HMRC has signed you up for MTD.
Here’s what to do now.

Last reviewed: 25 September 2026. Every fact on this page links to the GOV.UK guidance it comes from. HMRC can change its guidance - if anything here differs from GOV.UK, GOV.UK is right.

Why you got the letter

If you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and had not signed up yourself (or through an agent), HMRC is now signing you up on your behalf. HMRC explains why:

“If you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and have not signed up yet, we will sign you up. This is because our records show your qualifying income was over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year.”

Source: Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (GOV.UK)

HMRC is doing this in stages over the coming months, and sends the confirmation to your HMRC online services account or by post. Qualifying income is not your profit. It is your total self-employment and property income before expenses - in HMRC’s words, “the amount before expenses (also known as turnover)”. If you own a property jointly, only your share of the income counts. A share of profit from a partnership as an individual partner does not count. See Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on GOV.UK.

HMRC does not pick software for you. That part is still your choice.

What HMRC asks you to do next

GOV.UK sets out the steps after HMRC has signed you up. In short:

1. 1 Sign in to HMRC online services and select ‘Making Tax Digital for Income Tax’. You use the sign in details you use for Self Assessment. If you have never used HMRC online services, you set up an account first (sign in or register on GOV.UK).
2. 2 Check and confirm the records HMRC holds. They are based on your 2024 to 2025 tax return (and your 2025 to 2026 return, if you sent it before HMRC signed you up). Confirm your self-employment and property income, add any new self-employment or property income, and tell HMRC about anything that has stopped. All your UK properties count as one UK property business, and all your foreign properties as one foreign property business.
3. 3 Get software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HMRC does not provide software. You can use HMRC’s find software tool to check the software you already use or find new software, and to check it covers all your income sources. GOV.UK notes “there are both free and paid for options available”.
4. 4 Catch up. Create digital records in your software from the start of the tax year (6 April 2026), after you have authorised the software and checked its accounting period. Then send your overdue quarterly update as soon as possible. Your HMRC online account shows any overdue quarterly updates and the upcoming deadlines.

The full wording is on GOV.UK: Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. If you have an accountant or agent, they can do these steps for you.

The quarterly update you have already missed

If you were signed up in September, the first quarterly update deadline (7 August 2026) has already passed. This is what HMRC says about that:

“You’ll not get penalty points for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. You still need to keep digital records and send your final quarterly update for the tax year before you can submit your tax return. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, penalty points will still apply for missing the tax return deadline.”

Source: Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (GOV.UK)

So there is no reason to panic, but there is a reason to catch up. Each quarterly update covers everything from the start of the tax year to the end of the period, not just the last three months, so your records need to go back to 6 April 2026 either way. The second deadline of the year is 7 November 2026, for the update covering 6 April to 5 October 2026 (Send quarterly updates, GOV.UK).

We explain the missed-update rules, and what still carries a penalty this year, in Missed a quarterly update in 2026/27? What actually happens.

If you think HMRC has got it wrong

• All your self-employment and property income stopped before 6 April 2026: update your information in your HMRC online account. You will not need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, but you still need to submit your 2025 to 2026 tax return.
• It stopped on or after 6 April 2026: you still need compatible software to send a quarterly update covering up to the date it stopped, and to submit your 2026 to 2027 tax return. After that you no longer need to use it.
• You think you should not be in it at all: check whether you can get an exemption - for example, if it is not reasonable for you to use software because you are digitally excluded (Find out if you can get an exemption). If you think HMRC signed you up by mistake, GOV.UK says to contact Self Assessment: general enquiries.

Not sure whether you have been signed up yet? When you sign in to HMRC online services, a message on screen confirms it. No message means you are not signed up yet, and you can still sign up yourself. To check whether you need to use it and from when, see Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

The deadlines that have not changed

Being signed up does not move your tax return dates. If you have not yet sent your 2025 to 2026 tax return, it is still due by 31 January 2027 under the current rules. For 2026 to 2027, your first year under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you submit your tax return and pay any tax you owe by 31 January 2028 (Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, GOV.UK).

Every date for 2026/27 is on one page in our MTD deadlines 2026/27 calendar.

Choosing software

Start with HMRC’s find software tool: it is HMRC’s own list of compatible products, and it lets you filter by the income sources you have.

EasyTaxer is one of those products. It keeps your digital records, sends your quarterly updates for self-employment, UK property and foreign property, and submits your tax return, all in one place and in plain English, and your dashboard shows your next deadline. If you are new to it, read getting started and how connecting to HMRC works.

Sources

Everything above comes from HMRC's own guidance on GOV.UK:

• Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: send quarterly updates
• Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• Find out if you can get an exemption from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax