Blog · 31 October 2026

MTD April 2027: what the £30,000 wave means for sole traders and landlords

The first Making Tax Digital wave started on 6 April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000. The second wave is much bigger: from 6 April 2027, anyone whose qualifying income was over £30,000 in the 2025/26 tax year must keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC. If your 2025/26 figures are anywhere near £30,000, now is the time to check — not next April.

Who is in the April 2027 wave?

You are in scope from 6 April 2027 if you are a sole trader or landlord registered for Self Assessment and your qualifying income for 2025/26 was over £30,000. HMRC reviews your Self Assessment return each tax year and writes to confirm when you need to start — but the responsibility to check is yours even if no letter arrives, as GOV.UK states.

The test year matters. It is not your income in 2027/28 that puts you in the April 2027 wave — it is the return you file for 2025/26, due by 31 January 2027. That return's figures decide your start date, so the numbers you file this winter are the numbers that count.

The test is gross income, not profit

Qualifying income is your total self-employment turnover plus your total gross property income, added together, before any expenses are deducted. Employment salary, pensions, dividends and partnership profit shares do not count. This is the trap that catches landlords in particular: £33,000 of rent with £25,000 of mortgage and repair costs is still £33,000 of qualifying income.

Your 2027/28 quarterly deadlines

From 6 April 2027 you keep digital records using compatible software and send four quarterly updates a year. Each update is cumulative from 6 April — it covers everything since the start of the tax year, not just the latest three months — and a quarterly update is a summary, not a tax return. Nothing is paid with it. Your tax return for 2027/28 is still submitted, and tax still paid, by 31 January 2029.

See every wave side by side on the MTD deadline calendar.

What a missed deadline costs from 2027/28

The first wave had a grace year: no penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026/27. That grace does not carry into your wave. For tax years after 2026/27, each missed quarterly deadline earns one penalty point, and at 4 points HMRC charges £200 — plus £200 for every further missed deadline. Four slips across your first year and a bit would already cost £200, so diary the dates now rather than discovering the points system later. Try the MTD penalty estimator to see exactly when a charge would land.

Your before-April checklist

1. Add up your 2025/26 gross figures. Self-employment turnover plus gross rent, before expenses. Over £30,000 means April 2027.
2. Confirm your wave. Use the Making Tax Digital checker — two numbers in, start date and deadlines out.
3. Choose compatible software and sign up. To sign up you must be registered for Self Assessment and have submitted a tax return in the last two years.
4. Start digital records on 6 April 2027. Paper records kept alongside do not count — the digital record is the requirement.
5. File Self Assessment for the year before you start. MTD does not replace that return; you still submit one for 2026/27.

If digital record-keeping is not reasonably practical for you — for example because of age, disability, location or religious beliefs — you may be able to apply for an exemption and keep filing Self Assessment instead. Check the exemption guidance on GOV.UK; this tool cannot decide an exemption for you.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (waves, thresholds and sign-up conditions; checked 31 October 2026)
• GOV.UK — Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• GOV.UK — Quarterly updates: periods and deadlines
• GOV.UK — Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Free information tool — not tax advice. Figures follow GOV.UK guidance as checked on 31 October 2026. Confirm your own position with HMRC or an accountant.