How to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Check when Making Tax Digital applies to you, sign up with HMRC, and connect software so your quarterly updates file on time.
Last checked 22 August 2026
Before you start
Sign-up is quick once you have these ready.
Your Government Gateway user ID and password.
Your National Insurance number.
Your accounting start date and how you keep your books (cash basis for
most sole traders and landlords).
MTD-compatible software — you authorise it as part of getting set up.
Check when it applies to you
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords
by total gross income from self-employment and property — turnover
before expenses, not profit. It became mandatory from April 2026 for
qualifying income over £50,000, and extends from April 2027 to
qualifying income over £30,000. HMRC measures qualifying income from
the tax return two years before, so the 2026 start was judged on the
2024/25 return.
Check if it applies on GOV.UK →Deadline
6 April 2027 — quarterly updates become mandatory for qualifying
income over £30,000, based on the 2025/26 return.
Pick MTD-compatible software
Updates can only be filed through software that talks to HMRC's MTD
service — there's no on-screen form to type figures into. Choose the
software first, because the sign-up ends by connecting it.
Sign up with HMRC
Sign up on GOV.UK with your Government Gateway details, confirm your
business details and accounting dates, and HMRC moves your record onto
MTD for Income Tax. An accountant can sign you up instead, from their
agent account.
Sign up on GOV.UK →Authorise your software
From your software, connect to HMRC: you're sent to a Government
Gateway sign-in and asked to grant the software permission to file for
you. The authorisation lasts 18 months at a time, then you simply renew
it.
Keep digital records and send quarterly updates
From your start date, records of business income and expenses must be
kept digitally, and a summary files to HMRC every quarter. Standard
quarters end 5 July, 5 October, 5 January, and 5 April, with each
update due by the 7th of the following month.
Deadline
7 August, 7 November, 7 February, and 7 May — the standard quarterly
update deadlines each year.
Finish the year with a final declaration
After the fourth quarter you make any accounting adjustments, add your
other income, and submit a final declaration through the software in
place of the old Self Assessment return. The deadline stays 31 January,
and so do the payment dates.
Common questions
Signing up, in practice
I'm under the threshold — can I join anyway?
Yes, you can sign up voluntarily if your circumstances are supported.
Some people join early to spread the change over a quiet year rather
than being moved onto it under deadline pressure.
Does MTD change how much tax I pay?
No. It changes how you keep records and how often you report — the tax
itself, the rates, and the payment deadlines are unchanged.
What if I genuinely can't use software?
HMRC can exempt the digitally excluded — for example where age,
disability, or location makes software unreasonable. You apply to HMRC
and keep filing the old way if it's granted.
Do I still file a Self Assessment return?
Not separately — the final declaration through your software replaces
it for the years you're in MTD. Until your start date, you keep filing
Self Assessment returns as normal.
Related reading
Around the rest of the Self Assessment year.
Ready for quarterly updates, all year round.
Bookfolio keeps your self-employment and property records digital as you go, files your MTD for Income Tax quarterly updates straight to HMRC, and shows the tax building up so January is never a surprise. You review every figure before anything is sent.