HMRC MTD expert Jim Rogers told delegates at the annual Finance, Accounting & Bookkeeping Show (FAB) this week that only 81,000 sole traders, landlords and self employed have completed registration for MTD for Income Tax.

This leaves 90% of the 864,000 taxpayers due to be dragged into the system holding off sign-up with the start date for MTD only weeks away on 6 April. Rogers also said HMRC has received 2,200 exemption requests so far.

Only 4,000 people were in the pilot, reflecting the scale of HMRC’s job to create sufficient awareness about the major overhaul of the tax system and to persuade taxpayers to take action and sign up.  

The MTD system requires quarterly reporting by affected taxpayers with qualifying income over £50,000 with the first deadline for filing earnings on Friday 7 August 2026. It requires two submissions if income is split between earnings and property income, and there is no free HMRC software for filings.