When does Making Tax Digital start for landlords, and what do you have to send HMRC?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies across the United Kingdom, so landlords in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland use the same MTD start dates and quarterly-update rules. The main trap is that several landlord guides still describe the 2026 rules imprecisely; the 2026 Regulations and HMRC guidance now govern.

When does Making Tax Digital start for landlords?

NRLA says earning exactly £50,000 in 2024/25 means starting MTD from April 2026, but regulation 22 exempts anyone with 2024/25 income “not more than” £50,000, so exactly £50,000 is exempt and the statute governs. Making Tax Digital for landlords starts from 6 April 2026 if total annual income from property and self-employment is over £50,000, then widens from April 2027 to those over £30,000 and from April 2028 to those over £20,000. HMRC puts the same threshold in plain terms: “You need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026 if your total annual income from self-employment and property is over £50,000.” The MTD for landlords start date is therefore not triggered by salary, and it is not triggered by exactly £50,000 of qualifying property and self-employment income for 2024/25. Making Tax Digital is live for the first 2026/27 cohort, but only those over the relevant qualifying-income threshold are in scope.

When do you have to sign up for Making Tax Digital?

There is no separate statutory MTD registration deadline: if you are in scope for 2026/27, HMRC says you should sign up now, and ICAEW says you need to be signed up in time to send the first quarterly update due 7 August. HMRC’s sign-up guidance says, “If you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, you should sign up now,” and adds that from September 2026 it will start signing up people who need MTD but have not signed themselves up. That means the practical deadline is earlier than HMRC’s auto-enrolment, because the first returnable quarterly update has to be filed through compatible software by 7 August. The clean answer to the MTD registration deadline question is: sign up before your first quarterly update is due, not because 1 April or 6 April is a registration cut-off, but because you need authorisation and software working before filing.

What are the quarterly submission deadlines?

The quarterly submission deadlines for MTD Income Tax are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and HMRC has said it will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during 2026/27. The 7th-of-the-month rule matters because “one month after quarter-end” is wrong for the statutory periods: one month after 5 July would be 5 August, but the first 2026/27 MTD quarterly update was due on 7 August. HMRC confirms the deadline is the same whether you use standard or calendar update periods, saying, “The dates your update period covers depends on if you use standard or calendar update periods, but the deadline to send your update is the same.” The soft landing removes penalty points for late quarterly updates in the first year, but it does not remove the obligation to submit the updates. Abodient is built for the quarterly cycle under Making Tax Digital, keeping rent, expenses and the tax-return figures in one place so the numbers are ready before each 7th-of-the-month deadline.

What information do you actually send HMRC each quarter?

Each MTD quarterly update sends totals for the income and expense categories used for your property or self-employment income, not your full Self Assessment return and not every receipt or invoice. Abodient’s finance tools are a good fit for this, because they keep transactions, rent due against rent received, arrears, ownership shares and the figures a landlord needs for a tax return in one place, so the quarterly totals are ready to work from. HMRC says, “Your quarterly updates will include totals for each income and expense category you’ve used for your self-employment and property income,” and also says, “HMRC will not receive details of individual digital records, such as a receipt or invoice.” Each update is cumulative for the tax year so far, because HMRC says it covers “from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, not just the previous three months.” If your UK property or self-employment turnover is below the VAT registration threshold, HMRC’s digital record-keeping notice allows a simpler update of total income and total expenses for each income source, but residential property finance costs such as mortgage interest still have to be recorded and sent separately from other expenses.

Do you have to keep digital records and upload your receipts?

You must keep digital records in compatible software for MTD, but you do not have to upload receipt images to HMRC. Abodient helps with the record-keeping side by letting you upload documents against a property, reading the fields and making them searchable by meaning rather than filename, so the paperwork behind your figures is easier to find when you need it. The 2026 Regulations require digital records of the amounts and dates behind the figures, including “details of the items comprised in the financial information… including the amounts of those items and the dates on which they were received or incurred,” and require taxpayers to “use functional compatible software to do so.” That is a record-keeping rule, not a receipt-upload rule: HMRC’s customer-journey guidance says, “The new requirement to keep digital records will not include an obligation to make and store images of invoices and receipts digitally.” You still need to keep original records or copies, such as invoices and bank statements, because HMRC says, “You still need to keep original records or supporting documents (or copies of them) that you have used to prepare your tax return.” Receipt capture can be useful bookkeeping, but it is not an HMRC upload requirement.

Can your accountant do Making Tax Digital for you?

