MTD ScopeSources & checks

Your Making Tax Digital deadlines

Source basis: GOV.UK guidance. Check recorded 26 October 2026. Checks and limitations

Pick the tax year you first start and how your update periods run. See the standard dates for three tax years and download a calendar file with 14-day and 3-day reminders.

This calendar assumes you keep the same update periods and continue your businesses. If you change periods between tax years, cease a business or have a different obligation in your HMRC account, use the dates and coverage shown by HMRC. Calendar apps control whether imported reminders appear.

I start using Making Tax Digital in

Not sure? Check when you start.

My update periods

From April 2026, standard periods

Download calendar file (.ics)

  1. Second payment on account, if you make them
  2. Quarterly update 1 of 4 (2026 to 2027)Covers 6 April 2026 to 5 July 2026
  3. Quarterly update 2 of 4 (2026 to 2027)Covers 6 April 2026 to 5 October 2026
  4. Last tax return the old way, for 2025 to 2026Send it through your usual Self Assessment filing route and pay what you owe plus any first payment on account. The old penalty rules apply to this return.
  5. Quarterly update 3 of 4 (2026 to 2027)Covers 6 April 2026 to 5 January 2027
  6. Quarterly update 4 of 4 (2026 to 2027)Covers 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027
  7. Second payment on account, if you make them
  8. Quarterly update 1 of 4 (2027 to 2028)Covers 6 April 2027 to 5 July 2027
  9. Quarterly update 2 of 4 (2027 to 2028)Covers 6 April 2027 to 5 October 2027
  10. Tax return and tax bill for 2026 to 2027Submit through your MTD software and pay what you owe, plus your first payment on account if you make them
  11. Quarterly update 3 of 4 (2027 to 2028)Covers 6 April 2027 to 5 January 2028
  12. Quarterly update 4 of 4 (2027 to 2028)Covers 6 April 2027 to 5 April 2028
  13. Second payment on account, if you make them
  14. Quarterly update 1 of 4 (2028 to 2029)Covers 6 April 2028 to 5 July 2028
  15. Quarterly update 2 of 4 (2028 to 2029)Covers 6 April 2028 to 5 October 2028
  16. Tax return and tax bill for 2027 to 2028Submit through your MTD software and pay what you owe, plus your first payment on account if you make them
  17. Quarterly update 3 of 4 (2028 to 2029)Covers 6 April 2028 to 5 January 2029
  18. Quarterly update 4 of 4 (2028 to 2029)Covers 6 April 2028 to 5 April 2029
  19. Second payment on account, if you make them
  20. Tax return and tax bill for 2028 to 2029Submit through your MTD software and pay what you owe, plus your first payment on account if you make them

If you are required to use MTD: no penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026 to 2027, but a late tax return still gets a point. From 2027 to 2028, each missed quarterly deadline gets a point; at 4 points you pay £200. Different rules apply to volunteers and people who become exempt. Penalty rules in full.

Penalties if you are late

The new penalties start in the tax year you join Making Tax Digital; earlier tax years keep the old penalties. From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, the new penalties apply to everyone who sends a personal Self Assessment return, whether or not they use Making Tax Digital.

If you are required to use MTD

  • 2026 to 2027 tax year: no penalty points for late quarterly updates. You still need to keep digital records and send the required updates before submitting your tax return. A late tax return still receives a point.
  • From 2027 to 2028: each missed quarterly update deadline, and each missed tax return deadline, gives you 1 penalty point. You get only one point per deadline, even if you send several late updates for different businesses.
  • At 4 points you pay a £200 penalty, and another £200 every time you miss a deadline after that.
  • Below 4 points, each point is removed 24 months after the deadline you missed. At 4 points, they are only removed once you have been on time for 12 months and have sent everything outstanding from the previous 24 months.

If you join voluntarily

While you are volunteering, late quarterly updates do not receive penalty points. Late tax returns do: the threshold is 2 points, followed by a £200 penalty and another £200 for each further late tax return. The 4-point rule above is for people required to use MTD.

Once a volunteer has agreed to the new penalties, stopping voluntary participation does not restore the previous penalty rules.

Source: HMRC's penalties for volunteers. Check HMRC's confirmation of when the new penalties apply to you.

If a required user becomes exempt

For people required to use MTD, HMRC says becoming exempt in 2026 to 2027 restores the previous Self Assessment penalty rules. Becoming exempt in 2027 to 2028 keeps you under the new rules but lowers the points threshold from 4 to 2. Existing points are adjusted so you are no closer to the new threshold. The separate volunteer rule above still applies. Check your HMRC account for your actual position.

Late payment

Late payment penalties apply to a balancing payment and to amounts due after an amendment or assessment, but not to payments on account. In your first year under the new penalties you have 30 days to pay in full or contact HMRC about a payment plan; after that, 15 days. The 30-day period is available once: moving from voluntary to required MTD does not restart it.

A payment plan must be agreed and its payments kept up. Calling HMRC alone does not guarantee a penalty is avoided. Where a plan is agreed and followed, penalties are paused from the date you contacted HMRC. Late payment interest runs from the first day of late payment until the tax is paid.

The columns below refer to the tax year the payment is for, not the calendar year in which you pay. They reproduce the two tax years covered in HMRC's current table; they are not a prediction of later rates.

How latePayment for 2026 to 2027Payment for 2027 to 2028
Up to 15 daysNo penaltyNo penalty
16 to 30 days3% of the tax owed at day 15, or no penalty if it is your first year4% of the tax owed at day 15, or no penalty if it is your first year
31 days or more3% of the tax owed at day 15 and 3% of the tax owed at day 30, plus 10% a year on the amount outstanding, charged daily from day 31 for up to 2 years4% at day 15 and 4% at day 30, plus 10% a year on the amount outstanding, charged daily from day 31 for up to 2 years

Source: GOV.UK Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (updated 30 March 2026). Different rules apply if you volunteer before you have to: penalties for volunteers.

Common questions about sending updates

How the dates work

A deadline can fall on a weekend: 7 November 2026, for example, is a Saturday. GOV.UK says you can send an update up to and including the deadline day and does not say weekend deadlines move, so plan to send it before.

Each quarterly update is cumulative: it covers the tax year so far, not just the last three months. The fourth update covers the whole year. After it, you make any year-end adjustments and submit your tax return from your MTD software by 31 January, the same date you pay your tax bill.

If you make payments on account, the first is due on 31 January with your tax bill and the second on 31 July. You do not need to make them if the tax you owed last year was less than £1,000, or if you paid more than 80% of the tax you owed outside Self Assessment, for example through your tax code.

Sources: GOV.UK Send quarterly updates (updated 16 October 2026),Using MTD for Income Tax for the first time,Payments on account.