Our Making Tax Digital Services

If you are self-employed, or if you are a professional landlord, Making Tax Digital (MTD) requires you to shift from the annual Self-Assessment filing of tax returns to a digital system with more frequent reporting.​ The move to MTD is still taking place, with new requirements being phased in over time. 

To support you, our Tax team can: 

  • Explain the MTD process – what’s changing, how you will need to adapt, and how much of that work we can do for you. 
  • Complete and file your quarterly MTD self-assessment returns – while advising on ways to keep all of your banking and admin ‘current’ so this becomes an easier process. 
  • Complete and file your MTD end of year declaration. 
  • Confirm your tax liability and due dates for payment. 

With more regular reporting, our team will be able to see opportunities and risks in your figures as they develop, so we can provide helpful guidance earlier in the tax year, enabling you to be better prepared to manage your tax bill when it arrives. 

What is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD for ITSA)?

For those who are self-employed or earn income through property, instead of filling out one big return each year, you'll need to: 

  • Keep your accounting records electronically, using compatible software or a spreadsheet. 
  • Submit quarterly updates to HMRC, showing your income and expenses. 
  • Provide any extra information that HMRC requests as part of the process. 

By keeping records up to date throughout the year, the aim is to make tax reporting simpler, more accurate, and easier to manage. 

When does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment come into effect?

MTD is being phased in, with different people being affected at different times based on their income. 

  • If you have an income of £50,000 or more, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA) will be mandated from 6 April 2026.  
  • If you’re a taxpayer with income between £30,000 and £50,000, MTD will be mandated from 6 April 2027. 
  • During the Spring Statement 2025, the government announced plans to extend MTD to those earning over £20,000, with further details to be announced, possibly starting in April 2028, but the exact date is not yet known. 

If you’re unsure on where you sit within these brackets, our Tax team can talk through your circumstances and recent income history, and tell you when you’ll need to switch to MTD.  

Who is exempt from Making Tax Digital?

There are some MTD exceptions, so it’s worth checking whether you’re included in any of the following: 

  • Taxpayers with qualifying income below £30,000.  However, proposals to include this band have been talked about, with a possible introduction in April 2028. 
  • Limited Companies and Partnerships. While these are currently exempt, the Government hopes to roll MTD out to limited companies, partnerships and limited liability partnerships (LLPs) in the future. At the time of writing, we have no timescales for their introduction. 
  • Individual Partners. Currently, members of partnerships and LLPs are outside the scope of MTD in respect of their partnership-specific income, but they may still need to comply with MTD if they have other sources of qualifying income (self-employment or property income outside the partnership). 

You can apply for an exemption if: 

  • You are subject to an insolvency procedure. 
  • Your business is run entirely by practising members of a religious society or order whose beliefs are incompatible with using electronic communications or keeping electronic records. 
  • It isn’t reasonably possible for you to use digital tools to keep your business records or submit quarterly returns, either due to age, disability, remoteness of location or any other reason (often referred to as ‘digital exclusion’). 

Joining MTD

You’ll be moved to MTD based on the income you report in your tax return, in the year prior to the mandated MTD rollout for your ‘bracket’ (assuming your returns are filed on time). 

For example, if your 2024/25 tax return (due by 31 January 2026) shows income over £50,000, you'll need to comply with MTD from April 2026.​ 

Otherwise, if your 2025/26 tax return (due by 31 January 2027) shows income over £30,000, you'll need to comply from April 2027. 

You can volunteer to join MTD early, either for testing or just to prepare for the coming changes ahead of time, but you should consult with a tax professional before making the leap. 

MTD requirements: digital record keeping

If you’re in MTD, you will have to keep digital records of your self-employment and/or property income, and expenses, in some form of software. You’ll need to detail the amount, category and date of these transactions, and the categories used will follow those on current Self-Assessment returns. 

In some cases, simplified record-keeping options will be made available. 

Will HMRC tell me if I need to register for MTD?

Yes – if you are an affected taxpayer, you should have been contacted by HMRC in the summer of 2025. If the qualifying income in your 2023/24 tax return puts you above one of the thresholds outlined, you should have received a letter. More detailed, additional information should be provided in updates that are planned for 31 January 2026, which will consider your 2025/26 tax return. 

What are the penalties for late MTD filings?

Penalties for late submissions and late payment for taxpayers within MTD will move to a points-based system. 

Taxpayers in MTD will receive a point each time they miss a submission deadline (quarterly updates and year end submission), which means you could accrue five points in a year if you missed all five submission deadlines. 

These points accumulate until a threshold is reached, and a £200 penalty will then be issued. From then onwards, any further late submissions will result in an immediate £200 penalty. 

To ‘reset’ the penalty position, the taxpayer will need a set period of compliance (4 quarterly updates, or 2 end of year returns) and to have submitted all returns required for the previous 24 months. 

The existing Self-Assessment penalty regime will continue to apply until you join MTD, and for taxpayers outside the scope of MTD. 

How we can help

We have a variety of sole trader clients and property owners with gross income of over £50,000 in the 2023/24 tax year; and their income is likely to continue at this level into 2024/25, meaning that they will be brought into MTD from 6th April 2026 and will need to file quarterly returns from this point onward. Our Tax team can advise on MTD registration, complete and file your quarterly and annual returns and take the hassle out of this new HMRC process. 

For more information on MTD, please contact a member of our Tax team. 

You can also find out more in our helpful guide on making the transition to Making Tax Digital here.