Yes, your accountant or bookkeeper can do Making Tax Digital for you, but you or your agent still need to create and keep the digital records and you still file a normal Self Assessment return at year end. HMRC says, “If you’re a sole trader or property landlord, you can choose to have one or more tax agents help you to manage Making Tax Digital for Income Tax,” and gives the example that “a bookkeeper might complete quarterly updates.” HMRC also says, “You or your agent will need to create and store digital records of your self-employment and property income and expenses.” Landlords should be careful with older software and accountancy pages that still package MTD around an abolished year-end statement: paragraph 8 of Schedule A1 to TMA 1970 was omitted from 1 April 2026, and HMRC’s current position is that “Quarterly updates do not replace Self Assessment but those in scope will have to send their quarterly updates to be able to submit a tax return.”

Last reviewed August 2026.

Sources

• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 1 — “These Regulations may be cited as the Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 and come into force on 1st April 2026.” Source
• Explanatory Memorandum to SI 2026/336 — “For existing businesses, obligations generally start on 6 April 2026 and end when the business ceases.” Source
• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 22 — “This Chapter applies to a relevant person for the digital obligation tax year 2026-27 if the amount of the person’s qualifying income for the tax year 2024-25 is not more than the qualifying amount for the tax year 2024-25.” Source
• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 27 — “(a)£50,000 for the tax year 2024-25;” Source
• HMRC, Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — “You need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026 if your total annual income from self-employment and property is over £50,000.” Source
• Explanatory Memorandum to SI 2026/336 — “From April 2026 it applies to those above £50,000, widening to those above £30,000 from April 2027 and above £20,000 from April 2028.” Source
• Explanatory Memorandum to SI 2026/336 — “The territorial application of this instrument (that is, where the instrument produces a practical effect) is the United Kingdom.” Source
• HMRC, Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — “If you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, you should sign up now.” Source
• HMRC, Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — “From September 2026, HMRC will start to sign up anyone who needs to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and has not signed themselves up.” Source
• ICAEW Tax Faculty, TAXguide 04/25 — “Taxpayers do not have to be signed up by the start of the tax year, but they do need to have signed up in time to submit their first quarterly update (due 7 August).” Source
• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 12 — “Subject to regulation 14, where no calendar quarters election has effect in relation to a digital obligation tax year (‘the tax year Y’), the quarterly update periods associated with the tax year Y, and the quarterly update deadlines for those periods, are those set out in Table 1.” Source
• HMRC, Send quarterly updates — “The dates your update period covers depends on if you use standard or calendar update periods, but the deadline to send your update is the same.” Source
• HMRC, 436,000 sole traders and landlords make their tax digital — “The quarterly update deadline for all customers was 7 August 2026.” Source
• HMRC, Send quarterly updates — “HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026 to 2027 tax year.” Source
• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 10 — “A quarterly update must contain such information (‘quarterly update information’) relating to a relevant activity of a relevant person as the Commissioners may specify by direction.” Source
• HMRC, Send quarterly updates — “Your quarterly updates will include totals for each income and expense category you’ve used for your self-employment and property income.” Source
• HMRC, Send quarterly updates — “HMRC will not receive details of individual digital records, such as a receipt or invoice.” Source
• HMRC, Send quarterly updates — “Each time you send a quarterly update it will cover from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, not just the previous three months.” Source
• HMRC, Digital record keeping notice for MTD Income Tax — “This will mean they send figures for total income and total expenses, for each relevant income source, in their quarterly update information.” Source
• HMRC, Digital record keeping notice for MTD Income Tax — “However, such a person must, if they receive property income and incur residential property finance costs (such as mortgage interest), create a separate digital record for these costs and send them separately from other expenses, in their quarterly update information.” Source
• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 15 — “(b)details of the items comprised in the financial information described in sub-paragraph (a), including the amounts of those items and the dates on which they were received or incurred;” Source
• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, regulation 15 — “(b)use functional compatible software to do so, and” Source
• HMRC, MTD Income Tax End-to-End Customer Journeys — “The new requirement to keep digital records will not include an obligation to make and store images of invoices and receipts digitally.” Source
• HMRC, Create digital records — “You still need to keep original records or supporting documents (or copies of them) that you have used to prepare your tax return, such as bank statements and invoices.” Source
• HMRC, Choose agents for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — “If you’re a sole trader or property landlord, you can choose to have one or more tax agents help you to manage Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.” Source
• HMRC, Choose agents for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — “For example, a bookkeeper might complete quarterly updates.” Source
• HMRC, Create digital records — “You or your agent will need to create and store digital records of your self-employment and property income and expenses.” Source
• Taxes Management Act 1970 Schedule A1 — “Sch. A1 para. 8 omitted (1.4.2026) by virtue of Finance Act 2026 (c. 11), s. 258(2)(8); S.I. 2026/356, reg. 2” Source
• HMRC, 436,000 sole traders and landlords make their tax digital — “Quarterly updates do not replace Self Assessment but those in scope will have to send their quarterly updates to be able to submit a tax return.” Source