HMRC confirms taxpayers in the £50,000 wave one of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax can expect to receive a letter in the post with details

As the date for MTD for Income Tax starts from 6 April 2026 for self assessment taxpayers with income over £50,000 from earnings and property, HMRC is ramping up the communications campaign with a new awareness letter going out to taxpayers.

Over 860,000 landlords, self employed and sole traders will have to report to HMRC on a quarterly basis under the new rules, with the first quarterly filing date for 2026-27 tax year set for Friday 7 August 2026.

It is important to note that the letters are only being sent to individual taxpayers and not their accountants or tax agents so firms with clients over the threshold are advised to ensure they are aware of the upcoming tax reporting overhaul under MTD.

HMRC will write to taxpayers required to report under new MTD rules from 2 to 13 February and from 16 to 27 March informing them that they qualify to mandatory MTD from the new tax year.

The HMRC letter will cover key changes:

• the basics on what is MTD for Income Tax and how it works;
• when the individual self assessment taxpayer needs to start using MTD;
• details about new reporting requirements, including quarterly reporting to HMRC via digital software;
• important changes from the current system and reporting to how taxpayers currently record and report information;
• how to prepare for MTD.

It is not just higher earners being dragged into quarterly reporting. Lower earners will be pulled into the MTD regime from April 2027 when the threshold drops to £30,000 and subsequently this will be reduced even further in April 2028 to £20,000.

But MTD still requires an annual self assessment tax return, despite the continual reporting to HMRC. So first year sign-ups will still have to meet 31 January 2027 deadline to file self assessment tax return in usual way for 2025-26.

HMRC has also updated the MTD for Income Tax manual for agents and accountants. Software companies are also heavily promoting MTD on advertising on TV and social media, but there are few free options available. There is a Treasury led deal with Sage to provide the basic entry-level Sage offering, which is a very stripped down version of their monthly paid software packages.

Interestingly the major banks are also getting involved with partnerships with accounting software providers to offer free MTD software. NatWest and Mettle customers have access to 100% free software for MTD from FreeAgent, for example. 

Essential diary dates for MTD

Deadlines for MTD for Income Tax quarterly reporting from 2026