If you have had a letter or an online message saying HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you are not in trouble, and nothing has been filed for you. HMRC has switched the service on using the information it already holds, because its records show you should have been using it since 6 April 2026. What you do next is the same as if you had signed up yourself, with one difference: you are probably behind on the first quarterly update, so there is some catching up to do.
This guide explains why it happened, the five things to do, and which deadlines still matter this year.
Why HMRC signed you up
From September 2026, HMRC started signing up anyone who needs to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and had not signed up themselves. It is doing this in stages and contacts you once it is done, either in your HMRC online account or by post.
You were picked up because your 2024 to 2025 Self Assessment return showed qualifying income over £50,000. Qualifying income is your self-employment turnover plus your property income, added together, before any expenses come off. Salary, pensions, dividends and your share of a partnership's profit are not part of it. If you are not sure how HMRC got to your figure, our guide to what counts as qualifying income walks through it.
If you had already filed your 2025 to 2026 return before HMRC signed you up, it will have looked at that return too.
What to do next, in order
1. Sign in to HMRC online services
Use the same sign-in details you use for Self Assessment and choose Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. If you have never used HMRC online services, you will need to set up an account first. If an accountant or bookkeeper acts for you, they can do the next steps through their agent services account instead.
2. Check the income sources HMRC has on file
HMRC signed you up from what your last return showed, so it may be out of date. You will be asked to confirm your self-employment and property income sources. Three things to know:
- All your UK properties count as one UK property business. You do not list each house separately. Any overseas lettings form one separate foreign property business.
- Add anything new. A trade you started, or a property you began letting, since your last return.
- Tell HMRC about anything that has stopped. If you sold your only rental property or stopped trading, say so here.
If all your self-employment and property income stopped before 6 April 2026, update your details in your online account. You will not need to use Making Tax Digital, but you still have to send your 2025 to 2026 tax return. If it all stopped on or after 6 April 2026, you still need to send a quarterly update covering the period up to the date it stopped, and submit your 2026 to 2027 tax return through compatible software. After that you are out.
3. Choose software and connect it to HMRC
You must use software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HMRC does not provide any. Before you pick one, check three things:
- it covers every income source you have: self-employment, UK property, and foreign property if you let abroad;
- it works with your accounting period (most people use the standard tax year, 6 April to 5 April);
- it can add any other income HMRC does not add for you, such as savings interest or dividends, when you come to submit your tax return.
You then authorise the software from inside it, by signing in with your HMRC details and giving it permission to connect.
4. Catch up on your records and the overdue update
This is the part that needs time. You have to create digital records of your income and expenses from the start of the tax year, 6 April 2026, and then send any quarterly update that is already overdue as soon as you can.
As at late September 2026, this is where the year stands for anyone on the standard quarters:
| Update period | Deadline | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 6 April to 5 July 2026 | 7 August 2026 | Overdue: send it now |
| 6 April to 5 October 2026 | 7 November 2026 | Next due |
| 6 April 2026 to 5 January 2027 | 7 February 2027 | Upcoming |
| 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027 | 7 May 2027 | Upcoming |
Notice that every period starts on 6 April. Quarterly updates are cumulative: each one covers the tax year so far, not just the last three months. That works in your favour when catching up, because a mistake you find later is fixed in the next update rather than by resending an old one.
What goes into a digital record is simple: the amount, the date, and the category (the same categories you already use for Self Assessment). What HMRC receives is only the category totals, never your individual receipts. If you have spent the year with bank statements and a folder of paper, the quickest route is a bank feed or a spreadsheet upload rather than typing transactions in one by one.
5. Keep going for the rest of the year
Once you have caught up, send the remaining updates by their deadlines. After the fourth update you make any year-end adjustments (disallowable costs, capital allowances, reliefs) and then submit your 2026 to 2027 tax return through your software by 31 January 2028. HMRC's guidance now calls this the tax return; you will also see it called the final declaration.
Will I be penalised for the missed August deadline?
Not with a penalty point. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, HMRC does not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates. That is not the same as the updates being optional. You still have to send all four before HMRC will let you submit your tax return, and the rest of the penalty system applies as normal:
- a late 2026 to 2027 tax return (after 31 January 2028) still earns a penalty point;
- paying your tax late still leads to late payment penalties and interest;
- from the 2027 to 2028 tax year, each missed quarterly deadline earns a point too, and reaching HMRC's points threshold triggers a financial penalty.
Do not forget your 2025 to 2026 return
Being signed up for Making Tax Digital does not replace the return for the year before you started. Your 2025 to 2026 Self Assessment return is still due by 31 January 2027, sent the way you normally send it. MTD also does not change when you pay: your balancing payment and payments on account keep their usual dates.
If you think HMRC got it wrong
There are three common reasons someone is signed up who should not be:
- Your income has stopped. Follow step 2 above.
- You qualify for an exemption. Some are automatic and some you have to apply for. The main one you apply for is being digitally excluded, for example if your age, health or disability stops you using a computer or smartphone for your records. Not being familiar with software, or having only a few records, does not count.
- The figure HMRC used is wrong. If your return overstated your income and you correct it, or you believe your qualifying income was not over £50,000, contact HMRC's Self Assessment helpline. If your qualifying income later falls below the threshold for three tax years in a row, you can choose to opt out.
Two things landlords in particular get wrong
- Jointly owned property. Only your share counts towards your qualifying income, and you only keep records for your share. Married couples and civil partners are taxed 50/50 unless they have told HMRC otherwise on Form 17. See MTD for jointly owned property.
- Letting agent statements. If your agent pays you rent after taking fees, your records need the full rent and the fees as a separate expense, not just what landed in your account. See MTD when you use a letting agent.
Catching up with VoxaMTD
VoxaMTD sends quarterly updates for self-employment and UK property income, and submits the tax return at the end of the year. Sending quarterly updates and submitting the tax return are both free. To catch up, connect your bank through open banking or upload a CSV or Excel file of this year's transactions, check the categories, and send the overdue update. VoxaMTD works on the standard quarters (6th to 5th); it does not yet support calendar update periods or foreign property income. It files directly to HMRC's live Making Tax Digital service. It is not yet listed on HMRC's published software finder.
Start free, no card needed · Check whether MTD applies to you
This guide is general information based on HMRC's published guidance as at 27 September 2026. It is not tax advice. Check GOV.UK or speak to a tax adviser about your own circumstances.