MTD for Income Tax: every key date from 2026 to 2028

PFBy Paul · Last checked against GOV.UK on 3 November 2026 · How we check facts

The short version: the start date depends on your qualifying income in the tax year two years before. Here's the full timeline, straight from HMRC's guidance.

Who joins when

Source: Find out if and when you need to use MTD for Income Tax, HMRC, last updated 26 March 2026. HMRC confirmed the £30,000 and £20,000 stages again in its 5 October 2026 press release.

The test is "more than" the threshold, so qualifying income of exactly £30,000 in 2025 to 2026 doesn't bring you in from April 2027. HMRC also says qualifying income of £20,000 or less means you're automatically exempt (GOV.UK exemptions).

The quarterly deadlines (every year)

Each update is cumulative: it covers the tax year so far. If your accounting year runs 1 April to 31 March, you can choose "calendar" periods instead; the deadlines are the same. Source: Send quarterly updates, GOV.UK.

What this means in practice

• Everyone, first: your 2025 to 2026 Self Assessment return (online) and any tax you owe are due by 31 January 2027. The turnover on that return is what HMRC uses to decide whether you join in April 2027. Self Assessment deadlines, GOV.UK. More: what's due on 31 January 2027.
• Joining in April 2027? Your first quarterly update covers 6 April to 5 July 2027 and is due by 7 August 2027. You still send a normal Self Assessment return for 2026 to 2027 by 31 January 2028. At Budget 2026 the government said people joining in April 2027 won't get penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2027 to 2028. You still have to send them, and a late tax return still gets a point. Budget 2026 overview, paragraph 2.36. More: MTD from April 2027 if you're over £30,000.
• Joining in April 2028? First update due 7 August 2028.
• Already in since April 2026? Your update to 5 October 2026 is due by 7 November 2026, and the one to 5 January 2027 by 7 February 2027. HMRC won't give penalty points for late quarterly updates during 2026 to 2027, but late tax returns still get points. From 2027 to 2028 late quarterly updates do count, starting with the one due 7 August 2027.

Before your start date

1. Check your qualifying income (see our guide).
2. Choose software that's in HMRC's software finder. Our chooser can narrow it down.
3. Sign up on GOV.UK. To sign up you must be registered for Self Assessment and have sent a tax return in the last 2 years. You'll use your Self Assessment sign-in, and you may be asked to prove who you are with a phone app and your passport or driving licence (HMRC removed the answer-questions option in October 2026). Signing yourself up early means you can check your details are right.
4. If you don't sign up, HMRC may do it for you: from September 2026 it began signing up people who should be using MTD for 2026 to 2027 and hadn't. It uses only the details it already holds, so they may be out of date.

What we don't know yet

HMRC says partnerships will join later and hasn’t set a date yet. At Budget 2026 the government also said some groups will be exempt until further notice, including people getting qualifying care relief, non-UK resident entertainers and sportspeople, and some people HMRC can't offer a digital service to. HMRC's exemptions guidance hadn't been updated for this when we checked. We'll update this page when it is.

This page is general information, not tax advice. Read why. Page history: 3 November 2026, full check against GOV.UK.

Drafts are sometimes prepared with help from AI writing tools. Every fact is checked against the GOV.UK page it links to, and Paul reads and approves each page before it goes up. How we check facts.

Quotes and facts from GOV.UK: contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Quoted words are HMRC's or HM Treasury's, not ours.