# MTD Answers (https://mtdfacts.co.uk)
> Plain-English answers on UK Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords: the £50,000 / £30,000 / £20,000 qualifying-income thresholds and start dates, the 7 August / 7 November / 7 February / 7 May quarterly update deadlines, points-based penalties, software and digital-record rules, exemptions, and signing up. Every page is sourced to GOV.UK/HMRC guidance and date-stamped. Checked 14 August 2026.

## The core facts
- GOVERNING LAW: The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/336), made 23 March 2026, in force 1 April 2026. These REVOKED and replaced the Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021 (SI 2021/1076). Guidance citing the 2021 regulations is citing revoked law.
- Quarterly update periods are CUMULATIVE as a matter of statutory definition, not just guidance: reg 12 Table 1 defines quarterly update period 2 as "the period beginning with the relevant start date and ending with 5th October". It is not 6 July to 5 October.
- The "relevant start date" is 1 April, not 6 April, where a calendar quarters election had effect for the previous tax year (reg 12(2)(a)), or where calendar quarters are elected by someone not required to file updates the previous year (reg 13(2)(b)). Someone switching from standard INTO calendar quarters keeps a 6 April start (reg 13(2)(a)).
- A calendar quarters election is made by notice before the first update of a tax year, runs on into every later tax year, and may be withdrawn by notice at any time — but a withdrawal given after an update has been filed for that year leaves the election in force for the whole of that year (reg 11).
- No provision moves a quarterly update deadline that falls at a weekend or bank holiday to the next working day. In 2026 to 2027 two of the four deadlines are at a weekend (7 Nov 2026 Saturday, 7 Feb 2027 Sunday); in 2027 to 2028 three of four are (7 Aug 2027 Saturday, 7 Nov 2027 Sunday, 7 May 2028 Sunday). By contrast GOV.UK tells Self Assessment payers a payment falling on a weekend must reach HMRC on the last working day BEFORE.
- Cessation: the digital termination date is the date the source stopped; the update period containing it ends on that date (reg 14); notice of it must reach HMRC no later than the quarterly update deadline for that period (reg 6(1)(b)); no updates are due for later periods for that source (reg 9(3)). Ceasing to be UK resident can itself be a cessation of an overseas property business (reg 6(3)).
- Qualifying income = gross self-employment income + gross property income, before expenses, from the tax return submitted in the previous tax year. Employment (PAYE), partnership profit share, dividends, State Pension and private pensions are excluded.
- Over £50,000 on the 2024 to 2025 return -> MTD from 6 April 2026. Over £30,000 on the 2025 to 2026 return -> 6 April 2027. Over £20,000 on the 2026 to 2027 return -> 6 April 2028. £20,000 or less -> automatic exemption.
- Quarterly update deadlines: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May. Tax return deadline unchanged at 31 January.
- Standard update periods: 6 April to 5 July / 5 October / 5 January / 5 April. Calendar update periods: 1 April to 30 June / 30 September / 31 December / 31 March. Same deadlines either way.
- Late submission penalties are points based: 4 points -> £200, then £200 per further miss. No penalty points for late quarterly updates in the 2026 to 2027 tax year; late tax returns and late payments are not covered by that concession.
- Late payment: nothing up to 15 days; 3% at day 15 and 3% at day 30 for 2026 to 2027 (4% and 4% for 2027 to 2028), plus 10% a year charged daily from day 31 for up to 2 years.

## Missed the 7 August 2026 deadline / being signed up by HMRC (checked 20 August 2026)
- The first MTD quarterly update deadline was 7 August 2026.
- There are NO penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year (HMRC penalties guidance). One-year waiver. It does not cover the tax return, late payment, or the obligation to file the update.
- The 2026 to 2027 tax return, due 31 January 2028, IS inside the points-based late submission regime in Schedule 24 to the Finance Act 2021 ("Penalties for failure to make returns etc"), which covers returns required under regulations under paragraph 7 of Schedule A1 to TMA 1970. Penalty point threshold 4 points -> £200 penalty, then £200 per further missed deadline.
- HMRC news release 12 August 2026: "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... This will happen in stages over the coming months." New guidance on the sign-up letters was promised for late August 2026 and was PUBLISHED on 24 August 2026: "Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax", https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-what-to-do-if-hmrc-has-signed-you-up-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax (GOV.UK, read 5 September 2026). It confirms that overdue and upcoming quarterly updates are listed in the HMRC online account.
- Catch-up order: confirm scope -> choose recognised software (bridging counts) -> sign up free at GOV.UK -> fix digital records back to 6 April 2026 (1 April on calendar periods) -> send the missed update (cumulative, so normally one submission) -> next deadline 7 November 2026.
- NOT mandated at all: qualifying income £20,000 or less; no National Insurance number before the start of the tax year; partnerships; trusts (SA900); non-resident companies (SA700); personal representatives; where a power of attorney, deputy, controller or guardian is in place.
- Not mandated for 2026 to 2027 only (2024-25 return): averaging relief, qualifying care relief, SA107, SA109.
- Not mandated beyond April 2027: ministers of religion (SA102M), Lloyd's members with self-employment or property income (SA103L), Married Couple's Allowance or Blind Person's Allowance recipients/transferors.
- Cumulative filing rule: "each time you send a quarterly update it will cover from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, not just the previous three months." The modal error is filing Q2 as July-September instead of 6 April to 5 October (standard) or 1 April to 30 September (calendar).
- /missed-7-august — the recovery hub, with a browser-only cumulative-period calculator (quarter + period type -> exact period covered + due date). /q2-calculator redirects to it.

