MTD quarterly updates: the next one is due 7 November 2026

Your next Making Tax Digital quarterly update is due by 7 November 2026. The first was due by 7 August 2026. If your qualifying income (rent plus any self-employment turnover, before expenses) was above £50,000 for the 2024 to 2025 tax year, this is the first year you’ve had to send HMRC anything during the year.

The period it covers: each update is a running total from the start of the tax year, so this one covers 6 April to 5 October 2026 on the standard update periods, or 1 April to 30 September 2026 if you chose calendar update periods. What it is not: a tax return. GOV.UK calls quarterly updates “summaries, not tax returns”. Allowances and year-end adjustments come after the tax year ends.

If you miss it: there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. You still have to send every update before you can submit your tax return, and the habit is easier to start on time than to fix later.

The rest of this guide covers exactly what to file, the remaining deadlines, how the final declaration works, and where landlords are getting caught out.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) started on 6 April 2026 for landlords and sole traders with qualifying income above £50,000.

The core mechanic: instead of one Self Assessment return in January, MTD ITSA requires four quarterly updates during the year plus a final declaration at year end. Both go through MTD-compatible software using HMRC’s API. You cannot send quarterly updates on paper.

This guide walks through what each quarterly update contains, the four HMRC deadlines, how the tax return works, what happens if you miss a deadline, and the first-year easement.

Not tax advice. For your own situation talk to a tax adviser. HMRC guidance changes as software vendors and the tax profession feed back real-world implementation issues.

Who is in the £50k tier

MTD ITSA applies from 6 April 2026 to individuals whose total gross income from self-employment and/or property in the qualifying tax year exceeded £50,000. The qualifying tax year for the first tranche was 2024/25.

Key points on the threshold:

• Gross income, not profit. A property portfolio grossing £52,000 with £15,000 of expenses (net profit £37,000) is in. This is a common trap.
• Property income counts on its own. You don’t need self-employment income to trigger the threshold.
• Joint property is per person, not per property. Two spouses each owning half of a £70,000-gross portfolio each have gross income of £35,000, so both are under the £50k threshold. See the MTD for jointly-owned property guide.
• Companies are unaffected. MTD ITSA is for individuals; property held in a company is taxed through Corporation Tax instead.
• Later tranches: £30,000 from April 2027 (on 2025 to 2026 income) and £20,000 from April 2028 (on 2026 to 2027 income).

If you are in, every figure in the update comes from records kept through the year. From £7.99 a month, LetCompliance builds each update from the rent and costs you record against each property, with bank statements imported from a CSV, and sends it to HMRC. LetCompliance is recognised by HMRC for Making Tax Digital, for UK property income. Get started

What a quarterly update contains

Each quarterly update reports two things per business (property or trade):

1. 1Total income received from the start of the tax year
2. 2Total allowable expenses from the start of the tax year, broken down by category

GOV.UK: each update covers “from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, not just the previous three months”. You are not filing a full profit and loss account, and year-end allowances and adjustments are not part of it. They come after the tax year ends, with your tax return.

The expense categories mirror the categories on the Self Assessment property pages:

• Rent, rates, insurance, ground rents
• Property repairs and maintenance
• Loan interest and finance costs (remember Section 24 restriction is applied at the final declaration)
• Legal, management and other professional fees
• Costs of services provided (including wages)
• Other allowable property expenses

Software handles the mapping. You tag each transaction as it goes in; the software totals it up by category and files the update via HMRC’s API. You do not need to attach receipts to the quarterly update itself. Receipts stay with your records.

The four quarterly deadlines

On the standard update periods, each update covers the tax year so far:

On calendar update periods, each update runs from 1 April instead:

GOV.UK: the dates an update covers depend on which update periods you use, “but the deadline to send your update is the same”. You need to select calendar update periods “in your software before you send your first quarterly update”, and you cannot change the update periods for a tax year after you have sent a quarterly update.

Multiple businesses: if you have property income and self-employment, each business has its own quarterly update, but the deadlines are the same for both.

