Quarterly updates with Making Tax Digital
How they work and dates you need to know
What are quarterly updates?
Quarterly updates are summaries of your business income and expenses.
Every 3 months, your compatible software adds together your digital records to create totals for each income and expense category. These totals are then sent to HMRC as a quarterly update.
Who needs to send quarterly updates?
Once signed up to Making Tax Digital (MTD), you need to send a quarterly update for each source of income you have, including:
- self‑employment
- property income
How do I send quarterly updates?
You send quarterly updates to HMRC directly through your chosen MTD software.
What happens after I send an update?
After sending an update, you’ll be able to see an estimate of your tax bill for your self-employment and property income in your software or in your HMRC online services account.
Here’s an MTD for Income Tax timeline for turnover above £50,000
So you know what you need to do and when.
| Date | Event |
| 6 April 2026 | Start date for keeping records using MTD for Income Tax software |
| 7 August 2026 | Deadline to send your first quarterly update |
| 7 November 2026 | Deadline to send your second quarterly update |
| 31 January 2027 | Deadline to submit a Self Assessment tax return the usual way for 2025 to 2026 |
| 7 February 2027 | Deadline to send your third quarterly update |
| 7 May 2027 | Deadline to send your fourth quarterly update |
| 7 August 2027 | Deadline to send your first quarterly update for 2027 to 2028 |
| 7 November 2027 | Deadline to send your second quarterly update |
| 31 January 2028 | Deadline to submit your tax return straight from MTD for Income Tax software for 2026 to 2027 |
| 7 February 2028 | Deadline to send your third quarterly update |
| 7 May 2028 | Deadline to send your fourth quarterly update |
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