Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: What UK Sole Traders Must Do Before April 2026
MTD for Income Tax goes live in April 2026 for sole traders and landlords earning over £50,000. Here is what changes, what software you need, and how to prepare without panic.
From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with combined gross income above £50,000 will move onto Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, known as MTD for ITSA. From April 2027, the threshold drops to £30,000, and a further reduction to £20,000 is already in HMRC's plans. If you have spent the last few years assuming this would be pushed back again, that bet has now closed.
The change is not a small administrative tweak. It replaces the once a year self assessment rhythm with quarterly digital submissions and a year end final declaration. The good news is that none of it is technically hard. The risk is leaving it until late March 2026 and discovering your bookkeeping is not ready.
What MTD for ITSA actually requires
Three things change.
First, you must keep digital records of your business income and expenses. A paper cashbook or a folder of receipts no longer counts. Spreadsheets are allowed, but only if they connect to MTD compatible software through what HMRC calls a digital link.
Second, you must submit a quarterly update to HMRC for each business and each property income source. These updates are running totals of income and expenses by category. They do not calculate your tax bill. They simply tell HMRC how the year is shaping up.
Third, after the tax year ends, you submit a final declaration that confirms the figures, adds any non business income, and applies the usual reliefs and allowances. This replaces the self assessment return.
The quarterly deadlines you need in your calendar
For the standard tax year, the four quarterly submission deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, and 7 May. The final declaration is due by 31 January following the end of the tax year, the same date you are used to.
You can elect to align your quarters with calendar months instead, which most people will find easier. Either way, missing a quarterly update triggers points under the new penalty regime. Four points means a £200 penalty, and the points stay live for two years.
Who is in, and who is out
You are in scope from April 2026 if your combined self employment and property income for the 2024 to 2025 tax year was more than £50,000. HMRC will write to you to confirm, based on the return you filed by January 2026. The threshold is gross income, not profit, which catches a lot of people by surprise.
You are out of scope, at least for now, if you are a director taking salary and dividends from your own company, a partner in a partnership (rules for partnerships are delayed), or under the relevant threshold. If you have multiple income streams, add them together before deciding.
Choosing software without overpaying
The market is busy and the pricing is wide. A working sole trader does not need a full ledger system to comply. What you do need is software that can record transactions digitally, categorise them, and submit the quarterly updates to HMRC.
There are three sensible routes.
The first is a dedicated MTD for ITSA tool, often priced between £5 and £15 a month. These are aimed squarely at sole traders and landlords, and they tend to be the simplest to set up.
The second is a small business accounting package such as the major UK names. These cost more, but if you already use one for VAT or general bookkeeping, adding ITSA filing is usually included or a small uplift.
The third is a spreadsheet linked to bridging software. This works if your record keeping is already disciplined and you are comfortable with formulas. It is the cheapest route and the most fragile if the person maintaining the spreadsheet changes.
Whatever you pick, check that it is listed on HMRC's compatible software register before you commit. The list is updated regularly and not every product that claims compliance is actually approved.
A six month preparation plan
If you are reading this in mid 2026 and you are in scope from April, you still have time, but only if you start now.
Month one, separate business and personal banking properly. A single dedicated business account is the foundation of clean digital records. Mixed transactions are the biggest source of mistakes in quarterly updates.
Month two, pick your software and migrate your opening balances. Run it alongside whatever you do now, even if that means duplicate entry for a few weeks. The point is to find the gaps before they matter.
Month three, build the habit of weekly bookkeeping. Quarterly updates collapse very quickly if you only touch the books once every three months. Fifteen minutes a week is enough for most sole traders.
Month four, do a dry run. Most software will let you preview a quarterly update without filing. Run one for the previous quarter and check the numbers against your bank statements.
Month five, agree the workflow with your accountant if you use one. Some will file on your behalf, some will review your figures, and some will leave you to it. Pricing has shifted, and the old fixed fee for a single annual return is being replaced by tiered packages. Have the conversation early.
Month six, file your first live quarterly update on time. After that, the system becomes routine.
What this is really about
MTD for ITSA is not just a filing change. It is HMRC moving from an annual snapshot to a near real time view of self employed income. For most UK sole traders, the practical result is better visibility of their own numbers, fewer year end shocks, and a tax bill that is harder to get wrong by mistake. The cost is a small amount of monthly discipline, set up properly once.
The businesses that struggle will be the ones that treat April 2026 as a deadline to react to. The ones that treat it as a prompt to fix their bookkeeping for good will find the transition almost invisible.