The final declaration: your tax return under MTD

At the end of the tax year (after the fourth quarterly update) you submit your tax return, the final declaration, through MTD software by 31 January of the following year. It is the same deadline as before. Self Assessment does not go away: the return is sent through software instead of the old online form.

Before you submit it:

• Year-end allowances and adjustments are added, for example replacement of domestic items or the property allowance
• Other income is included. HMRC adds some itself, such as employment income and pensions; you add others, such as savings interest and dividends
• HMRC calculates the tax, including the mortgage interest tax credit (Section 24), and you review it

Payment is due by 31 January with the balancing payment; payments on account remain in the same July and January cycle.

Practically: your quarterly updates are running summaries. The tax return is where the year is finalised.

The first-year easement

GOV.UK, Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax:

• “There are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.” You still need to send the updates before you can submit your tax return.
• Late payment: tax paid 16 to 30 days late gets no penalty in your first year.
• Later years: penalty points apply to missed quarterly update deadlines for tax years after 2026 to 2027.

What the easement does not cover:

• A late tax return. Missing the 31 January deadline gets a penalty point.
• Tax paid 31 days or more late. Late payment penalties apply, and late payment interest is charged.
• Wrong figures. The easement is about missed deadlines, not inaccurate updates.

If you signed up voluntarily, GOV.UK’s volunteer guidance says: “While you are volunteering you will not get penalties for missing quarterly update deadlines.”

If you missed Q1, send it now. Every update has to be sent before the tax return, and a late habit is harder to break in a year when points apply.

Penalties for later years

• Points: each missed quarterly update deadline (for tax years after 2026 to 2027) and each missed tax return deadline gets 1 point. At 4 points you get a £200 penalty, and another £200 each time you miss another deadline.
• Removing points: send your quarterly updates and tax return on time for 12 months, and send anything outstanding from the previous 24 months. Below 4 points, each point is removed automatically 24 months after the missed deadline.
• Late payment penalties (2027 to 2028 onwards): if tax is paid 16 to 30 days late, 4% of the tax owed at day 15 (no penalty in your first year); if paid 31 days or more late, 4% at day 15, another 4% at day 30, plus 10% a year charged daily from day 31, for up to 2 years.
• Late payment interest is charged as well.

Four points is not many for a landlord who forgets a couple of deadlines, so put all four in your calendar.

Practical: what a landlord should do this quarter

For a landlord in the £50,000 tier:

1. 1Check you sent Q1 by 7 August. If you missed it, send it now. There are no penalties for a missed quarterly update deadline in 2026 to 2027, but every update is still required before your tax return.
2. 2Reconcile your cash to date. Bank statements to 5 October: do the totals for income and expenses match what your software has captured? If receipts are missing, chase them now, before 7 November.
3. 3Set the Q2 deadline in your calendar. 7 November. Not "early November", not "before month-end": 7 November.
4. 4Think about the tax return. Section 24 finance costs and replacement of domestic items need year-end paperwork. If you have a tax adviser, book the January window.
5. 5Check next year’s threshold. The £30,000 tier joins from April 2027, and £20,000 from April 2028. If you’re close to those, get set up on MTD software voluntarily. See the volunteer-early guide.

LetCompliance keeps the running totals per property in the shape MTD asks for, along with the Section 24 finance costs, replacement of domestic items and the mileage log. You send the quarterly update to HMRC from the MTD page, or give the same figures to your accountant.

Getting your quarterly figures ready

A quarterly update is only as easy as your records. LetCompliance turns the rent and expenses you already track into the cumulative quarterly totals HMRC asks for: the correct income and expense categories, cash basis, and all your UK property treated as one business. It is recognised by HMRC, so you connect your HMRC account once and send each update from the MTD page, or give the figures to your accountant. The rent comes from the same ledger that records each payment and issues receipts, so you don’t type it twice.

Making Tax Digital is on every paid plan from £7.99 a month. See plans, or get started.

Sources

• GOV.UK: Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: send quarterly updates
• GOV.UK: Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• GOV.UK: Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• GOV.UK: Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax volunteers