HMRC signed me up:
what to do now

If you have had a letter or a message in your HMRC online account saying you have been signed up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you are not alone. In August 2026 HMRC announced that from September it would begin signing up customers who should be using Making Tax Digital for the 2026 to 2027 tax year but had not yet done so. It said this would happen in stages over the coming months.

Being signed up means HMRC now expects quarterly updates from you for 2026 to 2027, and then your tax return through compatible software. It does not mean you have done anything wrong, and in this first year there are no penalty points for updates that are late. This guide explains what the letter means, the steps HMRC asks you to take, how to get the missed updates in, and what to do if you think HMRC has signed you up by mistake. Every rule here is taken from GOV.UK.

“From September 2026, HMRC will begin signing up customers who should be using MTD for the 2026 to 2027 tax year but have not yet done so, helping them meet their requirements.”

Why HMRC signed you up

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became compulsory on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords whose qualifying income was more than £50,000. Qualifying income is your turnover from self-employment and property added together, before expenses, taken from the tax return you submitted for the previous year. For 2026 to 2027 that means your 2024 to 2025 return.

HMRC's guidance for people it has signed up says it plainly: if you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and have not signed up yet, HMRC will sign you up, because its records show your qualifying income was over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year. HMRC then contacts you to confirm it, either through your HMRC online services or by post, depending on your circumstances.

Some income does not count towards the £50,000. GOV.UK lists employment income taxed through PAYE, your share of a partnership's profit, dividends, the State Pension and private pensions among the exclusions. If you own a property jointly, only your share of the rent counts. If the figure HMRC used looks wrong to you, the MTD requirement checker works it out from your own numbers in a minute.

HMRC's announcements about signing people up cover the 2026 to 2027 tax year, the £50,000 group. GOV.UK has not said whether HMRC will sign up the April 2027 group in the same way, so if your income was over £30,000 in 2025 to 2026, do not wait for a letter: the guide to signing up explains how to do it yourself.

The five steps HMRC asks you to take

HMRC's page for people it has signed up sets out five steps. They are worth doing in this order, because each one makes the next easier.

1. Access HMRC online services. Sign in with the same user ID and password you use for Self Assessment. GOV.UK says a message appears on screen once you are signed in confirming you are already signed up, and your online account shows any overdue quarterly updates and your upcoming deadlines: the clearest picture of what HMRC is expecting from you.

2. Check and confirm the records HMRC has are correct. GOV.UK says that when HMRC signs you up, it uses only the information it already holds, which may not include changes since your last tax return. Check that the businesses it shows are yours, that a business you closed is not still listed, and that a property business is not missing. To change details such as a business address, description or name, GOV.UK says to contact Self Assessment general enquiries; if you have an agent, they use the agent dedicated helpline. Get this right before you send updates, because each update is sent against a specific business.

3. Get software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. GOV.UK is clear that HMRC does not provide software. There are free and paid-for options, and you need a product that can keep your digital records, send quarterly updates and submit your tax return, connected to your HMRC account. The HMRC software directory lists the products HMRC recognises and what each one covers, including which ones handle property income and which can submit the tax return at the end of the year.

4. Catch up on creating digital records and quarterly updates. HMRC asks you to catch up and create digital records from the start of the tax year, and to send your overdue quarterly update as soon as possible. The next section shows what that means in practice.

5. Use HMRC's guide to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. GOV.UK's step-by-step guide covers digital records, quarterly updates and the tax return in detail. This page and the rest of the sign-up guides cover the same ground with worked examples.

Catching up the updates you have missed

If HMRC signed you up this autumn, your online account may already show the first quarterly update of the year, due by 7 August 2026, as overdue, with the second due by 7 November 2026. Quarterly updates are cumulative: each one covers from the start of the tax year to the end of its period, not just the last three months. That makes catching up simpler than it sounds.

Here is the order that works:

1. Bring your records in from 6 April 2026. Your bank statements are the fastest source. Import them into your software from the start of the tax year, or turn PDF statements into rows with a bank statement converter.
2. Sort business from personal. Mark anything personal so it stays out of the figures, and give each business item an HMRC category.
3. Send the first update. It covers 6 April to 5 July 2026 (or 1 April to 30 June on calendar periods). It is overdue, so send it as soon as your records for that period are in.
4. Send the second update by 7 November. It covers 6 April to 5 October 2026, so it repeats everything in the first plus the three months since.

The regulations require an update for each quarterly period, and your online account lists each overdue one, so treat the first as owed even though the second includes the same months. GOV.UK does not say that sending a later update clears an earlier one; work through what your account shows, in date order. The guide to catching up a missed quarterly update goes through it step by step.

Before your first update, check the update periods in your software: standard periods end on the 5th of the month and are the default, and calendar periods end on the last day of the month and are selected in your software. GOV.UK says you cannot change the update periods you use for a tax year after you have sent a quarterly update. The difference is explained in standard versus calendar quarters.

Will you be penalised for being late?

Not for the quarterly updates, this year. HMRC's penalty guidance says there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, and its page for people it has signed up repeats that you will not get penalty points for missing one.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in its first year

• Sole traders and landlords in scope for 2026-27864,000+
• Signed up by 12 August 2026570,000+
• First quarterly update sent by 12 August 2026436,000+

Three things still apply:

• Every update is still owed. You need to keep digital records and send your final quarterly update for the tax year before you can submit your tax return.
• Late tax returns are penalised. For 2026 to 2027, penalty points still apply for missing the tax return deadline, which is 31 January 2028.
• Late payment is penalised. Making Tax Digital does not change when you pay tax, and late payment penalties and interest apply as before.

From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, points apply to quarterly updates too: one point for each missed deadline, and a £200 penalty when you reach 4 points. Getting into the rhythm now, while lateness costs nothing, is the best protection against that.

If you think HMRC has got it wrong

There are three common reasons people think they should not have been signed up.

Your business stopped before 6 April 2026. HMRC's guidance says that if all your self-employment or property income ceased before 6 April 2026, you will not need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, but you still need to submit your tax return for 2025 to 2026. It also says that if you did not tell HMRC before it contacted you, it will have signed you up based on the information it had, so tell HMRC now.

Your income was not over £50,000. Check the figure first. Qualifying income is turnover before expenses, not profit, and it adds self-employment and property together, which is why many people are surprised to be over. If you still think HMRC is wrong, its guidance says to contact Self Assessment general enquiries if you have been signed up and do not think you need to use the service.

You cannot use software. If your age, a health condition, a disability, your religious beliefs or your location make it unreasonable for you to use compatible software, you may be able to get an exemption for digital exclusion. GOV.UK says that if you have already signed up and your circumstances have changed, you should apply for an exemption and keep using Making Tax Digital while you wait. The exemptions guide covers who qualifies.

What stays the same

Being signed up for Making Tax Digital does not change your 2025 to 2026 Self Assessment return. You file it by 31 January 2027 the way you normally do, and pay any tax due by the same date. Making Tax Digital starts with the 2026 to 2027 tax year: four quarterly updates through the year, then your tax return through the same software by 31 January 2028.

It does not change the way you pay tax either. Payments on account, where they apply, are still due by 31 January and 31 July, and the balancing payment by 31 January after the tax year ends.

Getting set up quickly

The fastest route from a letter to a sent update is short:

• Sign in to your HMRC online account and note which updates it shows as overdue.
• Choose software and connect it to HMRC with your Self Assessment sign-in details.
• Import your bank transactions from 6 April 2026 and sort business from personal.
• Send each update your account shows as overdue, oldest first, and the next one by 7 November.

TapTax is built for exactly this: it imports your bank statements from the start of the tax year, sorts and categorises them, checks each quarterly update with you before you file, and shows which updates HMRC is still waiting for. The first steps after signing up guide covers connecting software to HMRC in more detail, and the page on the 7 November 2026 deadline covers the next update. The glossary entry on digital records explains what counts as one, and the quarterly update entry explains what each update contains.