Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
How many MTD updates a year? Four per business — not four in total
Everyone repeats "four quarterly updates a year". That is the count for one business. HMRC's own rules make a quarterly update per business, and count a separate trade, your UK property and your foreign property as separate businesses. Multiply it out and a landlord who also runs two trades files 12 quarterly updates a year, plus a final declaration — 13 submissions where before MTD there was one. Every figure below is read from HMRC's own guidance, 16 August 2026.
Filings a year = 4 × (number of businesses) + 1 final declaration
A quarterly update is per business, four times a year. Your businesses are: each separate self-employment trade, all your UK property (one business, however many properties), and all your foreign property (a second property business). One year-end final declaration pulls them together.
"You need to send your quarterly updates to HMRC every 3 months for each self-employment and property business you have." — GOV.UK, Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: send quarterly updates
Not sure whether MTD applies to you yet, or when it starts? Check your MTD start date and every MTD deadline.
| Your situation | Businesses | Quarterly updates a year | Final declaration | Total MTD filings a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A freelancer with one tradeThe number everyone quotes — but it only holds if this is your only business. | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| A landlord with any number of UK propertiesOne property or twenty, UK property is a single business, so still four updates. | 1 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| A trade plus a UK rentalThe self-employment and the UK property are separate businesses — eight updates, not four. | 2 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| Two separate trades (e.g. electrician and driving instructor)HMRC's own worked example: each trade files its own updates. | 2 | 8 | 1 | 9 |
| Two trades plus a UK rentalTwelve quarterly updates a year, where before MTD it was one Self Assessment return. | 3 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
| A trade, a UK rental and a foreign rentalUK and foreign property are two separate property businesses, so this is three businesses. | 3 | 12 | 1 | 13 |
Quarterly updates a year = 4 × number of businesses. Total MTD filings a year = the updates plus one final declaration. The four update deadlines are the same dates for everyone (7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May by default), so more businesses means more updates on the same dates, not more dates.
| A quarterly update is per business, four times a year | You send a quarterly update every 3 months for each self-employment and property business you have — so four updates a year, per business, not four in total. |
| Each separate trade is a separate business | HMRC's own example: an electrician who is also a driving instructor keeps one set of digital records for each trade and sends separate quarterly updates for each. |
| All your UK property is one business | One or more UK properties are legally treated as a single 'UK property business'. Ten flats or one, that is one update stream — and jointly let properties form part of it. |
| Foreign property is a second, separate property business | Non-UK properties are treated as one 'foreign property business', separate from your UK property business — so a UK landlord who also lets a place abroad has two property businesses. |
| One final declaration a year, whatever your business count | At the end of the year a single final declaration (your tax return, due 31 January) pulls every business together. More businesses means more quarterly updates, but still one year-end return. |
The worked example that surprises people
You are an electrician who also does a bit of driving instruction, and you let out one flat. To HMRC's MTD rules that is three businesses: two separate trades and one UK property business.
So you file 12 quarterly updates a year — four for the electrical work, four for the driving instruction, four for the rental — and then one final declaration at the year end. That is 13 MTD submissions a year. Before MTD, the same person filed a single Self Assessment return. The counter-intuitive part: buying a second flat would not add any updates, because all your UK property is one business — but taking on a flat abroad would, because foreign property is a separate business.
What this means if you are choosing software — or an accountant
The filing count is why "just use a spreadsheet" gets harder the more businesses you run: each one needs its own digital records and its own four updates. 17 HMRC-recognised products will do the submitting for free, and the count itself is published as open data if you want to quote it.
An accountant or bookkeeper? This is your problem at scale: a client with three businesses is 13 filings a year, and 40 such clients is over 500 deadlines. The MTD Practice Tracker keeps every client's updates and final declarations on one board so none slip. £39 one-time.
Just doing your own? The four record-keeping spreadsheets — £19 keep each business's income and expenses in the shape a quarterly update needs, so filing on the day is a five-minute job rather than a scramble.
Common questions
How many quarterly updates do you file a year under MTD?
Four per business, not four in total. HMRC requires a quarterly update every 3 months for each self-employment and property business you have. One business is four updates a year; a trade plus a UK rental is eight; two trades plus a rental is twelve. On top of the updates you file one final declaration a year.
What counts as a separate business for MTD?
Each separate self-employment trade is its own business — HMRC's example is an electrician who is also a driving instructor. All your UK property is a single 'UK property business' however many properties you own, and all your foreign property is a separate 'foreign property business'. Partnership income, dividends, savings and employment (PAYE) are not MTD businesses and add no updates.
Does having more properties mean more quarterly updates?
No. One or more UK properties are treated as one 'UK property business', so a landlord with ten UK flats files the same four updates a year as a landlord with one. A property abroad is different — it is a separate foreign property business and adds another four updates.
How many total MTD submissions a year is that?
Total submissions a year = 4 × number of businesses + 1 final declaration. One business is five a year, two is nine, three is thirteen. Before MTD, all of those people filed a single Self Assessment return a year.
Do more updates mean more penalties?
No. HMRC gives one penalty point per missed deadline even if several businesses filed late that quarter, so more updates is a time cost, not extra penalty exposure. And quarterly updates for the 2026/27 tax year carry no penalty points at all — see MTD penalties.
Use these figures
If you are writing about how much work MTD adds and want the counts or the profile table, take them. Published under CC BY 4.0 — use it commercially, just credit the source so your readers can check the working.
Machine-readable: /mtd-update-count/data.json — the per-business rule, the six worked profiles, the method, the sources and the caveats.
Citation: "Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, quarterly updates are filed four times a year per business — where each separate trade is a business, all UK property is one business and all foreign property another — plus one year-end final declaration. So a sole trader with two trades and a rental files 12 quarterly updates and one final declaration a year (13 submissions), against a single Self Assessment return before MTD." — Fableworks HQ, compiled from HMRC guidance, 16 August 2026.
We would rather you quoted it accurately than not at all. HMRC updates its guidance; if a figure here has aged, HMRC's manual is the live answer.
Keep going
Am I in MTD? · What counts as qualifying income · What goes in a quarterly update · The penalties · Every MTD deadline · All our MTD open data
Figures read from HMRC's Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax manual: send quarterly updates, create digital records, add or cease income sources and submit your tax return, all read 16 August 2026. HMRC's guidance is the live answer if you are reading this long after that date.