What are the Making Tax Digital deadlines?

Checked against GOV.UK on 14 August 2026 · Applies from 6 April 2026 onwards.

“If it is over £50k, then you have about 8 days to submit the first MTD return, so you are running late.”

We hear this most. a landlord counting the days for someone else, OpenRent Community forum, 31 July 2026 — someone in the same position as you.

Short answer

Quarterly updates are due 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. The tax return stays at 31 January.

Here are the dates, in the order they arrive. Your next quarterly update is due 7 November 2026, and because updates are cumulative it covers 6 April to 5 October 2026 — so it also catches up 7 August 2026 if you missed it. Your tax return for 2026 to 2027 is due 31 January 2028, and that one is still in the points system. And from September 2026 HMRC has been signing people up itself, in stages, if they had not signed up.

You are not alone, and this is the measured version of that sentence. HMRC put 864,000 sole traders and landlords in scope for this tax year (HMRC, 5 February 2026), and reported on 12 August 2026 that 436,000 had sent a first quarterly update and 570,000 had signed up. We have not subtracted one from the other to make a "how many are behind" headline — they were published six months apart and count different things — but you can see the size of the room you are standing in.

What to do tonight

ten minutes, tonight, with a calendar open

Write down 7 November 2026. That is your next quarterly update, and it covers 6 April to 5 October 2026 — the whole run from the start of the tax year, not just the last three months.
Add 31 January 2028 underneath it. That is the tax return for this year, and unlike the quarterly updates it does carry penalty points.
Check which of your four dates fall at a weekend. Two of them do this year, and nothing in the regulations moves them to the Monday.

None of those three steps costs money. Anyone charging you to do them is selling you something HMRC gives away.

Where these come from, on GOV.UK: quarterly updates and their deadlines · the tax return · who has to use MTD, and when · working out qualifying income · the recognised-software finder · what to do if HMRC signed you up.

The free route, before anyone sells you a subscription

HMRC publishes the official list of software recognised for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and its own guidance says plainly that “free products are available for those with simple tax affairs”. We drove that finder ourselves on 1 September 2026 and it returns recognised products costing £0 — for sole traders and for landlords, including bridging tools that submit straight from a spreadsheet you already keep. We take no commission from any of them, we rank none of them, and this site carries no affiliate links.

HMRC's official software finder (gov.uk) · how bridging software works · the free two-number check · your own four dates

Signing up for Making Tax Digital is free at GOV.UK. So is the checker on this page, and so is every answer on this site.

There are only five dates in the MTD year: four quarterly update deadlines and the tax return deadline. They are the same for everyone, whichever update periods you use.

The four quarterly deadlines

Every update deadline is one month and two days after the end of the period it covers. That gives the same four dates every year:

7 Aug · 7 Nov · 7 Feb · 7 May

Same four dates every tax year, for standard and calendar update periods alike.

If you use standard update periods (accounting period ends 5 April)

Standard update period	Deadline
6 April to 5 July	7 August
6 April to 5 October	7 November
6 April to 5 January	7 February
6 April to 5 April	7 May (the following tax year)

If you use calendar update periods (accounting period ends 31 March)

Calendar update period	Deadline
1 April to 30 June	7 August
1 April to 30 September	7 November
1 April to 31 December	7 February
1 April to 31 March	7 May (the following tax year)

The tax year 2026 to 2027 in full

Date	What is due
6 April 2026	Start keeping digital records (1 April 2026 if you use calendar periods)
7 August 2026	First quarterly update
7 November 2026	Second quarterly update
31 January 2027	Your 2025 to 2026 tax return — filed the usual way, because it covers the period before MTD started
7 February 2027	Third quarterly update
7 May 2027	Fourth quarterly update
31 January 2028	Your first MTD tax return, for 2026 to 2027, filed from your software

You do not have to wait for the deadline

You can send an update any time between the end of the update period and the deadline. You can also send it up to 10 days before the period ends if you are confident no further transactions will be recorded — for example if you are away for the rest of the period.

Work out your own four dates →

Questions people ask

Are the MTD deadlines the same for everyone?

Yes. The update deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, whether you use standard or calendar update periods.

Does MTD change the 31 January tax return deadline?

No. You must submit your tax return by 31 January following the end of the tax year, as before.

Andrew at Axion Labs

The dates are the part people lose sleep over, and they're genuinely the easy part — there are four of them and they're the same every year. The bit that catches people isn't the date, it's what the update covers: it runs from the start of the tax year each time, not just the last three months. I've generated every date on this page from the regulations rather than typing them, because a site that prints one wrong deadline is worse than no site at all.

Sources

General information about UK tax rules, not tax advice. Your own circumstances and HMRC's official guidance govern your position. If you are unsure, speak to an accountant or contact HMRC. Tax rules change — if this page is more than a few months old, check the GOV.UK pages linked above. Found an error? Email hello@getaxionlabs.com and we will correct it.

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