When are Making Tax Digital quarterly updates due?

If you're in scope for Making Tax Digital, the deadline to file your quarterly update for the period ending 5 October is 7 November.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is HMRC's new way for sole traders and landlords to do Self Assessment. It started on 6 April 2026 for the first group, and HMRC's timetable for that first year puts the second quarterly update at 7 November 2026.

Who is in scope for Making Tax Digital from April 2026?

HMRC's guidance says you need to use it if you are a sole trader or 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. Qualifying income is your total turnover from self-employment and property, before expenses, taken from the tax return you submitted.

The start dates are staged:

• Qualifying income over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 tax return: from 6 April 2026
• Over £30,000 on your 2025 to 2026 tax return: from 6 April 2027
• Over £20,000 on your 2026 to 2027 tax return: from 6 April 2028

HMRC says partnerships will also need to use it in the future, with the timeline to be set out at a later date. If you are weighing up how you trade in the first place, see sole trader or limited company.

What is the deadline for the period ending 5 October?

HMRC sets four quarterly deadlines: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. If your accounting period lines up with the tax year you use standard update periods, and the update covering 6 April to 5 October is due by 7 November. If you chose calendar update periods, the update covers 1 April to 30 September and the deadline is the same.

What do you need to know before you send it?

A few things worth knowing:

1. It has to be submitted through MTD-compatible accounting software. You can't do this through your HMRC online account.
2. It's cumulative, not a standalone quarter. So this update pulls together your self-employment income and expenses from the whole tax year so far, not just July to October.
3. If you have more than one income source (self-employment and property, for example), each one needs its own quarterly update.

On software, HMRC does not provide any itself. Its guidance says you can keep using spreadsheets for your records, but you will still need software that links them to HMRC, sometimes called bridging software. Your HMRC online account is where you view your estimated bill, due dates and any penalty points.

On the cumulative point, HMRC's guidance says each update covers from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, which means you can correct your records without having to resend previous updates. The update is a set of totals for each income and expense category. HMRC does not receive individual receipts or invoices, and you do not need to make accounting or tax adjustments before sending it.

A quiet quarter still needs an update. HMRC says that if you have not received any income or incurred any expenses during the update period, you must still send one.

What happens if you miss a quarterly update?

Miss it, and there's no penalty just yet in this first year, but you won't be able to file your Final Declaration until all four quarterly updates are in, so it's worth staying on top of it regardless.

HMRC's penalty guidance confirms there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. For tax years after that, each missed quarterly update deadline earns a penalty point, and reaching 4 points brings a £200 penalty. Penalty points still apply to a late tax return for 2026 to 2027.

The Final Declaration is the step HMRC's current guidance describes as submitting your tax return using your software. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year HMRC's timetable puts that at 31 January 2028, and its guidance says you need to send your quarterly updates before you are able to submit the return.

Your software creates each update from your digital records, so the records need to be up to date before every deadline. If paperwork has gone missing along the way, see what happens if you lose a receipt.

Thresholds, deadlines and penalty rules change, and whether you are in scope depends on your own income, so treat this as general information rather than advice on your position. If you want your Making Tax Digital set-up looked at, talk to us.