Has HMRC signed you up to Making Tax Digital? Here's what to do next
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From September 2026, HMRC is signing up sole traders and landlords who should have joined Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from April 2026 but haven't yet. It's happening in stages, and HMRC will confirm it by letter or by a message in your HMRC online account.
The letter looks scary. The to-do list isn't. Being signed up isn't a penalty and doesn't mean you're in trouble, but it also isn't the finish line. Before you can use MTD, you must sign in to HMRC online services and confirm your business details. Then you choose compatible software (your spreadsheet is fine), and one catch-up submission brings you fully up to date.
Already had the letter? Jump to what to do next. Not heard anything yet? Start at am I signed up?
This guide is most relevant if you are:
- A sole trader or landlord who has received an HMRC letter or online message about being signed up to MTD
- Someone who knew MTD was coming but hasn't registered and wants to get ahead of HMRC
- Wondering what you can and can't do until you've confirmed your details with HMRC
This guide covers
This guide is provided for general information only and is based on HMRC guidance available at the time of writing, including draft guidance on HMRC-led sign-up.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became mandatory from 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year. Until now, HMRC has relied on people signing themselves up.
That's changing. HMRC has confirmed that from September 2026 it will sign up anyone it believes should be using MTD for the 2026/27 tax year who hasn't registered. This is happening in stages, and HMRC contacts each person after they've been signed up. That confirmation arrives by post or by a message in their HMRC online account, depending on their circumstances.
HMRC's message behind the move is simple: MTD is not optional. But the same announcements also confirm a soft landing (no penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026/27) and a clear, short list of steps for anyone who's been signed up. That's what the rest of this guide walks through.
HMRC is working from your most recent Self Assessment tax return. If it shows qualifying income over £50,000, HMRC believes MTD applies to you from April 2026. And if you haven't signed up, it will do it for you.
Two things worth knowing about that £50,000 figure:
- It's your qualifying income: your total turnover from self-employment and property before you deduct expenses or taxes. Not your profit
- It's the combined total across all your self-employment and property income, not each one separately
So a landlord with £30,000 of rent and £25,000 of freelance income is over the threshold, even though neither is on its own.
HMRC-led sign-up only applies to people who should have joined from April 2026. If you're due to join from April 2027 or April 2028, HMRC still expects you to sign yourself up when the time comes. Don't wait for a letter that isn't coming.
Here's the part most people miss: HMRC signing you up puts you in the system, but it doesn't switch the system on. Before you can use MTD, and before any software can submit anything for you, you need to sign in to HMRC online services and confirm your details. That's step one for a reason.
- Sign in to HMRC online services. Use the same sign-in details you use for Self Assessment. If you've never used HMRC online services, you'll need to set up an account first. Do this once and you're in.
- Confirm your business details. The first thing you'll see is a check screen headed "Check HMRC records only list your active businesses". You can't get any further until it's done, and it's quicker than it sounds (see below).
- Choose your MTD-compatible software. This does not mean accounting software. If your records live in a spreadsheet, bridging software connects that spreadsheet to HMRC. Check your choice covers all your income sources and works with your update periods.
- Catch up. Get your income and expenses from 6 April 2026 into your digital records. If they're already in a spreadsheet, most of this job is done. Then send your overdue quarterly update as soon as you can. Because updates are cumulative, one submission brings you fully up to date. Your HMRC account shows exactly which updates are overdue and what's coming next.
- Settle into the rhythm. Quarterly updates for 2026/27 fall due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Whichever deadlines are still ahead of you, keep your records up to date and submit by each one, then your end of year tax return confirms your final position. And don't forget: your 2025/26 tax return still goes through the old Self Assessment system, due by 31 January 2027, as normal.
What the check actually involves
HMRC shows you a list of the businesses it has on record for you, covering your sole trader businesses and your property businesses, based on your last tax return. It wants exactly one thing from you: that the list shows your active businesses. No more, no fewer.
