{"id":6114,"date":"2026-03-08T16:50:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T16:50:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.com\/blog\/sign-up-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T14:45:35","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T14:45:35","slug":"sign-up-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/sign-up-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax\/","title":{"rendered":"Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"application-notice help-notice\" role=\"note\" aria-label=\"Warning\">\n<p>You will not be able to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax until 9am on Monday 9 March, due to planned maintenance.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>You\u2019re required to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026 if your total annual income from self-employment and property is over \u00a350,000.<\/p>\n<p>Before you submit your tax return using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you\u2019ll need to include <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/use-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax\/submit-your-tax-return\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">other sources of income and gains<\/a> in your compatible software.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"when-to-sign-up\">When to sign up<\/h2>\n<p>If you\u2019re required to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026, you should sign up before that date so you are prepared.<\/p>\n<p>HMRC will check that you\u2019re eligible to sign up based on the details that you provide.<\/p>\n<p>If you use an agent, they can sign you up instead.<\/p>\n<div class=\"call-to-action\">\n<p>You still need to\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/self-assessment-tax-returns\/sending-return\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">submit a Self Assessment tax return<\/a>\u00a0for the tax year before you start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.<\/p>\n<p>To sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax you must:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>be registered for Self Assessment<\/li>\n<li>have submitted a tax return in the last 2 years<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<h3 id=\"if-youresigning-up-voluntarily\">If you\u2019re\u00a0signing up voluntarily<\/h3>\n<p>You can\u00a0sign up for\u00a0Making Tax Digital for Income Tax\u00a0before\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0required to\u00a0use\u00a0it to help you get ready.<\/p>\n<p>For example, you may\u00a0be required\u00a0to\u00a0use\u00a0it\u00a0from 6 April 2027, but you can sign up and volunteer:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>now, for the\u00a0current tax year (2025\u00a0to 2026)\u00a0\u2014 you\u2019ll need to use software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax to send any missed quarterly updates for the year so far<\/li>\n<li>from 6 April 2026, for the\u00a0next tax year\u00a0(2026\u00a0to 2027)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2 id=\"before-you-sign-up\">Before you sign up<\/h2>\n<p>Check if you may be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/find-out-if-you-can-get-an-exemption-from-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">exempt from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax<\/a>. If you are exempt, you will not have to sign up.<\/p>\n<p>You should <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/collections\/making-tax-digital-for-income-tax-for-businesses-step-by-step\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">read the step by step guidance<\/a>, if you have not already done so, to make sure you:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>understand if you need to use the service<\/li>\n<li>understand how to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (such as creating digital records, sending quarterly updates and submitting your tax return)<\/li>\n<li>have software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax \u2014 always check with the software provider to make sure their software will meet your needs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 id=\"penalties-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax\">Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re required to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026, HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates for the first tax year (2026 to 2027). Penalties will still apply for late tax returns or if you pay your tax bill after the due date.<\/p>\n<p>If\u00a0you\u2019re\u00a0signing up voluntarily, make sure you understand what <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/penalties-for-income-tax-self-assessment-volunteers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">penalties apply if you\u2019re volunteering for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax<\/a>. HMRC will contact you to confirm when\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0become liable for these penalties after\u00a0you\u2019ve\u00a0signed up.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"what-youll-need\">What you\u2019ll need<\/h2>\n<p>In the sign up service, you should tell HMRC about your active sole trader and property income.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ll need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>your business start date or the date you started receiving property income (if this is within the last 2 tax years)<\/li>\n<li>to confirm the tax year you will start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>If you\u2019re a sole trader, you\u2019ll also need:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>your business name \u2014 this is the name you use on your invoices<\/li>\n<li>your business address<\/li>\n<li>the nature of your business (your trade)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"application-notice info-notice\" role=\"note\" aria-label=\"Information\">\n<p>If you have multiple self-employment income sources or property businesses, you\u2019ll need to check each one in the online service and add any that are missing.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<h2 id=\"how-to-sign-up\">How to sign up<\/h2>\n<p>You\u2019ll need to use the same user ID and password you got when you registered for Self Assessment.<\/p>\n<p>You may be asked to provide further proof of your identity to use this service. You can do this by:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>using an app on your mobile phone to match a photo of your face to your passport or driving licence<\/li>\n<li>answering questions about information we already hold about your identity \u2014 for example, passport, credit reference, driving licence, Self Assessment, latest P60, or a recent payslip<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><a class=\"gem-c-button govuk-button govuk-button--start\" role=\"button\" draggable=\"false\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tax.service.gov.uk\/report-quarterly\/income-and-expenses\/sign-up\" type=\"\" data-module=\"govuk-button\" data-ga4-attributes=\"{\"> Sign up now <\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/guidance\/sign-up-your-business-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You will not be able to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax until 9am on Monday 9 March, due to planned maintenance. You\u2019re required to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026 if your total annual income from self-employment and property is over \u00a350,000. Before you submit your [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5710,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_mbp_gutenberg_autopost":false},"categories":[126],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6144,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6114\/revisions\/6144"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5710"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ttaccountancy.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}