Every Making Tax Digital ITSA deadline for 2026/27 and beyond. Quarterly update dates, the Final Declaration deadline, penalty rules and the soft-landing year explained by accountants.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA) went live on 6 April 2026. UK sole traders and landlords in scope now file five returns to HMRC each year instead of one annual Self Assessment: four quarterly updates plus an annual Final Declaration.
This article sets out every deadline you need to know for the 2026/27 tax year and beyond, what each submission contains, how the points-based penalty system works, and what the first-year soft-landing means in practice. It assumes you already know whether you are in MTD scope. If you are not sure, run our free MTD eligibility check or read our pillar guide What is Making Tax Digital?.
Quick answerFor the 2026/27 tax year, your MTD ITSA deadlines are: Q1 by 7 August 2026, Q2 by 7 November 2026, Q3 by 7 February 2027, Q4 by 7 May 2027, and Final Declaration by 31 January 2028. The 2026/27 tax year is a soft-landing period: no penalty points are issued for late quarterly updates this year only. Penalty points apply normally from April 2027.
The UK tax year runs from 6 April to 5 April. HMRC divides this into four quarters and assigns each a submission deadline on the 7th of the second month after the quarter end. Plus a Final Declaration the following 31 January.
| Submission | Period | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 quarterly update | 6 April 2026 to 5 July 2026 | 7 August 2026 |
| Q2 quarterly update | 6 July 2026 to 5 October 2026 | 7 November 2026 |
| Q3 quarterly update | 6 October 2026 to 5 January 2027 | 7 February 2027 |
| Q4 quarterly update | 6 January 2027 to 5 April 2027 | 7 May 2027 |
| Final Declaration | Full 2026/27 tax year | 31 January 2028 |
Five submissions per tax year. The pattern repeats every year you remain in MTD scope.
HMRC offers a choice. You can use the standard quarters above (which align with the UK tax year, starting 6 April) or calendar quarters ending on the last day of each calendar month (31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December).
Calendar quarters work better if your business already uses calendar-month accounting (most small businesses do). The submission deadlines are still the 7th of the second month after the quarter end:
| Submission | Period (calendar) | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Q1 quarterly update | 1 April 2026 to 30 June 2026 | 7 August 2026 |
| Q2 quarterly update | 1 July 2026 to 30 September 2026 | 7 November 2026 |
| Q3 quarterly update | 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2026 | 7 February 2027 |
| Q4 quarterly update | 1 January 2027 to 31 March 2027 | 7 May 2027 |
| Final Declaration | Full tax year | 31 January 2028 |
You make the choice in your MTD software before your first quarterly submission of the tax year. You can switch between the two options at the start of any new tax year, but not mid-year.
For most small businesses we recommend calendar quarters: they line up better with how monthly statements and bookkeeping naturally fall, and the deadlines stay the same anyway.
The quarterly update is much lighter than a Self Assessment return. It is essentially a summary of business income and expenses for the period, broken down by HMRC-defined categories.
Each update contains:
You do not submit invoices, receipts, or detailed transaction-level data. The quarterly update is a cumulative running total of the tax year to date. So your Q2 update covers transactions from 6 April through 5 October (six months of activity), not just the three months in Q2.
The cumulative structure means errors in earlier quarters can be corrected in later quarters by adjusting the running total. You do not need to amend previous submissions retrospectively for ordinary corrections.
The Final Declaration replaces the traditional Self Assessment (SA100) return for income within MTD scope. It is due by 31 January following the tax year-end, the same as the old Self Assessment deadline.
The Final Declaration:
It is the equivalent of the old SA100 for someone in MTD scope. You sign it digitally, your software submits it, HMRC confirms receipt.
If you have income from sources outside MTD scope only (PAYE, dividends, foreign income, capital gains), you continue using the existing Self Assessment system. Only sole-trader and property income above the threshold migrates to MTD.
This is the single most common worry we hear about MTD: "do I now pay tax four times a year?" No.
Quarterly updates are reporting only. Your tax payment schedule under MTD ITSA is identical to the existing Self Assessment one:
So for the 2026/27 tax year (which ended 5 April 2027):
Payments on account only kick in if your previous-year liability exceeded £1,000 and at least 80% of it was not collected through PAYE.
HMRC has a points-based late submission penalty regime. It is more forgiving than the old fixed-penalty system for occasional lapses but more punishing for repeated non-compliance.
Each late quarterly submission earns you one penalty point. Once you accumulate four points within a rolling 24-month window, a £200 fixed penalty is triggered. Each subsequent late submission while you remain at four points adds another £200.
| Late submissions | Outcome |
|---|---|
| 1 late submission | 1 point. No financial penalty |
| 2 late submissions | 2 points. No financial penalty |
| 3 late submissions | 3 points. No financial penalty |
| 4 late submissions | 4 points plus £200 fixed penalty |
| 5+ late submissions | Each one adds another £200 |
Points expire after 24 months of clean compliance. If you reach the four-point threshold and trigger the £200 penalty, you must complete 24 months of on-time submissions to reset back to zero.
The Final Declaration uses a separate, harsher penalty regime (more in a moment).
HMRC has confirmed that the 2026/27 tax year is a soft-landing period. During this first year of MTD ITSA, no penalty points are issued for late quarterly updates. The four quarterly submissions for 2026/27 are effectively penalty-free for lateness.
