Has HMRC signed me up for Making Tax Digital?

Possibly. Since September 2026 HMRC has been signing up, in stages, people whose qualifying income was over £50,000 in 2024-25 and who had not joined. Sign in to HMRC online services: a message confirms it if you are signed up.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) became compulsory on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income, meaning self-employed turnover plus rent before expenses, over £50,000 in 2024-25, unless they are exempt. For anyone in that group who has not signed up, HMRC is now doing it for them, using the details from their latest tax return. This page follows GOV.UK as checked on 16 October 2026.

Two different letters

HMRC may have written to you twice, and the letters mean different things.

The second letter arrives in your HMRC online services account or by post. If you are not sure whether a letter or email is really from HMRC, GOV.UK keeps a list of genuine HMRC contacts you can check it against.

How to check without a letter

Sign in to HMRC online services with the details you use for Self Assessment. If you are signed up for 2026-27, a message appears on screen saying so, and you are asked to confirm your income sources. If no message appears, you are not signed up yet, and you can still sign up yourself or ask an agent to do it.

If an accountant, bookkeeper or other agent looks after your tax, they can check for you. They sign in to their agent services account instead, search for you by your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR), and see a similar message if HMRC has signed you up. They then check your income sources with you, using the details from your 2024-25 return and your 2025-26 return if it was already filed.

Signing up yourself has one advantage: HMRC uses only the information it already holds, which may not include changes since your last return, such as a new rental property or a trade you have stopped.

Who this covers

HMRC's automatic sign-up is for people who should be using MTD for 2026-27. If you are not in that group but your qualifying income was over £30,000 in 2025-26, your start date is 6 April 2027, and GOV.UK says it is your own responsibility to check and sign up in time, whether or not a letter arrives.

What this means for you

If HMRC has signed you up, you are already in MTD for 2026-27 and behind on the year. Take a heating engineer with £56,000 of turnover in 2024-25 who gets the letter in October 2026. The update for 6 April to 5 July was due on 7 August 2026, and the one for 6 April to 5 October is due on 7 November 2026.

No penalty points apply to late quarterly updates for 2026-27, but every update has to be sent before you can file your 2026-27 tax return, and a late return does earn a point. Your 2025-26 return, due 31 January 2027, is filed the old way and is still due.

Steps if HMRC has signed you up

1. Sign in to HMRC online services with your Self Assessment details and select Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
2. Check the income sources HMRC holds, add any new business or property, and tell HMRC about any that have stopped.
3. Choose software that works with MTD, or ask an agent to, and check it covers all your income sources.
4. Authorise the software, then create digital records from 6 April 2026 for every sale, rent payment and cost.
5. Send your overdue quarterly updates as soon as possible; your HMRC online account shows which are overdue.
6. If you think you should not be in MTD, contact Self Assessment general enquiries and check the exemptions.

The free MTD check confirms your start date. The trades section and landlord section have more on getting started, and the sign-up guide covers signing up yourself.