it is not reasonably practicable for them to use digital tools, while others, such as certain taxpayers who submitted SA109 (residence, remittance basis etc.) pages with their 2024/25 Self Assessment Tax Return, have been automatically deferred until at least the 2027/28 tax year.
Not immediately. According to HMRC, late quarterly updates submitted during the 2026/27 tax year will not attract penalty points under the temporary soft landing approach. However, you are still legally required to submit the update, and you cannot complete your 2026/27 Final Declaration until all four quarterly updates have been filed. The temporary easement also does not apply to late tax payments, which may still attract penalties and interest where applicable.
Some do, and some do not. Non-resident landlords are not automatically exempt from Making Tax Digital. However, HMRC has automatically deferred certain taxpayers who submitted SA109 (residence, remittance basis etc.) pages with their 2024/25 Self Assessment Tax Return until at least the 2027/28 tax year.
No. You can comply with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax yourself by keeping digital records, using HMRC-recognised MTD-compatible software, and submitting your quarterly updates and Final Declaration on time. However, many landlords choose to work with an accountant to ensure their records are accurate, deadlines are met, and they remain fully compliant with HMRC's requirements, particularly where they have multiple properties, self-employment income, or more complex tax affairs.
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