The soft-landing is intended to give the first cohort of MTD taxpayers and their accountants time to adjust to quarterly reporting without immediate financial consequences. It does not extend to:
From the 2027/28 tax year onwards the points system applies as normal. No further soft-landing extensions have been announced.
Late filing of the Final Declaration follows the standard Self Assessment penalty rules:
| Lateness | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 1 day late | £100 fixed penalty (regardless of whether tax is owed) |
| 3+ months late | £10 per day, capped at £900 (total £1,000 with the initial £100) |
| 6 months late | Additional £300 or 5% of tax owed, whichever is greater |
| 12 months late | Additional £300 or 5% of tax owed, whichever is greater |
These penalties stack with late-payment penalties on the tax itself.
Separate from filing penalties. Interest on unpaid tax accrues from day one of lateness at the current HMRC interest rate (around 7.75% per annum as of 2026).
Fixed late-payment penalties:
| Days late | Penalty |
|---|---|
| 1 to 14 | Interest only |
| 15+ | 3% of outstanding tax |
| 30+ | Another 3% of outstanding tax at day 30 |
| 31+ | 10% per annum daily, accruing until paid |
Setting up a Time to Pay arrangement with HMRC stops the late-payment penalties from escalating, even if tax remains outstanding. Worth doing at the first sign of inability to pay rather than waiting.
The process inside MTD-compatible software is straightforward, assuming your bookkeeping is up to date:
Each quarterly update typically takes 15 to 30 minutes if your bookkeeping is current. It can take several hours or days if it is not, which is why monthly bookkeeping discipline matters so much more under MTD.
If you use an accountant, they file on your behalf. You receive an email asking you to confirm the figures, you confirm, they submit. The process is even simpler.
Before you can file MTD quarterly updates, you need to be signed up for MTD ITSA and (if applicable) have authorised your accountant as MTD agent.
MTD sign-up: completed once per taxpayer, through your Government Gateway account at gov.uk. You confirm you are signing up for MTD for Income Tax, identify the income sources in scope, and link your chosen MTD software. The whole process takes around 15 minutes.
Agent authorisation: only needed if you use an accountant. Your accountant initiates the authorisation through their Agent Services Account; you confirm it via your own HMRC online account. From the moment authorisation is confirmed (usually within a working day), they can file on your behalf.
HMRC has been writing to taxpayers it has identified as in MTD scope based on their 2024/25 Self Assessment returns. If you have received one of these letters, the deadline for action is the start of the 2026/27 tax year (already passed). If you have not yet signed up and you are clearly in scope, do so urgently.
A practical tip: align your MTD quarters with your bookkeeping calendar. If you reconcile your bank account monthly (which you should), calendar quarters (ending 31 March, 30 June, 30 September, 31 December) give you cleanly aligned three-month periods to summarise.
If your existing accounting year already aligns with the UK tax year (6 April to 5 April), the standard quarters work seamlessly. This is mostly the case for established sole traders who set their accounting year to 31 March or 5 April years ago.
You cannot change your election mid-year, so the choice you make at the start of 2026/27 sticks until 6 April 2027.
Each MTD-scope income source files separately. So if you are a sole trader with consulting income AND have rental property income above the threshold, you submit two sets of quarterly updates: one for the consulting business, one for the property income.
If you have multiple sole-trader businesses (say, freelance design plus a side photography business), each business gets its own quarterly update if both are in scope.
The Final Declaration consolidates everything plus your non-MTD income (PAYE, dividends, interest, etc.) into a single annual return.
This multiplicity is one of the genuinely heavy aspects of MTD for someone with diversified income. If you have three sources (one self-employment plus two properties), you might be filing nine quarterly updates per year plus a Final Declaration. Most accountancy practices price this at a per-source rate; ours is included in our standard MTD service up to two income sources.
The same five-deadline structure applies every year. Here are the deadlines through 2028/29:
| Tax year | Q1 (Aug) | Q2 (Nov) | Q3 (Feb) | Q4 (May) | Final Declaration |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026/27 | 7 Aug 2026 | 7 Nov 2026 | 7 Feb 2027 | 7 May 2027 | 31 Jan 2028 |
| 2027/28 | 7 Aug 2027 | 7 Nov 2027 | 7 Feb 2028 | 7 May 2028 | 31 Jan 2029 |
| 2028/29 | 7 Aug 2028 | 7 Nov 2028 | 7 Feb 2029 | 7 May 2029 | 31 Jan 2030 |
Diarise these now. They do not move.
For the 2026/27 tax year, sole traders and landlords in MTD ITSA scope file four quarterly updates and one Final Declaration. The 2026/27 year is a soft-landing period with no penalty points for late quarterly updates, but penalty points and £200 fines apply normally from April 2027 onwards.
The actual filing is straightforward if your bookkeeping is up to date throughout the year. The harder part is the discipline of keeping records current month by month rather than year by year. For most sole traders that change of habit is the real adjustment MTD requires, not the filing itself.
If you would prefer not to do any of this yourself, our MTD service handles all five filings per year at £35 per month, including the software. Or if you just want to understand whether MTD applies to you in the first place, the free MTD check gives you a definitive answer in under a minute.
Get a fixed monthly price in two minutes. No email needed.