216,000 landlords and traders haven’t signed up for Making Tax Digital
2 weeks ago | 3 comments
Landlords face first Making Tax Digital deadline
12:01 AM, 27th July 2026, 6 days ago
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Landlords with qualifying income above £50,000 have nearly two weeks to submit their first Making Tax Digital (MTD) quarterly update.
HM Revenue and Customs says more than 864,000 landlords and sole traders are within the scope of the new digital tax requirement.
The first filing deadline falls on 7 August 2026.
The update must include a summary of income and expenses recorded during the first three months of the tax year.
For most people, that period ran from 6 April to 5 July.
Landlords keeping digital records
HMRC’s director of Making Tax Digital, Craig Ogilvie, said: “This is a landmark moment for the tax system.
“Hundreds of thousands of sole traders and landlords are now keeping digital records and will be sending their first quarterly update in the coming weeks.”
He added: “For those already using software, this should be straightforward and take minutes.
“If you haven’t signed up yet, there is still time – visit Gov.uk.uk and search ‘Making Tax Digital for Income Tax’ to get started.”
Check landlord software
Landlords should check that the software they intend to use is compatible before trying to submit their figures.
Some products include HMRC Assist, a digital support tool designed to identify possible errors before an update is filed.
Responsibility for the accuracy of the information remains with the taxpayer.
Once an update has been submitted, the software can provide an estimate of the tax bill based on the figures entered.
Reporting periods for landlords
Customers using calendar-based reporting periods will have to provide figures covering 1 April to 30 June.
HMRC says that the 7 August deadline applies to both groups.
Quarterly updates are not tax returns; they are brief summaries sent to HMRC through recognised compatible software.
An accountant or tax agent can also complete the registration on a customer’s behalf.
MTD is now compulsory
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became compulsory in April 2026 for landlords and sole traders with qualifying income of more than £50,000.
The threshold will fall to more than £30,000 from April 2027, bringing another group of property owners and self-employed people into the system.
It will then be reduced to more than £20,000 from April 2028.
The quarterly reporting requirement does not replace the annual Self-Assessment return.
Customers must still file that return and pay any tax owed by 31 January 2027.
No penalty points will be issued for late quarterly updates during the first year of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
Penalties for late Self-Assessment returns and overdue tax payments will continue to apply.
Tags:
HMRC quarterly update, landlord tax deadline, Making tax digital, MTD for landlords, property income tax, Self Assessment
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Member Since May 2024 - Comments: 27
10:54 AM, 27th July 2026, About 6 days ago
As a landlord it is our duty not to get involved in this scheme. If we boycott it then they will have to revert to the old method, which was working fine. There are no penalties for not submitting, so best do nothing!
Member Since August 2014 - Comments: 45
4:44 PM, 27th July 2026, About 6 days ago
I don’t think it’s true to say that there are no penalties. HMRC are going to be lenient in the first year but I believe there is a legal obligation to submit quarterly figures.
I did mine, via a spreadsheet my accountant gave me, and it was very simple. I use BankTree for my finances and that will generate a quarterly report in Excel which, with a bit of jiggerypokery, I put into the Excel template.
I only have 4 residential and one commercial property so this may not be so simple for larger portfolios. I’m unconvinced that this is an improvement on the old system, but there is talk of paying tax as you go along so this seems to be the harbinger of something altogether more Big Brothery!
Member Since January 2020 - Comments: 142
7:43 PM, 27th July 2026, About 6 days ago
Reply to the comment left by Alan Bromley at 27/07/2026 – 16:44
Hi Alan
My portfolio is 8 x residential, so similar scale to yours.
I currently update monthly property spreadsheets and combine annually for my tax return.
Would you mind sharing:
1) What is the Excel template you’re referring to, and
2) Which software do you use to upload to HMRC?
I was intending to go down the Abridge (MTD for Excel/Sheets) software route.
Thanks!
Member Since August 2014 - Comments: 45
9:21 AM, 28th July 2026, About 5 days ago
Hi Ian, my accountant is using Taxcalc and there’s a downloadable Excel file for landlords on their website.
There are only 14 filing codes, apparently all that HMRC need. I don’t know whether my accountant will use these codes/categories in the annual tax return. It’s the first time I’ve used this firm; my previous accountancy firm split things out in more detail. Currently, I’m keeping the previous tax return categories on BankTree but it’s easy enough to replace those with the MTD codes in the spreadsheet I download.
I edit the BankTree download to match the MTD template and copy and paste it. Voila!
You’ll know that you can’t deduct mortgage interest payments as an expense but there’s a place to put it on the template manually.
MTD is cumulative so I only have to add the next quarter’s data each time. It has prove remarkably simple for me with my small portfolio.
Member Since January 2016 - Comments: 247
11:23 AM, 28th July 2026, About 5 days ago
Don’t waste too much time. Just chuck in some provisional numbers for Q1-Q3 and then go through your normal process at the end Q4 to get the real numbers and voila. I’m using the template and services of mytaxdigital
Member Since August 2014 - Comments: 45
11:40 AM, 28th July 2026, About 5 days ago
Well, if I’m going to ‘chuck’ some provisional numbers for Q1-Q3 I might as well put in the actual numbers. I take your point in that you can correct the data in the last quarter but for me it’s proved very easy to do so far, less than an hour the first time I did it, and even less for subsequent quarters.
Member Since August 2018 - Comments: 5
9:55 AM, 1st August 2026, About 1 day ago
I’m using Hammock recommended by my accountant but then accountant said they don’t even upload it for you so hopefully they will bother to check it before final upload as they charge me £620 and I don’t get any comments from them – however they always make it less tax than I do – lets see what this year’s results will be !!! I must say I do like Hammock its linked to my bank and I can store everything in it like gas certs, tenancies etc and all receipts
Member Since August 2014 - Comments: 45
11:09 AM, 1st August 2026, About 1 day ago
I tried Apari for one year, mirroring my tracking with BankTree, but I had to enter everything twice and, at least the year I tried it, you could not see their tax calculation.
The bank-linked software is no good for me as I often pay for things on my Mastercard and Amex card. I do think BankTree > Excel > upload spreadsheet > accountant > TaxCalc works best for me.
Member Since September 2013 - Comments: 14
4:31 PM, 1st August 2026, About 19 hours ago
Reply to the comment left by Alan Bromley at 27/07/2026 – 16:44
Alan
For clarification please.
You drop a spreadsheet out of BankTree (I also use that, mirroring it with MS Money) and as I understand it you cannot give that/upload to HMRC so do you send that spreadsheet to your accountant to upload?
Admit that I am trying to do this on the cheap and don’t need more software for a couple of Ozzie properties on top two mis-matched timed tax returns each year.
I am one of the statistics who removed them-selves from the UK rental market last year.
Many thanks
Martin
Member Since August 2014 - Comments: 45
4:43 PM, 1st August 2026, About 19 hours ago
Hi Martin – I reformat the BankTree Excel download to make it match the TaxCalc template my accountant has given me. That is, I ensure the columns match so I can just copy and paste from one to the other. There is a drop-down list of categories in the template (HMRC’s categories) and I manually select those.