Deadline-driven · MTD ITSA · Updated 24 Sep 2026
Direct answer: if you're self-employed or a landlord with gross income over £30,000, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax becomes mandatory for you from 6 April 2027 — quarterly digital submissions to HMRC, not just an annual return.
MTD ITSA has already been mandatory since 6 April 2026 for self-employed people and landlords earning over £50,000. From 6 April 2027, the threshold drops to £30,000 — bringing a much larger group of sole traders and landlords into scope, many of whom haven't had to think about this yet.
Sole traders and landlords with gross qualifying income — from self-employment and/or property — above £30,000. That's turnover, not profit, which catches more people than a quick mental check against take-home earnings might suggest.
This is a genuinely different way of working compared to gathering everything once a year for a January self-assessment deadline — worth setting up properly well before your mandatory date, not in the weeks before.
Moving onto MTD-compatible software (Xero, with Dext for capturing receipts and invoices) before the deadline gives time to build the habit of regular record-keeping, rather than trying to retrofit quarterly reporting onto a shoebox-of-receipts approach in the first quarter it's mandatory.
Sources: GOV.UK — Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, Avalara — UK Making Tax Digital 2026 guide.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) requires self-employed people and landlords above a set income threshold to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC, rather than filing a single annual self assessment return.
MTD ITSA has been mandatory since 6 April 2026 for self-employed people and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. From 6 April 2027, that threshold drops to £30,000, bringing in a much larger group of sole traders and landlords.
You'll need MTD-compatible software (such as Xero, linked via Dext for record capture) to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates, plus a final end-of-year submission — a bigger change than simply filing an annual return, so it's worth setting up well before your mandatory date rather than in the weeks before.
The threshold is based on gross qualifying income from self-employment and property, not profit — so it's worth checking actual turnover against the threshold rather than assuming taxable profit is the relevant figure.
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