What are the Making Tax Digital quarterly update deadlines?

Making Tax Digital quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. If you start on 6 April 2027, your first update is due by 7 August 2027.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) means keeping digital records and sending HMRC a short summary of your self-employed and property income and costs every 3 months. Those summaries are called quarterly updates. The deadlines below follow GOV.UK as checked on 16 October 2026.

Every update covers the year so far

Each quarterly update is cumulative. It runs from the start of the tax year to the end of the latest period, not just the last 3 months. So the third update covers 6 April to 5 January, and it includes everything already in the first two.

That has a useful side effect. If you spot a mistake from an earlier quarter, you fix the record in your software and the next update carries the correction. You do not resend the earlier update. Only after the fourth update do you resend, if something needs changing before your tax return.

You do not make any accounting or tax adjustments in an update. Those come at the end of the year, in the tax return.

Standard or calendar quarters

You can use one of two sets of periods. Standard periods follow the tax year. Calendar periods end on the last day of a month, which suits you if your books already run to 31 March. The deadlines are the same either way.

You choose calendar periods in your software, for each income source, before you send the first update of the year. Once you have sent an update, you cannot change the type of period for that tax year. Calendar periods carry on into later years unless you switch back.

The dates for 2027-28

If your 2025-26 self-employed and property income before costs was over £30,000, MTD starts for you on 6 April 2027. These are your first-year dates, using standard periods:

You need a separate update for each business. An electrician who also lets a flat sends one for the trade and one for the property, on the same dates. Before you join, your 2026-27 tax return is still an ordinary Self Assessment return, due by 31 January 2028.

What this means for you

Four short deadlines a year replace one big one. Most of the work is keeping your records up to date as you go, so each update is a check rather than a scramble. Your software adds the records up for you; you look over the totals and send them.

GOV.UK says there are no penalty points for late quarterly updates in the 2026-27 tax year. At the Budget on 28 October 2026 the government said people who must join in April 2027 will get no penalty points for late 2027-28 quarterly updates too, though the updates must still be sent. For them, the earliest a late update can earn a point is 7 August 2028. Once points can start, each missed deadline earns one point, and at 4 points HMRC charges a £200 penalty. Our guide to MTD penalties explains how points build up and clear.

Steps to stay on top of your deadlines

1. Check your start date. The free MTD check shows whether you join in April 2027 or April 2028.
2. Decide on standard or calendar periods before your first update. If your accounts run to 5 April, keep the standard ones.
3. Put 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May in your diary every year, with a reminder a week before each.
4. Record income and costs as they happen, or connect your bank feed, so your figures are ready when the period ends.
5. Send each update once the period ends. You can send it up to 10 days early if no more transactions are expected.
6. Send a nil update for any quarter with no income or costs. It still counts.
7. After update 4, make your year-end adjustments and file the tax return by 31 January.

For more on the building trades and MTD, visit the trades section. Landlords will find their own guides in the landlord section.