Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is being phased in by income. It applies to sole traders and landlords registered for Self Assessment whose qualifying income is above a threshold. Answer the three questions below for the tax years shown. Status at 23 October 2026.
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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.
How the dates work
| Qualifying income more than | Measured on tax year | You need to use it from |
|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | 2024 to 2025 | 6 April 2026 |
| £30,000 | 2025 to 2026 | 6 April 2027 |
| £20,000 | 2026 to 2027 | 6 April 2028 |
HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) checks the Self Assessment return you filed for the relevant tax year. If your income is above the threshold it should write to you. GOV.UK says that if you do not get a letter it is still your responsibility to check if and when you need to use the service, and to sign up. You still need to file a Self Assessment tax return for the tax year before you start.
What counts as qualifying income
- Counts: your income from self-employment and from property, added together, before expenses (also called turnover). It is not your profit.
- Jointly owned property: only your share counts.
- Does not count: employment pay (PAYE), dividends (including from your own company), State Pension and private pensions, and your share of profit from a partnership as an individual partner.
- Property income for a period that is not 12 months: you work out the full-year figure yourself.
- Income that has ceased: it still counts if you have another continuing source of self-employment or property income.
For example, £25,000 of rent plus £27,000 of self-employment income is £52,000 of qualifying income. A landlord with £32,000 of rent and £11,000 of profit is over £30,000, because costs are not taken off.
What this checker does not do
- It does not know your figures. It only turns your answers into the dates GOV.UK gives. Check the detail in the sources, or use HMRC’s own tool on GOV.UK.
- It does not cover exemptions, for example if you are digitally excluded. GOV.UK has a page on finding out if you can get an exemption.
- It does not cover partnerships. GOV.UK says partnerships will need to use the service in future, with the timeline to be set out later.
- It is not tax advice. For your own figures, ask HMRC or a qualified accountant.
How this page works
The checker is plain HTML and CSS. It uses no script, sends nothing to us or anyone else, and sets no cookies. If your browser cannot show a single result, the page lists every result instead.
Sources
Last checked 23 October 2026.
- Check if you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, GOV.UK
- Work out your qualifying income, GOV.UK
- Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, GOV.UK
Changes to this page
- 23 October 2026: Published.