On that screen you can:
- Cease any business you no longer get income from
- Add any business that's missing, whether that's a new self-employment or UK or foreign property income you've started since your last return
- Confirm and continue once the list is right
And here's the reassuring bit, in HMRC's own words: business details that are "not right, misspelt or out of date, can be amended at a later date". A wonky business name or an old address doesn't need fixing today. Active businesses right, confirm, done.
One quirk to know: all your UK properties count as one "UK property business", and all your foreign properties count as one "foreign property business", however many properties you own.
In short
Being signed up by HMRC is like someone buying you a gym membership. You're a member now, but you can't use the equipment until you've been to reception, shown some ID and confirmed your details.
After that? This particular gym only asks you to turn up four times a year. And if you already keep a spreadsheet, you've been training for years without noticing.
HMRC-led sign-up started rolling out from September 2026 and happens in stages. So if your qualifying income was over £50,000 and nothing has landed yet, that's not a reprieve. It's a queue.
You can check where you stand right now by signing in to HMRC online services:
- If HMRC has signed you up, a message will appear on screen confirming it, and you'll be asked to confirm your income sources. Then you follow the steps above
- If there's no message, you haven't been signed up yet
And if you haven't been signed up yet? You can sign yourself up today, and honestly, it's the better move. HMRC's data comes from your last tax return, which may not reflect your life now. Sign yourself up and your details are right from the start: your current income sources, your current circumstances, no surprises. You also buy yourself more time to get comfortable with quarterly updates before penalty points apply from the 2027/28 tax year.
Put simply: you're going through this door either way. It's nicer to walk through it than be carried through it.
The quarterly deadlines for 2026/27 are 7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. If HMRC has signed you up part-way through the year, you've almost certainly missed at least one of them. Here's why that's less of a problem than it sounds.
Quarterly updates are cumulative. Each one reports your running totals from the start of the tax year, not just the last three months.
That means your next update, whichever quarter you've reached, contains your totals from 6 April 2026 right through to the end of the latest period. Submit that one update and HMRC has your complete picture for the year so far. There's no going back to file missed quarters separately, no matter how many you've missed.
One submission, fully caught up. It's one of the few genuinely forgiving design choices in the whole system, so take advantage of it.
One important nuance though: "no penalty points this year" doesn't mean quarterly updates are optional. HMRC is clear that you must submit your quarterly updates before your tax return can be submitted. Skipping them entirely just moves the problem to your tax return, with interest on the stress.
Under the new late submission rules, a penalty point is awarded when a quarterly update or tax return deadline is missed, and a financial penalty is issued once you reach four points. But the rollout is deliberately gentle in year one. Here's the full picture:
- Late quarterly updates in 2026/27: no penalty points. This is the soft landing, and it's exactly why HMRC feels able to sign people up part-way through the year. But the updates are still required before your tax return can go in
- Your 2026/27 tax return: penalty points apply. Miss the 31 January 2028 deadline and you will get a point, soft landing or not
- From the 2027/28 tax year: penalty points apply to late quarterly updates too. This year is the year to build the habit while mistakes are free
- Late payment: new penalties apply from 2026/27, scaled to how long you take to pay what you owe. The tax itself is still due by 31 January following the end of the tax year
- Your 2025/26 tax return is unaffected by all of this. It goes through the existing Self Assessment system, due 31 January 2027, with the usual consequences for missing it
In short: no fines for finding your feet with quarterly updates this year, but this is the year to find them.
HMRC is working from your last tax return, and life moves on. The check screen exists precisely because HMRC knows its records might be out of date, so most corrections happen right there, not on hold to a helpline.
If a business has closed, cease it during the check. What happens next depends on timing:
- If all your self-employment and property income ceased by 5 April 2026, you won't need to use MTD for the 2026/27 tax year at all
- If your income ceased after 6 April 2026, you'll still need to submit a final quarterly update covering up to the date it ceased, and your 2026/27 tax return. Then you're out
If an income source is missing, add it during the check and start keeping digital records for it.
If other details are wrong, such as your business address, description or name, these don't block the check and can be amended later, or you can contact HMRC's Self Assessment general enquiries.
