Making Tax Digital for Landlords — Live Since April 2026
Who's mandated now, who joins in 2027 and 2028, the exact quarterly deadlines, the first-year penalty easement, and what HMRC's September auto-enrolment means if you haven't signed up.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax stopped being a future problem on 6 April 2026. The first quarterly deadline (7 August 2026) has already passed, 436,000+ updates were filed in the first wave, and HMRC began auto-enrolling roughly 290,000 landlords and sole traders who ignored it from September 2026. This guide is the current, sourced state of the rules — including the parts we could not verify, labelled as exactly that.
Who is in, and from when
| Gross qualifying income | Tested on tax year | MTD from |
|---|---|---|
| Over £50,000 | 2024/25 | 6 April 2026 — live now |
| Over £30,000 | 2025/26 | 6 April 2027 |
| Over £20,000 | 2026/27 | 6 April 2028 |
“Qualifying income” is gross — self-employment turnover plus property income, combined, before a single expense. Jointly-owned property counts your share only. Limited companies are outside MTD IT entirely; partnerships have no announced date. The checker applies all of this in three questions.
What compliance actually looks like
- Digital records in HMRC-recognised software (the official “find software” page on gov.uk is the authoritative list — free options and spreadsheet-bridging tools included, alongside landlord-specific apps).
- Four cumulative updates a year — 2026/27 deadlines: 7 Aug, 7 Nov, 7 Feb, 7 May. Cumulative means each update is year-to-date, so errors are corrected in the next one, never resubmitted. A calendar-quarters election exists if that matches your bookkeeping; it must be made before your first update of the year.
- A final declaration replaces the Self Assessment return — 31 January 2028 for 2026/27. Payment dates don’t change: MTD is quarterly information, not quarterly tax.
- Joint-property easement: you may report gross rent only during the year and sort expense splits at year-end (HMRC’s digital record-keeping notice, 17 Jan 2025).
Penalties — with the year-one truth
The points system: each missed deadline is a point, 4 points = £200, then £200 per further miss; points expire after 24 clean months. The year-one easement is real and it is narrower than headlines said: gov.uk’s penalties page applies points to quarterly updates only “for tax years after 2026 to 2027” — so late quarterlies this year cost nothing, but the final declaration and payment deadlines carry normal consequences, and unfiled quarterlies still block your year-end filing.
What we could not verify — published as open questions
- An exit rule. The accountant-blog claim that dropping below the threshold for three years releases you does not appear on gov.uk’s eligibility page as we read it. Until HMRC states one, treat mandation as sticky.
- Rent-a-Room-only landlords. No MTD guidance we could find addresses whether relieved Rent-a-Room income counts toward the threshold. If this is you, get a professional answer before assuming.
- Non-resident landlords: August-2026 reporting says HMRC deferred SA109 filers a year because it hasn’t settled how MTD applies to them — credible, but we could not pin the primary source; treat as provisional.
gov.uk: find-out-if-and-when (upd. 26 Mar 2026) · qualifying-income guidance · penalties page (read verbatim 29 Aug 2026) · record-keeping notice 17-Jan-2025 · gov.uk news 13-Aug-2026 · auto-enrolment coverage 28-Aug-2026. Checked 29 Aug 2026.
Quick answers
For 2026/27, late quarterly updates themselves carry no penalty points — but ignoring MTD entirely doesn't work: HMRC began auto-enrolling non-signed-up taxpayers from September 2026, unfiled quarterlies block your year-end filing, and from 2027/28 the points system bites (£200 at four points, £200 per further miss). Choosing your own software beats being enrolled into chaos.
No — the software does the submissions, and many landlords self-serve fine. Where an accountant earns their fee: messy records, mixed self-employment + property, the joint-ownership questions, and the first year's setup. A common pattern is paying for setup + the final declaration and doing quarterlies yourself.
Standard periods run from 6 April: to 5 Jul (file by 7 Aug 2026), 5 Oct (7 Nov), 5 Jan (7 Feb 2027) and 5 Apr (7 May). A calendar-quarters election shifts the periods to month-ends without changing deadlines. Updates are cumulative, so nothing is ever resubmitted — later updates simply correct.
Yes — HMRC's official 'find software' page lists free products and bridging tools that work from spreadsheets, alongside paid landlord-specific apps. Match the tool to your complexity: one property and tidy records need much less software than a portfolio with an agent statement each month.