{ "name": "Fableworks MTD open data", "description": "Original, sourced, machine-readable datasets about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — the UK regime that brings around 2.72 million sole traders and landlords into quarterly digital reporting between April 2026 and April 2028. Each dataset answers a question HMRC does not answer directly in one place, is compiled from named HMRC sources on a stated date, and is published as JSON under CC BY 4.0.", "url": "https://fableworkshq.com/data/", "publisher": "Fableworks HQ", "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "reuse": "You may republish or quote any of this with attribution to Fableworks HQ and a link to the dataset page. No permission needed, no charge, no registration. If a figure has aged, the linked HMRC source is the live answer.", "updated": "2026-08-25", "count": 6, "datasets": [ { "id": "mtd-software", "name": "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: how many recognised products work with a spreadsheet", "description": "Counts of HMRC-recognised MTD for Income Tax software, split by whether the product is bridging software (connects to records you already keep, such as a spreadsheet) and whether the provider offers a free version.", "whatIsOriginal": "HMRC lists recognised products but never counts them, so nobody can say what share of the market lets you keep using a spreadsheet. This counts them.", "page": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-software/", "data": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-software/data.json", "format": "application/json", "bytes": 7499, "capturedOn": "25 August 2026", "capturedOnISO": "2026-08-25", "temporalCoverage": "2026", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "keywords": [ "Making Tax Digital", "MTD software", "bridging software", "HMRC", "spreadsheet" ], "method": "Read from HMRC's own software finder by applying its filters — audience (Individual or Agent), 'Software that connects to your records (bridging software)', and 'Free version'. The counts are the result counts HMRC returned; the names are exactly as HMRC lists them. Nothing is inferred.", "sourceOrganisation": "HMRC", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-that-works-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax" ], "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Fableworks HQ — https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-software/" }, { "id": "mtd-qualifying-income", "name": "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: what counts as qualifying income", "description": "Which income types count towards the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax qualifying-income threshold, and whether the figure is measured before or after expenses. Compiled from HMRC guidance because HMRC does not publish it as a single table.", "whatIsOriginal": "Which income types count towards the threshold, and — the part people get wrong — whether the test is on turnover before expenses or profit after them.", "page": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-qualifying-income/", "data": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-qualifying-income/data.json", "format": "application/json", "bytes": 7266, "capturedOn": "15 August 2026", "capturedOnISO": "2026-08-15", "temporalCoverage": "2026/2028", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "keywords": [ "Making Tax Digital", "qualifying income", "MTD threshold", "sole trader", "landlord" ], "method": "Every row restates HMRC's own guidance 'Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax'. The thresholds come from HMRC's 'Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax'. Nothing is inferred; where the guidance gives a caveat, the caveat is carried into the note.", "sourceOrganisation": "HMRC", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/work-out-your-qualifying-income-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax" ], "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Fableworks HQ — https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-qualifying-income/" }, { "id": "mtd-quarterly-update-categories", "name": "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: the exact quarterly update categories", "description": "The income and expense categories a Making Tax Digital for Income Tax quarterly update must carry, by business type, copied verbatim from HMRC’s legal \"quarterly update direction\". Compiled because HMRC states them inside a legal notice split across four sections and does not publish them as a single machine-readable list.", "whatIsOriginal": "The line-by-line income and expense categories, by business type, copied verbatim from the legal update notice rather than paraphrased from software marketing.", "page": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-quarterly-update-categories/", "data": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-quarterly-update-categories/data.json", "format": "application/json", "bytes": 6033, "capturedOn": "15 August 2026", "capturedOnISO": "2026-08-15", "temporalCoverage": "2026/2027", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "keywords": [ "Making Tax Digital", "quarterly update", "MTD categories", "digital records", "HMRC" ], "method": "Every category is the exact wording of a cell in the tables of HMRC’s \"Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: quarterly update direction\". Nothing is paraphrased or inferred. The counts are simply the number of rows in each table.", "sourceOrganisation": "HMRC", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/update-notice-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax/making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-update-notice" ], "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Fableworks HQ — https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-quarterly-update-categories/" }, { "id": "mtd-penalties", "name": "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: the penalty regime", "description": "The points-based late submission penalties, the late payment percentages by tax year, and the first deadline at which a penalty can actually land for each mandation wave. Compiled from HMRC guidance because HMRC does not publish the onset dates in one place.", "whatIsOriginal": "The points thresholds