Guides

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: who must sign up, and when

Checked against GOV.UK on 18 October 2026

General guidance taken from GOV.UK, not advice about your own tax affairs. HMRC's rules change, so the GOV.UK pages listed at the end are the final word.

You need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax if you're a sole trader or a landlord registered for Self Assessment, you get income from self-employment or property (or both), and your qualifying income is over the threshold for the tax year. When you start depends on which threshold you cross first.

Qualifying income over In the tax year You use Making Tax Digital 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

If the first row applies to you, you should already have started. GOV.UK says you can still sign up if you have not.

What counts as qualifying income

Qualifying income is your total income from self-employment and property, before expenses — your turnover — taken from the Self Assessment tax return for the earlier tax year. If you have more than one business, add them together.

For example, £25,000 of rental income and £27,000 of self-employment income is £52,000 of qualifying income.

These do not count towards it:

  • employment income (PAYE)
  • your share of profit from a partnership, as an individual partner
  • dividends, including from your own company
  • the State Pension
  • private pensions

A few other cases:

  • Trading for part of the year: if you're a sole trader, HMRC works out what your income would be over a full year. Six months of trading is doubled. For property income you do that calculation yourself.
  • An income source you have stopped: it still counts if you have another self-employment or property income source that continues. If all your self-employment and property income stopped before 6 April 2026, you do not need to use Making Tax Digital — but tell HMRC, or they will sign you up based on what they already hold.

If you're a landlord

Landlords are in the same scheme, on the same thresholds and dates. What's particular to property:

  • Your property turnover counts, added to any self-employment. If you were UK resident, that includes both UK and foreign property income declared on your return.
  • A jointly owned property counts at your share. A property producing £50,000, shared equally with a sibling, gives you £25,000. If you only learn your share after expenses have been taken off, that figure is what's assessed.
  • Jointly let properties get a choice in the quarterly updates: include their income and expenses, or income only. If you leave the expenses out during the year, you report them after it ends, by resending your fourth quarterly update before you submit your tax return. Properties you own outright still need both.

How you'll find out

HMRC reviews your Self Assessment tax return each year. If your qualifying income is over the threshold, they write to tell you that you need to start by the beginning of the next tax year.

No letter does not mean you're not affected. It's still your responsibility to check and to be signed up in time. GOV.UK has a checker that asks about the 2024 to 2025, 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 tax years and tells you if, and when, you need to start.

Before you start

  • You still send a normal Self Assessment tax return for the tax year before you start using Making Tax Digital.
  • To sign up you must be registered for Self Assessment, and have submitted a tax return in the last 2 years.
  • Some people are exempt — for example, if you're digitally excluded. If you're exempt you still report your income in a Self Assessment tax return.
  • If your qualifying income stays below the threshold for 3 tax years in a row once you've started, you can choose to opt out.
  • Partnerships will need to use it in future; HMRC will set out that timeline later.

If you think HMRC has got it wrong, contact them.

Sources