News
HMRC has started signing up taxpayers for Making Tax Digital | Here’s what to do if you haven’t registered
02 Sep 2026
If you’re a sole trader or landlord with qualifying income over £50,000, you should already be using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026/27 tax year. This month, HMRC began contacting anyone who fits that description but hasn’t registered themselves, and it’s continuing to work through cases in stages over the coming months.
More than 570,000 sole traders and landlords have registered so far, against an estimated population of around 864,000 who fall into this first group. If you haven’t signed up, you’re in that remaining gap, and HMRC is actively working through it right now.
Why it’s still worth acting yourself
Being signed up by HMRC doesn’t do the actual work for you. You’ll still need compliant software in place, and you’ll still need to file quarterly updates, the only difference is who chose the timing. Register yourself now and you keep control of the software and setup. Wait, and you’re working to HMRC’s schedule instead of your own, with less room to get things right before your next deadline.
The first quarterly update deadline, 7 August, has already passed. There’s no penalty for a missed quarterly deadline in 2026/27 itself, but that soft-launch only covers quarterly updates, your end-of-year filing still carries the usual penalty risk, and points-based penalties for quarterly deadlines start from April 2027. The longer registration and setup are left, the more there is to catch up on.
What we’re doing for our clients
If you’re not sure whether this applies to you, or you know it does and haven’t got round to it, get in touch and we’ll help you take care of it.
