When does Making Tax Digital apply to me?
It depends on your gross self-employment and property income added together — turnover, before a single expense comes off. Three questions and we will tell you which wave you are in.
A PAYE salary, pensions, dividends — including from your own company — savings interest, and a partnership profit share. None of it counts towards the threshold.
What is your gross self-employment income?
Turnover for the year, before any expenses. Enter 0 if you have none.
And your gross property income?
Rent received before expenses. If you own jointly, your own share only.
Do any of these apply?
Tick all that apply. Each one changes the answer.
The three waves
Each threshold is tested against a specific year's return, and it is over, not "or more" — exactly £30,000 is not caught by the 2027 threshold.
What counts as qualifying income
Gross self-employment turnover plus gross UK property income, added together, before any expenses. A PAYE salary, a pension, dividends, savings interest and a partnership profit share are all excluded. If you own property jointly, only your own share counts. Gross income includes VAT if you include VAT when you declare turnover.
Part-year income is annualised
£30,000 earned in six months tests at £60,000, not £30,000. HMRC annualises sole trade income itself, but property income you are expected to annualise yourself — which is easy to miss and puts people in a wave earlier than they expect.
HMRC now signs people up for you
Since September 2026, HMRC has been signing up mandated taxpayers who had not signed themselves up. Doing nothing is no longer a way to stay outside it — if you are over the threshold, you are in, whether or not you have acted.
Getting out again takes three years
Once you are in, a single year below the threshold does not release you. It takes three consecutive years below it. So it is worth treating Making Tax Digital as permanent from the moment it applies, rather than as a one-year problem to wait out.
What changes once you are in
Digital records
Paper and memory no longer qualify. With us, that obligation is met on our side.
Four updates a year
7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May — fixed, whatever your year end.
A final declaration
Replaces the old tax return, still due by 31 January.
Penalty points
One per missed deadline. Four points is a £200 charge.
Your payment dates have not changed. The quarterly updates are reports, not bills — nothing extra becomes payable because you sent one. Still 31 January, and 31 July if you make payments on account.
How much tax will I pay for 2026/27?
Income tax, Class 4 National Insurance and the payment on account — with every step of the working shown.
Open the calculator → CheckerDo I need to file a tax return at all?
A few quick questions tell you whether HMRC expects a Self Assessment from you.
Open the calculator →- Check if you're eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — GOV.UK
- Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital — GOV.UK
- Find out if you can get an exemption from Making Tax Digital — GOV.UK
- Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up — GOV.UK
- Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — GOV.UK
Figures are for the 2026/27 tax year. This is general information rather than personal tax advice — if your situation has anything unusual in it, ask us and we'll check it properly, free.
Rather someone just did it?
£25 a month covers your quarterly updates, your year-end return and questions all year, and the first month is free.