United Kingdom

Making Tax Digital countdown

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts in tranches by qualifying income. Enter yours to see which date applies and how long is left.

£

Qualifying income is gross income from self-employment and property, before expenses.

Your start date

Enter your qualifying income to see which step applies to you.

The staircase

Qualifying income over £50,000

Tested on the 2024-25 Self Assessment return.

6 Apr 2026

Started 175 days ago

Qualifying income over £30,000

Tested on the 2025-26 Self Assessment return.

6 Apr 2027

190 days away

Qualifying income over £20,000

Tested on the 2026-27 Self Assessment return.

6 Apr 2028

556 days away

What does not count toward qualifying income

employment income, dividends, savings interest, other non-trading income.

Assessed on the Self Assessment return for the tax year ending two years before the mandated year begins.

Questions this page answers

When does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax start?
It arrives in tranches by qualifying income: over £50,000 from 6 Apr 2026, over £30,000 from 6 Apr 2027, over £20,000 from 6 Apr 2028. Each date is read from the published guidance when you load this page.
What is qualifying income for MTD?
Qualifying income is gross income from self-employment and property, before expenses. It is turnover, so a contractor billing well over a threshold and taking very little home is still caught by it.
Am I caught if I earn less than the lowest threshold?
Not by anything published so far. The lowest tranche is qualifying income over £20,000, commencing 6 Apr 2028. The staircase has descended at each announcement, so it is worth keeping records that would survive it either way.
What does MTD actually require me to do?
Keep your records digitally, send HMRC a quarterly update from compatible software, and finish the year with a final declaration in place of the old return. The quarterly update is a summary, not four tax returns.
How long have I got?
The next tranche to commence is qualifying income over £30,000 on 6 Apr 2027, which is 190 days away. Enter your own income above and the page counts to your date rather than that one.

Or arrive at the deadline with the quarters already done

Making Tax Digital asks for quarterly updates from records that have to be kept digitally. Invoice and log costs as they happen and the quarter is already assembled when the date arrives, rather than being reconstructed from a shoebox in the week before it.

Reply to an email from the truck and the invoice goes out, posted to the books the same moment. There is no monthly charge: a small percentage of each invoice processed, collected on the payment due date.

Open the demo businessRead what MTD asks of you

Where these figures come from

  • mtd_itsa_mandation_staircase (GB) Published source Last read from the source 13 Aug 2026.
  • mtd_itsa_qualifying_income_basis (GB) Published source Last read from the source 13 Aug 2026.

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