If you don't think you should be in MTD at all, contact Self Assessment general enquiries. There's also a formal exemption if you're digitally excluded, meaning it's not reasonable for you to use software to keep digital records or submit updates. The bar for exemption is genuinely high, and preferring not to isn't the same as being unable to. But if HMRC's information is wrong, saying so promptly beats quietly not filing every time.
No. This is the biggest misconception about MTD, and, we suspect, the reason plenty of people put off signing up in the first place.
MTD requires digital records and submissions through compatible software. A spreadsheet is a digital record. What connects your spreadsheet to HMRC is bridging software, and it's a fully HMRC-recognised way to comply.
The point is this: if you've spent years keeping tidy records in Excel or Google Sheets, HMRC's letter doesn't oblige you to abandon them, learn a new system or take on a monthly subscription. You need one small addition to what you already do: a way to send your totals to HMRC four times a year.
If the letter had you assuming you'll need to change how you work, that's the assumption worth challenging before you spend a penny.
suiteSheets is HMRC-recognised bridging software built for exactly the situation you're in: your records live in a spreadsheet, and you need to get compliant without drama.
Do HMRC's check first. No software can submit for you until you've confirmed your details in HMRC online services. Then, from confirmed to caught up:
- Download our free template, or add our Overview sheet to the spreadsheet you already use
- Make sure your income and expenses from 6 April 2026 onwards are in it
- Upload it to suiteSheets and submit your cumulative update before your next quarterly deadline. One submission, fully caught up
It's £20 per tax year for your first income source, covering all your quarterly submissions, with unlimited resubmissions included. No monthly fees, no new system to learn, no jargon. Just your spreadsheet, finally speaking HMRC's language.
No. HMRC-led sign-up isn't a penalty or a warning. HMRC is adding people it believes should be in MTD to the system, rather than waiting for them to register themselves.
Not quite. You first need to sign in to HMRC online services and confirm the businesses HMRC holds for you are correct. The service won't let you past this check until it's done. After that, you're ready to connect software and submit.
HMRC shows you the sole trader and property businesses it has on record for you. You cease anything that's closed, add anything that's missing, and confirm. Misspelt names or out-of-date details can be amended later. The check only needs your active businesses to be right.
Check by signing in to HMRC online services. If you've been signed up, a message will appear on screen and you'll be asked to confirm your income sources. If there's no message, you haven't been signed up yet. Sign-up is rolling out in stages, so it may simply not be your turn.
You could, but signing yourself up is the better move. Your details are correct from the start rather than based on an old tax return, and you get more time to settle into quarterly updates before penalty points apply from the 2027/28 tax year.
Not separately. Quarterly updates are cumulative, so your next update includes your totals from the start of the tax year. One submission brings you fully up to date, however many deadlines you've missed. You do still need to submit your quarterly updates before your tax return can go in.
Not for late quarterly updates in the 2026/27 tax year, as no penalty points apply. Penalty points do still apply if your 2026/27 tax return misses 31 January 2028, and from 2027/28 they'll apply to late quarterly updates too. New late payment penalties also apply from 2026/27.
Cease them during HMRC's confirmation check. If everything ceased by 5 April 2026, you won't need MTD for 2026/27 at all. If income ceased after 6 April 2026, you'll submit a final quarterly update up to the date it ceased and your 2026/27 tax return, and then you're done with MTD.
Yes. Your 2025/26 tax return goes through the existing Self Assessment system as normal, due by 31 January 2027. MTD only changes how you report from the 2026/27 tax year onwards.
No. Every step, from the HMRC check to choosing software, keeping records and submitting updates, is designed to be done yourself. If you already manage your own records in a spreadsheet, you're better prepared than the letter gives you credit for.
This guide is provided for general information only. suiteSheets is software for spreadsheet users. We do not provide tax advice, accounting advice or legal advice. If you are unsure how Making Tax Digital applies to your circumstances, contact HMRC or a qualified adviser.
These HMRC pages provide further context on HMRC-led sign-up, signing yourself up, compatible software and exemptions. It's worth checking GOV.UK for the latest position.
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