Do I Still File a Self Assessment Return Under MTD?

Yes. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax does not end the Self Assessment tax return. It adds four quarterly updates to your year and changes how the return is sent, but a return is still due by 31 January after every tax year.

HMRC put it plainly in November 2026, when it briefed software providers on its campaign for the 31 January 2027 deadline: quarterly updates are summaries, and they do not replace the return. That message matters most to the first group, who started Making Tax Digital on 6 April 2026 and still have an ordinary 2025 to 2026 return to file this January.

Why so many people think the return has gone

For years, a common myth about Making Tax Digital was that quarterly reporting would replace the annual return. Early government plans promised the ‘death of the tax return’, which never happened, and plenty of articles repeated the idea, including, until this week, some of our own. The scheme that actually started on 6 April 2026 is different.

What changed is the route, not the destination. Before, you kept records however you liked and filed one return a year, online or through an accountant. Now, if you are in scope, you keep digital records, send HMRC a summary every quarter from compatible software, and then submit your tax return from that same software after the year ends. The return is still where your tax is worked out and settled.

“Quarterly updates sent using compatible MTD software during 2026 to 2027 are summaries and do not replace the 2025 to 2026 tax return.”

What a quarterly update is, and what it is not

A quarterly update is a running total of your business income and expenses for the tax year so far, sent from your software. There is one for each business: your sole trade and, if you let property, your property business. They are due on 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and each one is cumulative, so the 7 November update carries everything from 6 April to 5 October.

What an update does not do is just as important. It does not include your other income, such as wages, savings interest, dividends or pensions. It does not claim reliefs such as pension contributions or Gift Aid. It does not settle your tax, and it does not create a bill. HMRC uses the figures to show you an estimate, but nothing is final until the return.

What the year-end return adds

After the fourth update you submit your tax return for the year. HMRC's guidance used to call this step the final declaration, and you will still see that name in software and older articles. It is the same thing: your Self Assessment tax return, sent through your Making Tax Digital software instead of HMRC's old online form.

This is where you bring in everything the updates leave out. You add any other income, claim reliefs and allowances, make accounting adjustments such as capital allowances, check HMRC's calculation, and confirm the figures are correct. The deadline is unchanged at 31 January after the tax year, and the payment dates are unchanged too: the balance of your tax and any first payment on account on 31 January, and the second payment on account on 31 July.

You may also remember an "end of period statement" from earlier versions of the scheme. HMRC dropped it before Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started, so there is no separate year-end statement to send.

Submissions to HMRC in one tax year

• Self Assessment only1 return
• Making Tax Digital, one business4 updates + 1 return
• Making Tax Digital, trade and property8 updates + 1 return

If you started on 6 April 2026: two returns, two routes

The first group, people whose qualifying income on their 2024 to 2025 return was over £50,000, has two returns to think about, and they go two different ways.

The 2025 to 2026 return, due by 31 January 2027. This covers 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026, the year before you joined. GOV.UK says you submit a Self Assessment return as you normally do for the tax year before you start using Making Tax Digital. So you file it the way you always have: HMRC's online service, your accountant, or commercial software. The current penalties apply to it, including the £100 penalty if it is late. The 31 January 2027 deadline guide sets out the rules and penalties in full.

The 2026 to 2027 return, due by 31 January 2028. This is your first return through Making Tax Digital software, submitted after the four quarterly updates for 2026 to 2027. The new points-based penalties apply to it. The 31 January 2028 deadline guide covers what changes.

The quarterly updates you are sending now belong to 2026 to 2027. They have nothing to do with the return due in January 2027, which is about the year before. Keep the two years apart in your records: everything dated up to 5 April 2026 goes in the 2025 to 2026 return, and everything from 6 April 2026 belongs to the Making Tax Digital year.

“You still need to submit a Self Assessment tax return as you normally do for the tax year before you start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.”

