If you have been reading about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and feel slightly lost in the timeline, you are in good company. The rollout involves several different dates doing several different jobs, and they do not always appear in the order you might expect. There is the date HMRC uses to decide who joins, the date you actually start keeping digital records, the deadlines for quarterly updates, and the new final declaration deadline at the end of it all.

This post walks through the full timeline in order, explains what each date means in practice, and highlights the ones that most people miss. If you are a sole trader or landlord trying to work out what you need to do and when, consider this your calendar companion.

The good news is that once you understand how the dates fit together, the system is actually fairly logical. The phased introduction by income level means most people will have a reasonable runway to prepare, and the deadlines for quarterly updates follow a predictable pattern every year.

The trigger date: 31 January 2026

Your journey into MTD IT almost certainly starts with a date that is not about MTD at all: the filing deadline for your 2024/25 Self Assessment return. HMRC will use the figures on that return to decide whether you fall into the first wave of MTD IT on 6 April 2026.

If your combined self-employment turnover and gross rental income on the 2024/25 return is above £50,000, you are in from April 2026. If you are between £30,000 and £50,000, you will likely be brought in the year after, on 6 April 2027. And if you are between £20,000 and £30,000, the third wave lands on 6 April 2028.

The practical lesson is that how you complete your 2024/25 return matters — not just for the tax it calculates, but for the MTD status it triggers. Errors or late filing here can have consequences that ripple into the following year. File on time, file accurately, and make sure your income figures are reliable.

The phased rollout dates

Below are the key start dates for each income tier. These are mandatory entry dates — the points at which you must be keeping digital records and preparing to send quarterly updates.

Start Date	Qualifying Income Threshold	Who Joins
6 April 2026	Over £50,000	First wave of sole traders and landlords
6 April 2027	Over £30,000	Second wave; SA109 filers also brought in
6 April 2028	Over £20,000	Third wave (announced at Spring Statement 2025)
TBC	—	Partnerships (date not yet announced)

A useful rule of thumb: for each wave, the previous year's Self Assessment return is the one HMRC will use to decide eligibility. So the 2025/26 return, filed by 31 January 2027, determines who joins in the second wave on 6 April 2027.

The digital start date

Your digital start date is the point from which you must actually begin keeping digital records. For most existing businesses this is simply 6 April 2026 (or 2027, or 2028) — the first day of the tax year you are mandated in.

New businesses get a slightly more generous treatment. If you start trading after 5 April 2025, your digital start date is 6 April in the tax year following the filing deadline for your first Self Assessment return.

Take the example of Mark, who starts trading on 1 May 2025. His first tax year is 2025/26, and his first Self Assessment return is due by 31 January 2027. So his digital start date falls on 6 April 2027 — he does not need to keep digital records for his first 22 months of trading. This effectively gives new businesses a grace period to get established before MTD kicks in.

Quarterly update deadlines (standard quarters)

Once you are in MTD, the rhythm of your year changes. Four quarterly updates punctuate the tax year, with a consistent pattern that repeats annually.

Quarter	Period	Deadline
Q1	6 April – 5 July	7 August
Q2	6 July – 5 October	7 November
Q3	6 October – 5 January	7 February
Q4	6 January – 5 April	7 May

Each deadline falls exactly one month and two days after the end of the quarter. That gives you roughly five weeks to finalise your bookkeeping for the period and submit to HMRC through your software.

You can submit early — up to 10 days before the quarter end — if you are confident no further transactions are coming in. This can be useful if you are preparing to go on holiday or want to get it out of the way.

Calendar quarter election

If the standard quarters do not suit your bookkeeping, you can elect to use calendar quarters instead. This can be helpful if you already report VAT on calendar quarters, or if your business naturally breaks into 1 April to 30 June, 1 July to 30 September, and so on.

Quarter	Period	Deadline
Q1	1 April – 30 June	7 August
Q2	1 July – 30 September	7 November
Q3	1 October – 31 December	7 February
Q4	1 January – 31 March	7 May

The deadlines are the same — the only difference is the shape of each quarter. You must make the election before submitting your first quarterly update for the year, and it remains in force until you withdraw it.

The final declaration deadline

At the end of the tax year, the final declaration replaces the traditional Self Assessment return. This is where you make accounting adjustments, bring in other sources of personal income (like employment earnings or dividends), and confirm that the information is complete and correct.

The deadline is 31 January after the end of the tax year — the same as the old Self Assessment deadline. So for the 2026/27 tax year, your first final declaration is due by 31 January 2028.

Unlike Self Assessment returns, HMRC will not provide an online filing service for the final declaration. You submit it through your MTD-compatible software. If you are used to logging into the Government Gateway to file your tax return, that option goes away once you are in MTD.

First-year soft landing

HMRC has built in a soft landing for the first year of MTD IT. For taxpayers joining on 6 April 2026, no penalty points will be charged for missed quarterly updates during 2026/27. Penalty points for quarterly returns begin in earnest from 6 April 2027.

However — and this is critical — the soft landing does not cover late final declarations or late payments of tax. So even in the first year, you need to file your 31 January 2028 final declaration on time and pay any tax due, or you will face the new proportionate penalty regime.

Key dates at a glance

Date	Event
31 January 2026	Filing deadline for 2024/25 returns (used to determine £50,000 threshold)
6 April 2026	MTD IT mandatory for income over £50,000
7 August 2026	First quarterly update deadline (Q1 2026/27)
7 November 2026	Q2 2026/27 deadline
7 February 2027	Q3 2026/27 deadline
31 January 2027	Filing deadline for 2025/26 returns (used to determine £30,000 threshold)
7 May 2027	Q4 2026/27 deadline
6 April 2027	MTD IT mandatory for income over £30,000; penalty points begin for quarterly updates; SA109 filers brought in
31 January 2028	First MTD final declaration deadline (for 2026/27 tax year)
6 April 2028	MTD IT mandatory for income over £20,000
TBC	Partnerships brought into MTD IT

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: How does HMRC decide which year's return triggers my MTD entry? A: HMRC uses the most recently filed Self Assessment return. For the first wave on 6 April 2026, it is your 2024/25 return due on 31 January 2026. For the second wave on 6 April 2027, it is your 2025/26 return due on 31 January 2027.

Q: What if I miss one of the quarterly deadlines? A: You earn a penalty point. For quarterly filers, a £200 financial penalty kicks in once you reach four points. In the first year (2026/27), there is a soft landing and no points will be charged for late quarterly updates.

Q: Can I submit my quarterly update before the period ends? A: Yes, but only within 10 days of the quarter end, and only if you are confident there are no further transactions to record. Early submissions are final — you cannot pull them back if a late invoice or receipt turns up.

Q: Does the 31 January deadline still apply for payment as well as filing? A: Yes. The final declaration must be filed by 31 January after the end of the tax year, and any balancing tax payment is due by the same date. Late payment triggers the new proportionate penalty regime and interest charges.

Q: What if my accounting year does not end on 5 April? A: MTD quarterly reporting runs on the tax year, not on your business's accounting year. You can either align your accounting date to 31 March or 5 April to simplify things, or keep your existing year-end and accept some extra apportionment at the year-end stage.

Conclusion

MTD for Income Tax has more dates in it than the old Self Assessment system, but each one has a specific job. Understanding which date determines your entry, which date you start keeping records, and which dates your submissions fall due goes a long way towards removing the anxiety. Mark them in your calendar now, plan your bookkeeping around them, and the rest tends to follow.

MTD for Income Tax Key Dates: A Complete Timeline for UK Landlords and Sole Traders