and late-payment percentages, plus a per-wave onset table HMRC does not publish: the first deadline at which a penalty can actually cost you anything.", "page": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-penalties/", "data": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-penalties/data.json", "format": "application/json", "bytes": 7178, "capturedOn": "15 August 2026", "capturedOnISO": "2026-08-15", "temporalCoverage": "2026/2029", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "keywords": [ "Making Tax Digital", "MTD penalties", "penalty points", "late payment", "HMRC" ], "method": "Every figure restates HMRC's own guidance 'Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax'. The mandation start dates in the onset table come from HMRC's 'Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax'. The onset table is derived only from those two pages — the start date, the rule that new penalties apply from the tax year you join, the rule that quarterly updates for 2026 to 2027 carry no points, and the fixed 7 August / 7 November / 7 February / 7 May quarterly deadlines and 31 January tax-return deadline. No rate is inferred.", "sourceOrganisation": "HMRC", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/penalties-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax" ], "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Fableworks HQ — https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-penalties/" }, { "id": "mtd-impact", "name": "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: how many people it affects and what it costs", "description": "The population HMRC expects each mandation wave to bring in (~780,000 from April 2026, ~970,000 from April 2027, ~970,000 from April 2028 — ~2.72 million in total), the average and aggregate compliance cost to business, and the tax gap it is meant to close. Assembled from HMRC’s two MTD Tax Information and Impact Notes because HMRC never states the combined total.", "whatIsOriginal": "HMRC splits the wave populations and compliance costs across two impact notes and never adds them up. This does — ~2.72 million people at ~£320 to set up plus ~£110 a year — and flags the total as derived.", "page": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-impact/", "data": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-impact/data.json", "format": "application/json", "bytes": 5611, "capturedOn": "16 August 2026", "capturedOnISO": "2026-08-16", "temporalCoverage": "2026/2031", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "keywords": [ "Making Tax Digital", "MTD cost", "compliance cost", "tax gap", "HMRC impact note" ], "method": "Every figure is read from one of HMRC’s two Tax Information and Impact Notes: the extension TIIN (the £50,000 and £30,000 waves) and the reduction TIIN (the £20,000 wave). The only figure HMRC does not itself publish is the cumulative total, which is the sum of its three wave estimates (780,000 + 970,000 + 970,000); it is flagged as derived. No cost or population figure is inferred.", "sourceOrganisation": "HMRC", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extension-of-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-self-assessment-to-sole-traders-and-landlords/making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-self-assessment-for-sole-traders-and-landlords", "https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-self-assessment-reducing-the-mandation-threshold-from-30000-to-20000-from-april-2028/reduction-of-the-mandation-threshold-from-30000-to-20000-from-april-2028" ], "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Fableworks HQ — https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-impact/" }, { "id": "mtd-update-count", "name": "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: how many quarterly updates and submissions you actually file a year", "description": "The number of MTD for Income Tax filings a year is four quarterly updates PER BUSINESS plus one final declaration — not four in total. This works the count out for common profiles from HMRC’s own rules (each trade is a business; all UK property is one business; foreign property is another), which HMRC publishes across four manual sections and never adds up.", "whatIsOriginal": "Everyone repeats \"four updates a year\" — but that is per business. HMRC states each trade, all UK property and all foreign property are separate businesses, and never multiplies it out. This does: two trades plus a rental is 12 updates plus a final declaration a year, not four.", "page": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-update-count/", "data": "https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-update-count/data.json", "format": "application/json", "bytes": 6990, "capturedOn": "16 August 2026", "capturedOnISO": "2026-08-16", "temporalCoverage": "2026/2028", "spatialCoverage": "United Kingdom", "keywords": [ "Making Tax Digital", "quarterly updates", "MTD submissions", "filing frequency", "HMRC" ], "method": "Every figure restates HMRC’s \"Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax\" manual: quarterly updates are sent \"every 3 months ... for each self-employment and property business\" (send-quarterly-updates); a separate trade is a separate business with separate updates (create-digital-records, HMRC’s electrician/driving-instructor example); \"UK properties are treated as one ‘UK property business’ ... non-UK properties are treated as one ‘foreign property business’\" (add-or-cease-income-sources); and there is one year-end final declaration due 31 January (submit-your-tax-return). The per-profile counts are derived only from those rules: quarterly updates = 4 × number of businesses, total submissions = quarterly updates + 1. No number is inferred beyond that multiplication.", "sourceOrganisation": "HMRC", "sources": [ "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax/send-quarterly-updates", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax/create-digital-records", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax/add-or-cease-income-sources", "https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax/submit-your-tax-return" ], "licence": "CC BY 4.0", "licenceUrl": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/", "attribution": "Fableworks HQ — https://fableworkshq.com/mtd-update-count/" } ] }