MTD Deadline Calculator: Every 2026-27 Date That Matters

Self-Assessment Tax Calculator

Who Is in Scope: April 2026 vs 2027 vs 2028

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is mandated by the Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/1076). From 6 April 2026 it applies to sole traders and landlords whose qualifying income exceeded £50,000 on their 2024/25 Self Assessment return — the one filed by 31 January 2026. Qualifying income is your combined gross self-employment turnover plus gross property income before any expenses are deducted; it is not your profit. Worked example: Priya reported £38,000 of self-employment turnover and £15,000 of gross rent on her 2024/25 return. Her qualifying income is £38,000 + £15,000 = £53,000, so she is in scope from 6 April 2026 — even though her taxable profit after expenses is only £29,000. Likewise, Dan's shop made £48,000 of profit on £62,000 of turnover: the test is gross income, so he is in too. The threshold then steps down. Qualifying income over £30,000, tested on the 2025/26 return, brings you in from 6 April 2027, and over £20,000 from 6 April 2028, as announced at Spring Statement 2025 — the 2028 phase is per current guidance, so verify before filing. Below £20,000, no mandation date has been announced, though voluntary sign-up is open. Once mandated, you generally stay in MTD even if income later falls, unless you qualify for an exemption or meet the exit conditions.

The 2026-27 Quarterly Calendar: Standard vs Calendar Election

HMRC's default 'standard' quarters follow the tax year. For 2026-27 the periods and deadlines are: Quarter 1, 6 April to 5 July 2026, due 7 August 2026; Quarter 2, cumulative to 5 October 2026, due 7 November 2026; Quarter 3, cumulative to 5 January 2027, due 7 February 2027; and Quarter 4, covering the full year to 5 April 2027, due 7 May 2027. Alternatively, you can make a calendar quarter election in your software before the first update is filed. Your periods then run to 30 June, 30 September and 31 December 2026 and 31 March 2027 — but the four deadlines stay exactly the same: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Because each calendar period closes five days earlier than its standard equivalent, the election buys you five extra days of preparation each quarter and lets month-end bookkeeping line up neatly with reporting periods. Two dates sit after the quarterly cycle. Your 2026-27 MTD tax return — where adjustments, reliefs and other income are added — is due by 31 January 2028, and payment deadlines are unchanged: the balancing payment and any first payment on account for 2027-28 also fall on 31 January 2028. The first quarterly deadline, 7 August 2026, lands on a Friday; software providers expect a rush, so filing in late July is the safer habit.

What a Quarterly Update Contains — and What It Is Not

A quarterly update is a summary of cumulative income and expense totals, by category, drawn from your digital records — one update per business, so a sole trader who is also a landlord files two each quarter, eight per year. Figures run from 6 April to the end of the latest quarter, which makes corrections painless: if you find a £300 expense error after filing Quarter 1, you simply include the corrected figures in Quarter 2's cumulative totals — no resubmission of Quarter 1 is needed. Worked example: your Quarter 1 update shows cumulative income of £12,000 and expenses of £4,000. Your Quarter 2 update reports £25,500 and £8,200 — meaning the second three-month period added £13,500 of income and £4,200 of expenses. Just as important is what an update is not. There is no tax calculation, no accounting or year-end adjustments, no capital allowances, no relief claims and no payment due with it. Per current guidance, businesses with turnover under the £90,000 VAT-registration threshold can report just total income and total expenses rather than full category breakdowns. Everything that turns raw totals into a tax bill — adjustments, allowances, other income such as savings or dividends — happens once a year in the MTD tax return, due 31 January 2028 for the 2026-27 year.

The Penalty Points System (and the 2026-27 Soft Landing)

Late quarterly updates and returns fall under the points-based regime in Schedule 24 to the Finance Act 2021. Each late submission earns one penalty point; for quarterly filers the threshold is four points, at which HMRC charges a £200 penalty — and every further late submission while you remain at the threshold triggers another £200. Points expire after 24 months if you stay below the threshold. Once you hit it, points reset only after 12 months of on-time filing plus bringing all submissions from the previous 24 months up to date. There is a soft landing. At Autumn Budget 2025 the government confirmed that the April 2026 cohort will not receive points for late quarterly updates during 2026-27. But the easement does not cover the 2026-27 tax return itself, which earns a point if it misses 31 January 2028 — and all four updates must still be filed before the return can be submitted. The 2027 and 2028 cohorts get no equivalent easement, per current guidance. Late payment is penalised separately under Schedule 26 to the Finance Act 2021: 3% of the unpaid tax at day 15, a further 3% at day 30, then 10% per annum from day 31 — with an extra 15 days' grace in your first year in the new regime. Penalty parameters have changed more than once since 2025, so verify before filing.

Software Options, Including Free Ones

MTD requires two things of your software: digital record-keeping and the ability to submit updates through HMRC's API. HMRC's own free online Self Assessment filing is not available to mandated MTD users, so everyone in scope needs recognised software. Start with the official 'Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax' tool on GOV.UK, which lets you filter by free products and by whether the software handles self-employment, UK property or both. Free options exist per current guidance: Sage offers a free sole-trader tier, FreeAgent is free with certain UK business bank accounts, and several other vendors list free-forever or free-first-year products on the GOV.UK tool. Verify inclusions before committing, because feature limits — number of properties, bank feeds, agent access, quarterly submission caps — vary widely between free tiers. Spreadsheet users are not forced out: bridging software remains permitted, provided digital links carry figures from the spreadsheet into the submission without manual retyping. And if an accountant already handles your Self Assessment, they can file quarterly updates on your behalf through agent software — though you must still keep the underlying digital records yourself or give them access to do so. Budget roughly one extra bookkeeping hour per quarter compared with an annual-only routine, more in your first year while the habit beds in.

Edge Cases: New Landlords, Joint Property and Exemptions

New landlords and new traders get breathing space. Mandation is tested on filed Self Assessment returns, so if you start a business or first let a property in 2026-27, your first return is not due until 31 January 2028 — and per current guidance you are not required to join MTD until the April following a filed return that shows qualifying income above the threshold. Use HMRC's online checker on GOV.UK to confirm your own start date rather than assuming you are out of scope. Jointly held property has a specific easement, set out in HMRC's January 2025 update notice under the Digital Requirements Regulations: only your share of the income counts towards your threshold and must be recorded quarterly, while expenses for jointly owned property may be recorded annually and dealt with in the year-end return. Each co-owner files independently — there is no joint update. Spouses splitting rent 50/50 on a property grossing £40,000 each test £20,000 against their own threshold, alongside any other qualifying income. Finally, exemption is possible if you are digitally excluded — through age, disability, a location without reliable internet, or membership of a religious society whose beliefs are incompatible with electronic communication. Applications opened in 2025 — you apply by phone or post using the process set out on GOV.UK, and HMRC aims to reply within 28 days. Until a decision arrives, per current guidance, prepare as if you are mandated.