Making Tax Digital for Landlords: Do You Have to Use It, and From When?

Last updated: 31 October 2026 · Prices checked on vendor sites on 31 October 2026

If your share of gross rental income — plus any self-employment income — was more than £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year, you must already be using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026. The threshold drops to £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028. Income is counted before expenses, and if you jointly own the property only your share counts.

Those sentences are the landlord test for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA). GOV.UK says “over” the threshold, and £20,000 or less is an automatic exemption.

HMRC may already have signed you up

From September 2026, HMRC starts signing up anyone who needs the service for the 2026 to 2027 tax year and has not signed up, where its records show qualifying income over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025. It happens in stages, then HMRC writes to you. The sign-up uses only information HMRC already holds, which may miss a change since your last return. Signing up yourself lets you correct income sources first. If you have been contacted, follow thecheck what to do if HMRC has signed you uppage (published 24 August 2026). The September rule was added to the sign-up guidance on 24 August 2026.

The threshold for each year

You need the service if you are a sole trader or landlord registered for Self Assessment, you get self-employment or property income, and qualifying income is over the year’s threshold. To sign up you must have filed a return in the last 2 years.

Work out your qualifying income

Add your share of gross rental income to your gross self-employment turnover. Do not deduct expenses, unless the only figure you hold is your joint share after expenses. The table answers the same question if the form does not run.

Answer without the calculator

Worked rows add the figures shown. They do not annualise a period shorter than 12 months. GOV.UK says you annualise property income yourself when the period is not a full year.

What counts, and what does not

Joint ownership: £50,000 becomes £25,000

GOV.UK’s worked example: you jointly own a property with your sibling, it generates £50,000, you each take an equal share, and you have no self-employment income. Your qualifying income is £25,000, not £50,000.

£25,000 is not over £50,000, so that 2024 to 2025 figure does not start the service on 6 April 2026. It is not over £30,000 either. It is over £20,000, so the same £25,000 in 2026 to 2027 would mean 6 April 2028. Recheck the later return rather than carrying this example forward.

What you do each year

1. Check the threshold, then sign up or confirm a sign-up HMRC has already made.
2. Keep digital records in compatible software from the start of the tax year. Authorise it and check the update period before the first send.
3. Send four quarterly updates. They are totals, not tax returns. A quarter with no income and no expenses still needs an update.
4. Submit the tax return in the software and pay by 31 January after the tax year ends.

Standard update periods

Calendar update periods

Use these if your accounting period is 1 April to 31 March. The deadlines do not change.

Software that covers rental income

Affiliate disclosure: the Visit links below are the first on this page. They use /go/… withrel="sponsored nofollow". FreeAgent’s link is /go/freeagent-landlords/, which 302s to FreeAgent’s landlords page. No programme ID is stored, so the redirect adds no tracking query. Prices are the shared list prices. HMRC does not recommend a product.

Five of the six landlord options are below. Coconut is onMTD software for landlords. Spreadsheet bridges are onbridging software.

Income-source and VAT statuses are copied from each product's HMRC finder page, checked 31 October 2026.The Foreign property column links to that page. Joint-ownership split is not a status on those HMRC finder pages, so this column says Not stated by vendor. Prices are list prices from each vendor pricing page on the same date, before introductory discounts. A pricing-page link is the source for the price only.

Four mistakes that change the date

1. Counting the whole joint rent, or profit after expenses, when the test uses your share before expenses. The exception is the one GOV.UK states: if you are only told your share after expenses, that is the figure HMRC assesses.
2. Treating each extra UK let as a new income source, or leaving out property abroad. Extra UK lets stay in one UK property business. Non-UK lets are one foreign property business.
3. Skipping 2026 to 2027 quarterly updates because there is no penalty point. You still cannot submit the tax return until they are sent.
4. Waiting for the September 2026 sign-up and assuming HMRC knows about a sale or a new let since your last return.

Exemptions

An exemption means you do not use the service. You still file Self Assessment. Automatic cases include qualifying income of £20,000 or less and having no National Insurance number before the tax year starts. Partnerships are outside it for now. Other automatic cases depend on the 2024 to 2025 return, including averaging relief, qualifying care relief, and some supplementary pages. Digital exclusion is applied for, and it is about your circumstances.