Making Tax Digital for Income Tax swaps one annual return for four quarterly updates and a year-end return, all sent through software. This guide covers who must join, how to sign up, the dates, and what happens if you are late.
If your qualifying income, which is turnover before expenses, was over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 return, you had to start Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on 6 April 2026. Sign up on GOV.UK, or through your agent, and use compatible software. You then send four cumulative quarterly updates, due 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and your tax return by 31 January. HMRC is not issuing penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026 to 2027. The Making Tax Digital thresholds for farmers guide covers 2027 and 2028.
You have to use it if you are a sole trader or landlord registered for Self Assessment and your qualifying income is over the threshold, as HMRC's guidance on who must start and when sets out. HMRC looks at an earlier return, not the year you are in.
Qualifying income is turnover from self-employment and property before expenses, so a farm with thin margins and big sales is caught. A let cottage is added to the farm figure. Our guide to the Making Tax Digital thresholds has the detail.
Partnerships are not in yet. GOV.UK says they will need to use the service in future, with the timeline to follow.
If you are required to start for 2026 to 2027, sign up now. HMRC may write to you, but checking is your responsibility either way.
You sign up through the online service on GOV.UK, or your agent does it for you. The GOV.UK sign-up guidance says you must be registered for Self Assessment and have filed a return in the last 2 years. You still file your normal return for the tax year before you start.
Log in with the user ID and password from your Self Assessment registration. You may be asked to prove who you are, by matching your face to a passport or driving licence on a phone app, or by answering questions about your records.
Have ready the date your business started, the tax year you will start, and for a sole trader the business name, address and trade. Check that each self-employment and property source is listed, and add any that are missing. The usual trap on a farm is the cottage or barn conversion that was never added.
From September 2026 HMRC began signing up people it considers required. My advice is not to wait. Choose your software first, then sign up, so you can connect the two straight away.
You need software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. GOV.UK describes two kinds: software that creates and stores your digital records, and bridging software that connects to records you already keep, such as a spreadsheet. Only some bridging products can send quarterly updates and tax returns, so check before you buy.
HMRC runs a software finder. GOV.UK says everything listed has been through HMRC's recognition process, and that HMRC does not recommend any product. Check any product, ours included, against it. Our farm bookkeeping software checklist covers the farm questions.
Two settings matter. The software defaults to the tax year, 6 April to 5 April. If your farm year runs 1 April to 31 March, select calendar periods before your first quarterly update, as you cannot change it after sending one. You must also authorise the software with HMRC, and GOV.UK says to repeat that every 18 months.
Keep the original paperwork behind the figures, as covered in what HMRC expects a farm to keep.
For a farm using the tax year there are four updates. GOV.UK's quarterly update guidance gives these dates:
| Standard period | Calendar period (1 April year) | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 6 April to 5 July | 1 April to 30 June | 7 August |
| 6 April to 5 October | 1 April to 30 September | 7 November |
| 6 April to 5 January | 1 April to 31 December | 7 February |
| 6 April to 5 April | 1 April to 31 March | 7 May, the following tax year |
Each update is cumulative: it covers the start of the tax year to the end of the period, so a mistake in the first is put right in the second. You send totals for each income and expense category, using the Self Assessment categories. HMRC does not receive individual receipts.
You can send an update any time from the end of the period to the deadline. A period with no income or spending still needs one. As of 12 October 2026, the next deadline is 7 November 2026.
After the fourth update you submit your tax return through your software. GOV.UK says it is due by 31 January after the tax year ends, and you can send it earlier. For 2026 to 2027 that is 31 January 2028. You make all adjustments first, check the tax calculation, then declare the information correct and complete to the best of your knowledge.
The end of period statement, a separate step in the original design, has gone. The government's small business review agreed to remove it.
The adjustments depend on how you account. GOV.UK says cash basis users do not need the accounting adjustments, while traditional accounting users adjust for items such as prepayments and accruals. If you value livestock and crops at year end, ask your accountant how your software takes that figure. See cash basis and traditional accounting for farmers.
It is points first, money second. Under HMRC's penalty rules for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, each missed quarterly update or tax return deadline earns one point, and only one point per deadline however many income sources you have. At 4 points you get a £200 penalty, and another £200 for each deadline missed after that.
There is a soft landing. HMRC will not apply points for late quarterly updates in 2026 to 2027, but they do apply to late tax returns. From 2027 to 2028 a late quarterly update earns a point. Do not use the free year to fall behind, because catching up on four updates at once is how people miss the return.
Below the threshold, HMRC removes each point 24 months after the missed deadline. At 4 points they are not removed automatically: you must send updates and returns on time for 12 months and have sent anything outstanding from the previous 24 months.
Late payment has its own penalties, on the same GOV.UK page. If you cannot pay, contact HMRC early about a payment plan.
This is general information, so take your figures to your accountant. FarmHQ is a farm office app for UK cattle and sheep farms, in beta, where Ask Farmer Joe drafts and you confirm. It is not yet HMRC-recognised for Making Tax Digital; that is on our 2027 roadmap. See FarmHQ pricing.
If your qualifying income was over £50,000 on your 2024 to 2025 return, you should have started on 6 April 2026, so sign up now. The threshold is over £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and over £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Checking whether you are caught is your responsibility.
For a standard tax year they are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, covering periods ending 5 July, 5 October, 5 January and 5 April. Each update is cumulative from the start of the tax year. Farms with a 1 April year choose calendar periods.
Yes, with bridging software that connects to the spreadsheet and sends your submissions to HMRC. GOV.UK says only some bridging products can send quarterly updates and tax returns, so check a product's features first.
No. HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Points still apply to late tax returns, and from 2027 to 2028 a late quarterly update earns one point. Four points bring a £200 penalty.
Not yet. GOV.UK says partnerships will need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in future and will set out the timeline later. Sole-trader or property income in your own name still counts towards your own qualifying income.