HMRC's reminder emails

HMRC has told software providers it will email Self Assessment customers four times before the 2027 deadline: on 10 to 11 November, 8 to 9 December, 5 to 6 January and 19 to 20 January. The emails encourage people to file and pay on time and point to help on GOV.UK. A genuine HMRC email never asks you to reply with personal or bank details, so if one promises a refund or demands immediate action, check your HMRC online account instead of following its links.

If you join in April 2027 or April 2028

The pattern repeats for each new group. People whose qualifying income on their 2025 to 2026 return is over £30,000 join on 6 April 2027, and the April 2027 threshold guide explains the test. For them, the 2026 to 2027 return, due by 31 January 2028, is the last one filed the usual way, and the first return through Making Tax Digital software is for 2027 to 2028, due by 31 January 2029.

The £20,000 group follows on 6 April 2028, measured on the 2026 to 2027 return. Qualifying income is your self-employment and property turnover added together, before expenses, so check the turnover figure on your return rather than the profit. The MTD requirement checker does the sum, and the deadlines hub lists every date.

If an accountant does your return

Nothing about the 2025 to 2026 return changes if an accountant or tax adviser files it for you: they submit it the way they did last year. Under Making Tax Digital, an agent you have authorised can send your quarterly updates and your year-end return from their own compatible software, so many people who use an accountant will see little difference day to day. What does change is the record-keeping underneath: your income and expenses need to be kept digitally through the year, either by you or by your agent, rather than handed over in a bundle once a year. If you do your own bookkeeping and pass figures to an accountant, agree early who sends each quarterly update, because the 7 February update falls just a week after the January return.

Who still files the old way

Not everyone is in scope, and those who are not carry on exactly as before:

• people whose qualifying income is at or below the threshold for the year;
• people HMRC has exempted, for example because they are digitally excluded by age, health, disability or location;
• partnerships, which are not yet included in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax;
• anyone in the year before they join, as above.

If you are exempt, you keep filing a Self Assessment return as normal. Being exempt from Making Tax Digital never means being exempt from the return.

What this means for your software

Because the return has not gone, the software question has two halves. Your product must send quarterly updates, and you need a way to submit the year-end return through compatible software too. Some products do both; some only do the updates, which leaves you needing a second product for the return. HMRC allows that, as long as each separate submission comes from one product, and our guide to whether you need more than one MTD product explains where the line falls.

For the 2025 to 2026 return you do not need Making Tax Digital software at all. Use whatever you used last year. If you are not sure whether Making Tax Digital applies to you yet, the free MTD check tells you in about a minute.

The short version

Making Tax Digital changes how often you report and which tools you use. It does not change the fact that a tax return is due every year by 31 January. If you joined in April 2026, file your 2025 to 2026 return the usual way by 31 January 2027, keep sending your quarterly updates for 2026 to 2027, and expect your first return through Making Tax Digital software in January 2028. Late filing of the 2025 to 2026 return still costs £100 at the start, so the HMRC late filing penalties guide is worth a read if January is getting close.

People also ask

Does Making Tax Digital replace Self Assessment?

No. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is a new way of keeping records and reporting within Self Assessment. You send four quarterly updates through compatible software, then still submit a tax return by 31 January after the tax year.

Do my quarterly updates count as my tax return?

No. HMRC says quarterly updates are summaries and do not replace the tax return. They cover only business income and expenses so far in the year, with no other income, reliefs or final tax calculation.

I joined MTD in April 2026. How do I file my 2025-26 return?

The usual way, by 31 January 2027: HMRC online, your accountant or commercial software. GOV.UK says you submit a Self Assessment return as you normally do for the year before you start using Making Tax Digital. Your first return through MTD software is for 2026-27, due by 31 January 2028.

Is the final declaration the same as a tax return?

Yes. Final declaration was the name HMRC used for the year-end submission under Making Tax Digital. It is your Self Assessment tax return, sent through your MTD software, and it is due by 31 January after the tax year.

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