Status at 27 October 2026
The pack is not built yet. You can pre-order it at a discount, or register interest and hear when it is ready. The free triage sheet below is finished. The dates and rules on this page come from GOV.UK, last checked 27 October 2026. This is workflow material for practices, not tax advice and not an engagement letter.
Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is being phased in by income. Here is when each group of your clients starts, using GOV.UK’s thresholds. The questions below are the same ones a client can answer, so you can use the checker with them in the room.
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You should already be in: MTD for Income Tax started for you on 6 April 2026
If your qualifying income for 2024 to 2025 was over £50,000, GOV.UK says you should have started using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026. You can still sign up if you have not.
Read our Making Tax Digital for landlords guide, then choose compatible software and sign up. Our Landlord MTD Starter Kit is written around the April 2027 start dates, so check its dates against your own start.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts for you on 6 April 2027
Your qualifying income for 2025 to 2026 was over £30,000, so you will need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2027. HMRC should write to you, but GOV.UK says it is still your responsibility to check, sign up and be ready if no letter comes.
What changes: digital records, four quarterly updates a year and your tax return, all through compatible software. Our our Making Tax Digital for landlords guide explains the rules, and the Landlord MTD Starter Kit is a ledger, quarterly summary and certificate tracker you can link to bridging software.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts for you on 6 April 2028
If your qualifying income for 2026 to 2027 is over £20,000, you will need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2028. HMRC checks the Self Assessment return you file for that year, so the date is confirmed after you file it.
You have time. Our our Making Tax Digital for landlords guide explains the rules, and the Landlord MTD Starter Kit shows the kind of records you will be keeping.
On these figures you are not in under the current dates
The thresholds are for income “more than” the amount, so income of exactly £30,000 or £20,000 does not trigger them. Check again each year after you file your return, because HMRC looks at the return for the previous tax year.
GOV.UK says partnerships will also need to use the service in future and that the timeline will be set out later. Your share of partnership profit does not count towards qualifying income, but other self-employment or property income does.
Work out your qualifying income first
Add up your gross income (before expenses) from self-employment and property for the tax year in question. Count your own share of jointly owned property. Leave out wages, pensions, dividends and your share of partnership profit. Use the questions above again when you have the figure.
If you are sure that 2025 to 2026 was over £30,000, you will need to start by 6 April 2027 at the latest, and sooner if 2024 to 2025 was over £50,000. See our Making Tax Digital for landlords guide for worked examples.
What changes for your clients, in dates
| Qualifying income more than | Measured on tax year | Client uses MTD from | First quarterly update due |
|---|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | 2024 to 2025 | 6 April 2026 | 7 August 2026 |
| £30,000 | 2025 to 2026 | 6 April 2027 | 7 August 2027 |
| £20,000 | 2026 to 2027 | 6 April 2028 | 7 August 2028 |
| Update covers | Deadline |
|---|---|
| 6 April to 5 July | 7 August |
| 6 April to 5 October | 7 November |
| 6 April to 5 January | 7 February |
| 6 April to 5 April | 7 May (the following tax year) |
GOV.UK also gives calendar update periods (1 April to 30 June and so on, with the same deadlines) as an option, and says each update covers from the start of the tax year to the end of the period. The tax return is due by 31 January following the end of the tax year.
Qualifying income is gross income (before expenses, also called turnover) from self-employment and property. HMRC checks the Self Assessment return the client submitted for the relevant tax year. A joint property counts only the client’s share. Employment pay, dividends, pensions and a partner’s share of partnership profit do not count.
On penalties, GOV.UK says that for each quarterly update (for tax years after 2026 to 2027) or tax return deadline a client misses they get a penalty point, that the threshold is 4 points, and that reaching it brings a £200 penalty with another £200 for each further miss. HMRC will not apply points for late quarterly updates during 2026 to 2027, but points still apply for late tax returns that year. Below the threshold, a point is removed automatically 24 months after the missed deadline. GOV.UK says new penalties apply from the tax year the client joins, and from April 2027 to everyone who files a personal Self Assessment return, including exempt clients (threshold 2 points). Budget 2026 (28 October 2026) announced that clients required to join in April 2027 will get no points for late quarterly updates in 2027 to 2028. That is announced, not law: GOV.UK’s penalties page and the law had not been updated when we checked on 7 November 2026.
Free now: the client triage sheet
A spreadsheet for up to 200 clients. Enter each client’s qualifying income for the three tax years and it shows when MTD starts for them and when their first quarterly update is due. It also has the deadline calendar for 2027 to 2028 and 2028 to 2029, and columns to track software and engagement letters.
You can use it, edit it and share it with your team. It uses only the dates above, so it does not handle exemptions or partnerships. Check HMRC’s own checker for edge cases.
The planned pack
Planned contents. None of this is a finished file yet, apart from the triage sheet above.
- Triage and scoping. The triage sheet extended with exemption flags, a “who is affected next April” list and a records-readiness score per client.
- Fee model. A worksheet for working out the extra time per client per year and a fee uplift, so you can quote consistently.
- Quarterly diary. A per-client calendar of the four update deadlines and the record request that has to go out before each one.
- Client communications. About a dozen original email and text drafts: first notice, record requests, reminders, a penalty-point warning and a year-end note. You edit them in your own voice.
- Software selection worksheet. A vendor-neutral list of questions to compare compatible software.
- Client readiness checklist. One page you can send, on digital records and what the client must do each quarter.
- FAQ page. A one-page FAQ to send to clients.
It is written to sit alongside, not replace, the engagement letter schedule from the professional bodies (the Joint Professional Bodies’ schedule for MTD for Income Tax). All of the text is original. The pack is drafted with AI tools and every rule it relies on is checked against GOV.UK before release. Free material from professional bodies and software firms already covers part of this need, so if you only want email wording, you may not need the pack.
Pre-order, or hear when it is ready
Pre-order price £79 (the planned price after launch is £99). Delivery by email by 8 January 2027. You can cancel for a full refund at any time before delivery, and if it is late by more than 14 days you can ask for your money back; the pre-order terms say exactly how. It is for buyers in the UK. One licence covers your own practice.
Not ready to pay? Register your interest instead, and tell us what you would want in it. We will email you once when it is ready, and may ask you a short question first.
Sources
Last checked 7 November 2026.
- Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, GOV.UK
- Work out your qualifying income, GOV.UK
- Send quarterly updates, GOV.UK
- Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, GOV.UK
- Budget 2026, paragraph 6.152, HM Treasury, 28 October 2026
- Budget 2026: Overview of tax legislation and rates, paragraph 2.36, HM Treasury and HMRC
- Submit your tax return, GOV.UK
Changes to this page
- 7 November 2026: Added the Budget 2026 penalty announcement (announced, not law) and the April 2027 rule for exempt clients.
- 27 October 2026: Published as a pre-order test with a free triage sheet.