Signing up for
Making Tax Digital

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax has been compulsory since 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, and it reaches the £30,000 group in April 2027 and the £20,000 group in April 2028. Everyone it applies to has to be signed up, but there is more than one way to get there, and since September 2026 HMRC has been signing people up itself.

This hub brings together TapTax's sign-up guides. It explains who needs to sign up and when, the four routes in, what the sign-up service asks for, and what to do in the first weeks. Each section links to a full guide. Every rule comes from GOV.UK or the regulations, SI 2026/336, and where HMRC has not published something, the guides say so.

“If you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, you should sign up now.”

Who needs to sign up, and when

You need Making Tax Digital for Income Tax if you are a sole trader or landlord registered for Self Assessment and your qualifying income was over the threshold on the return HMRC looks at. Qualifying income is your self-employment and property turnover added together, before expenses: GOV.UK's example is £25,000 of rent and £27,000 of self-employment income, £52,000 in all.

Employment income, your share of a partnership's profit, dividends and pensions do not count. Joint property owners count only their share. Partnerships are not in yet; HMRC will set out their timeline later. Some people are exempt, many of them automatically from what is on their return; the exemptions guide lists them. If you are not sure where you stand, the MTD requirement checker works it out from your figures.

The four ways to get signed up

1. Sign up yourself. Through GOV.UK's sign-up service, with the user ID and password you use for Self Assessment. You must be registered for Self Assessment and have submitted a tax return in the last 2 years. GOV.UK says to choose your software first. How to sign up walks through it step by step.

2. HMRC signs you up. From September 2026, HMRC began signing up people who should be using Making Tax Digital for 2026 to 2027 but had not joined, in stages, using only the information it already holds. It contacts you through your online account or by post. You still need to choose software and catch up. HMRC signed me up: what to do now covers the five steps HMRC sets out.

3. Your accountant signs you up. An agent can sign you up once you have authorised them. Making Tax Digital also lets you have one main agent and any number of supporting agents, for example a bookkeeper for the updates and an accountant for the tax return. Signing up through an accountant explains the difference.

4. Volunteer early. If you are not required until April 2027 or 2028, you can sign up now, for this tax year or the next. Late quarterly updates are not penalised while you volunteer, but you agree to the new penalty rules for good. Signing up early, as a volunteer sets out the trade-off.

Landlords use the same routes, with property-specific rules about how businesses are counted: signing up as a landlord covers them.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: who is in, and who is coming

• More joining from 6 April 20271,077,000
• In scope for 2026-27864,000+
• Signed up by 12 August 2026570,000+
• First update sent by 12 August 2026436,000+

Choose software before you sign up

GOV.UK's step-by-step guide puts getting compatible software before signing up, and its software page says you should choose your software first. HMRC does not provide software, and there are free and paid-for options. Whatever you choose needs to keep your digital records, send your quarterly updates and submit your tax return, so GOV.UK suggests checking that a product:

• supports all your income sources, self-employment and property alike;
• lets you send quarterly updates and submit your tax return;
• lets you report your other income for the return;
• works with your accounting period, standard or calendar;
• suits your budget, bearing in mind that free products may limit things like the number of transactions.

You can use only one product for each separate submission, so pick one that covers everything a business needs. All the software on HMRC's finder has been through its recognition process, and HMRC does not recommend any product.

What the sign-up service asks

The sign-up service asks about your self-employment and property income, including any that has stopped since your last return. GOV.UK says you will need your business start date, or the date you started receiving property income, if it was within the last 2 tax years, and confirmation of the tax year you will start. Sole traders also give their business name, address and trade. You will not be asked about other income such as savings or dividends: that goes into your software before your tax return.

You may be asked to prove your identity, using an app on your phone with your current passport or driving licence; the option to answer questions instead was removed on 13 October 2026.

After you sign up

Nothing reaches HMRC until you send your first update, and the choices in the first weeks are hard to undo. In order:

1. Find the service in your HMRC online account, or add it with "Add a tax to your account".
2. Connect your software with the details you signed up with. You reconnect every 18 months.
3. Check your update periods in your software. Standard periods follow the tax year; calendar periods suit accounts that run from 1 April to 31 March. They lock for the tax year once you send an update.
4. Build your digital records from the start of the tax year.
5. Send each quarterly update by its deadline: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, then the tax return by 31 January.

First steps after signing up covers each step in detail.

If you are behind

Signing up partway through the year means some deadlines have already passed. GOV.UK says to create digital records from the start of the tax year, and HMRC asks people it has signed up to send any overdue quarterly update as soon as possible. In the 2026 to 2027 tax year there are no penalty points for late quarterly updates, but every update is still owed before you can submit your tax return. Because updates are cumulative, the records you build once serve every update in the year. How to catch up a missed quarterly update sets out the order.

From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, each missed deadline earns a penalty point, and 4 points cost £200.

The next deadline: 7 November 2026

The second quarterly update of 2026 to 2027 is due by 7 November 2026. It covers 6 April to 5 October 2026 on standard update periods, or 1 April to 30 September 2026 on calendar ones. For many people signed up this autumn, it may be the first update they send. HMRC told software developers it would run a campaign about the deadline from early October to 7 November, so expect reminders. The page on 7 November 2026 covers what goes into it.

If something goes wrong

Most sign-up problems come back to the two conditions, out-of-date records, a business that has stopped, or the identity check. For signing up or using the service, Self Assessment general enquiries is on 0300 200 3310, Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm; agents use 0300 200 3311. Software problems go to the software provider. Sign-up problems and how to fix them goes through each one.

What does not change

Signing up for Making Tax Digital does not change your 2025 to 2026 Self Assessment return: you file it the usual way by 31 January 2027. It does not change how or when you pay tax. And it does not replace the annual tax return: for 2026 to 2027 you submit it through your software by 31 January 2028, after the four quarterly updates. The Making Tax Digital deadlines page lists every date from 2026 to 2028.

TapTax was built for people coming to Making Tax Digital for the first time, including those HMRC has just signed up. It connects to HMRC with your Self Assessment sign-in, imports your bank statements from the start of the tax year, sorts them into HMRC categories, checks each quarterly update with you before you file, and shows which updates HMRC is still waiting for. The HMRC software directory lists every product HMRC recognises if you want to compare.