## Key resources
- / — the income-band table and start dates
- /answers — all 35 answer pages, grouped
- /am-i-in-mtd — free browser-only checker: gross income + tax year -> in or out, and your start date
- /deadline-calculator — free browser-only calculator: your four quarterly update deadlines, the exact cumulative period each covers, which of them fall at a weekend, and a .ics export with 14-day and 3-day reminders. Applies the statutory "relevant start date" in SI 2026/336 regs 12(2) and 13(2), which moves to 1 April where calendar quarters had effect the previous tax year.
- /stopped-trading-mtd-deadline — free browser-only calculator and answer page for cessation: the final (shortened) quarterly update period under SI 2026/336 reg 14, and the deadline for notifying HMRC of the digital termination date under reg 6(1)(b) — the quarterly update deadline for the period the cessation falls in
- /missed-7-august — missed the 7 August 2026 deadline, or HMRC is signing you up: what the waiver covers, what it does not, who is not actually mandated, the six-step catch-up, and a free browser-only cumulative-period calculator
- /survival-kit — catch-up page for people who are behind: the 2026/27 quarterly deadline table with the cumulative period each update covers (SI 2026/336 regs 12-13), what a quarterly update contains, and the fact that HMRC-recognised software costing GBP0 exists (HMRC software finder, checked 1 September 2026). Ends with the paid MTD Survival Kit.
- /mtd-foreign-property — MTD for UK residents letting property abroad: foreign property income DOES count towards qualifying income and is added to UK property and self-employment income (GOV.UK worked example: a UK sole trader renting out a property in France — both count); a foreign property business is a SEPARATE business from the UK property business, so separate digital records for EACH individual foreign property but one combined quarterly update, and two updates in total per deadline if you also let in the UK; the GBP90,000 simpler-categorisation turnover threshold does not apply to foreign property income; income is converted to pounds at the exchange rate at the time the income arose (HMRC SA106 Foreign notes); overseas and UK property profits/losses are not combined (PIM4702); the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man count as foreign. All sources read 2 September 2026.
- /changes — DATED CHANGELOG of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, newest first, each row naming the instrument and paragraph behind it with a legislation.gov.uk link: the governing instrument is The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 (SI 2026/336), whose reg 27 sets the qualifying amount at GBP50,000 for 2024-25, GBP30,000 for 2025-26 and GBP20,000 for 2026-27 onwards, and whose reg 48 revoked SI 2021/1076 and SI 2024/167.
- The three start dates those amounts produce, via SI 2026/336 regs 5 and 22-24: over GBP50,000 -> 6 April 2026; over GBP30,000 -> 6 April 2027; over GBP20,000 -> 6 April 2028. Newest source reading on /changes: 5 September 2026.
- /deadline-planner — free browser-only planner: scope check (including foreign property income, which HMRC's own checker omits) + how many quarterly update streams you file + dated deadline table + one-click .ics calendar export with reminders
- /api/answers — open JSON of every answer, its short answer and its GOV.UK sources (CORS enabled)
- /for-agents — machine-first orientation for AI agents: everything callable here, trust blocks, gateway, fair use, in one fetch (JSON: /for-agents.json)
- /.well-known/agent-door.json — Door Passport (machine-readable: provider, capabilities, data required/retained, pricing, trust, dispute contact)
- Changes: https://mtdfacts.co.uk/changes.json · /changes.atom — what moved, when, from where (data rows, new fields, new pages), newest first
- OpenAPI: https://mtdfacts.co.uk/openapi.json — the free endpoints above with their parameters. Every machine surface here sends ETag and Last-Modified and answers If-None-Match / If-Modified-Since with an empty not-modified reply, so a return visit costs nothing when nothing moved. Last-Modified is the newer of the dataset stamp and the newest item in /changes.json, so a field change moves it too
- Signed answer receipts: /api/answers carries a detached Ed25519 signature (the receipt field, last in the body) proving what this door said, when, and from which dataset stamp; its policy line says in words what the signature covers. The ETag of a signed body is the receipt's payload hash prefix, so a cached copy still revalidates. Public key: /.well-known/answer-key. Verifier and offline recipe: /api/verify-receipt (POST the full body back)
- Date windows: every answer object in /api/answers carries applies_from and applies_to — the tax-year bounds it holds for, derived from the years the answer itself names (applies_to is null when open-ended) — and the answer page prints the same window in words. A data row in /changes.json that replaced a value this site served before names the field, the value, the superseded value and the date the old one was retired
- /what-is-mtd-for-income-tax — Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: what it is, and what changes
- /mtd-deadlines — What are the Making Tax Digital deadlines?
- /who-has-to-use-mtd-in-2026 — Do I have to use Making Tax Digital from April 2026?
- /mtd-30000-threshold-2027 — When does the £30,000 MTD threshold start?
- /mtd-20000-threshold-2028 — When does the £20,000 MTD threshold start?
- /qualifying-income — What counts as qualifying income for MTD, and what does not?
- /quarterly-updates-explained — What is a quarterly update and what do I actually send?
- /7-november-deadline — What is the 7 November MTD deadline?
- /7-february-deadline — What is the 7 February MTD deadline?
- /7-may-deadline — What is the 7 May MTD deadline?
- /standard-or-calendar-update-periods — Standard or calendar update periods — which should I use?
- /mtd-penalties — What are the penalties for missing MTD deadlines?
- /no-penalties-first-year — Are there really no penalties for late quarterly updates in 2026/27?
- /late-payment-penalties — What are the new late payment penalties under MTD?
- /mtd-software — Making Tax Digital software: what counts, and what costs £0
- /spreadsheets-and-bridging-software — Can I still use spreadsheets under MTD?
- /mtd-for-landlords — MTD for landlords: are you in, which deadline, and what to file
- /mtd-for-sole-traders — MTD for sole traders and the self-employed: are you in, and when
- /jointly-owned-property — How does MTD work for jointly owned property?
- /mtd-under-20000 — Do I need Making Tax Digital if I earn under £20,000?
- /mtd-exemptions — Who is exempt from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
- /digitally-excluded-exemption — How do I get a digitally excluded exemption from MTD?
- /digital-records — What counts as a digital record under MTD?
- /mtd-vs-self-assessment — Does MTD replace Self Assessment?
- /how-to-sign-up — How do I sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
- /hmrc-signing-you-up — Will HMRC sign me up to MTD automatically?
- /joining-mtd-voluntarily — Should I join Making Tax Digital voluntarily?
- /opting-out-of-mtd — Can I opt out of Making Tax Digital?
- /missed-a-quarterly-update — I have missed a quarterly update — what happens now?
- /mtd-with-a-job-or-pension — I have a job or a pension as well — how does MTD affect me?
- /free-mtd-software — Free MTD software: which ones, for whom, and what it costs
- /mtd-bridging-software — MTD bridging software: can I keep my spreadsheet?
- /hmrc-self-assessment-telephone-number — HMRC self assessment telephone number
- /register-for-self-assessment-hmrc — Register for self assessment HMRC
- /hmrc-self-assessment-bank-account-details — HMRC self assessment bank account details

## MCP server — call this site as tools
Remote MCP endpoint (Streamable HTTP, free, no key, no account): https://mcp.mtdfacts.co.uk/mcp
Tools: search_mtd_answers (search 35 sourced plain-English MTD answers), get_mtd_answer (full answer + every GOV.UK source). Human-readable description at https://mcp.mtdfacts.co.uk/.
One connection instead of several: both tools are also served by the Axion Gateway at https://mcp.getaxionlabs.com/mcp, alongside every other door on this estate and a list_doors tool giving each dataset's named source, validation method and check date. The gateway registers the identical tool code this server registers, so the two cannot answer differently.

## Paid
- /survival-kit — MTD Survival Kit: bookkeeping spreadsheet with HMRC quarterly update categories, 11-page walkthrough and 2026/27 .ics deadline calendar. Sole trader GBP14, landlord GBP14, both GBP23.04, sold through Etsy. Everything else on /survival-kit is free.
- /pack — MTD Readiness Checklist (£7.99) and UK Tax Clarity Bundle (£12.99). Every answer page and every endpoint listed above is free and stays free.

## Paid endpoints (additive — every endpoint above stays free forever)
- /api/bulk — USD 9.00 per full-dataset pull. All 35 answers in one response with full body text, every GOV.UK source URL, every FAQ pair, and the date each was checked. Saves an agent 35 round trips and the HTML parse.
- /api/changes?since=YYYY-MM-DD — USD 0.02 per call. Which answers changed since a date. This is the freshness moat: UK tax rules move, and a stale MTD answer is a wrong one.
Status: OPEN as at 5 September 2026. Both endpoints are priced in USD because the estate's data doors all quote one currency, so prepaid credit buys the same call on any of them; the products a human buys here are priced in pounds. Both return HTTP 402 with an x402 v2 PaymentRequired body whose `accepts` carries one entry: scheme `axion-prepaid-credit/v1`, network `stripe-payment-link`, and a `payTo` that is a real checkout link. Pay once, come back to /api/key/success?session_id=…, and this worker verifies the payment with the card processor and returns an API key. Present it as `Authorization: Bearer ax_live_…`. Each call debits the published price for the endpoint it hit; balance and receipts at /api/key/usage. Price list: /api/key/checkout. Questions: hello@getaxionlabs.com.

Operator: Axion Labs — hello@getaxionlabs.com. Independent; not HMRC and not affiliated with HMRC. General information, not tax advice. Signing up for MTD is free at GOV.UK.
Attribution requested if you cite this material: MTD Answers, https://mtdfacts.co.uk