Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

When is my next MTD update due?

Q: When is the MTD final declaration due?

Your final declaration for 2026/27, the part that replaces your old Self Assessment return, is due 31 January 2028, the same familiar deadline as before.

Every year, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax has four quarterly deadlines. Here they are for 2026/27, with a live countdown — and you can drop all of them into your calendar in one click.

The four quarterly deadlines, 2026/27

Quarter covered	Update due by

Your final declaration for 2026/27 — the bit that replaces your old Self Assessment return — is due 31 January 2028. Updates are cumulative, so a later quarter can correct an earlier one; you don't have to be perfect on day one.

📅 Subscribe to the MTD deadline calendar

Subscribing keeps the calendar up to date on its own — later tax years and the 2027 and 2028 start dates appear as they are confirmed, and every date carries a reminder a week before. Works with Google Calendar, Outlook and Apple Calendar. No sign-up, no tracking, nothing sent anywhere.

Advising clients? The feed is free to share and free to embed on your own site — link straight to fableworkshq.com/mtd-deadlines.ics.

What you actually send each quarter

Cumulative totals of your business income and expenses, by category
Submitted from software that connects to HMRC — a spreadsheet plus bridging software counts
One update per source: self-employment and property are reported separately
You can send any time from the end of the quarter up to the deadline

Work out the exact figures to send — most sole traders and landlords under £90,000 only need two numbers →

No fines for a late quarterly update in 2026/27

HMRC has confirmed a soft-landing: no penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026/27 tax year. From 2027/28 the points system starts — each missed quarterly update or return is one point, and four points triggers a £200 penalty. So this first year is the one to build the habit in, while mistakes are free.

Not sure MTD even applies to you yet?

Am I in MTD? →Check your qualifying income and start date in 20 seconds. What do I actually send? →Build your quarterly update figures — usually just two numbers. What will I owe? →Estimate your 2026/27 tax bill and monthly set-aside. Missed a quarterly update? →No penalty points this year — here's where you stand. Every MTD deadline, 2026–2028 →All three mandation waves, which tax return decides yours, and what a miss costs in each year. Standard or calendar quarters? →The one-time choice that can shift every deadline by up to a month. What the first deadline showed →The 7 August 2026 update has been and gone — here is what it actually revealed. Missed the tax return? →Work out the HMRC late-filing and late-payment penalty.

Common questions

When is the first MTD quarterly update due?

The first quarterly update for 2026/27 covered 6 April to 5 July 2026 and was due by 7 August 2026 — that deadline has now passed. The next falls on 7 November 2026, then 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027.

What are all four MTD quarterly deadlines for 2026/27?

7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Each update is cumulative — it restates the year to date rather than covering only the three months just gone, so they cover 6 Apr – 5 Jul, 6 Apr – 5 Oct, 6 Apr – 5 Jan and 6 Apr – 5 Apr in turn. That is why a later update can correct an earlier one.

Do I get fined for a late quarterly update?

Not in 2026/27. HMRC has confirmed a soft-landing with no penalty points for late quarterly updates during the first year. From 2027/28 a points system starts: each missed quarterly update or return is one point, and four points triggers a £200 penalty.

When is the MTD final declaration due?

Your final declaration for 2026/27 — the part that replaces your old Self Assessment return — is due 31 January 2028, the same familiar deadline as before.

Who actually has to send MTD quarterly updates?

Sole traders and landlords whose qualifying income is over £50,000 join from 6 April 2026, over £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and over £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Qualifying income is your gross self-employment and property income added together, before expenses, taken from your previous tax return.

The deadlines are the easy part

Knowing the dates takes a minute. Keeping digital records all year — so each update is five minutes, not a lost weekend — is the actual work. That's what our toolkit does.

Self Assessment Tax Estimator 2026/27 — know what you owe before January, not after.
Rental Property ROI & Yield Calculator — including Section 24 and a rate stress test.
Freelance Day-Rate & Profit Calculator — works backwards from the take-home you want.
Invoice Tracker & Log — auto paid/outstanding/overdue, with a chase list.

Excel and Google Sheets. Working formulas, not just formatting. Built and checked by us, with AI assistance, and every calculation verified.

Tracking these dates for clients? One set of deadlines is a calendar entry; a client list of them is a register. The MTD Practice Tracker holds every client's quarterly updates and final declaration in one place, with what is done and what is outstanding. £39 one-time.

Get all four — £19 →

Four working spreadsheets. £9 each, or all four for £19, with a 14-day money-back guarantee.