As mandatory quarterly reporting under Making Tax Digital (MTD) kicked in from April for taxpayers with non-PAYE qualifying income over the £50,000 threshold, only 303,000 have signed up for the new system, revealed Jonathan Hawkes, deputy director of MTD.

At Accountex London 2026 Hawkes said: ‘We have had 303,000 sign-ups to MTD for income tax, which is a really strong positive start.’

In August last year, HMRC stated: ‘There are 864,000 individuals with a qualifying income over £50,000.’ As 303,000 have now signed up, that still leaves 65% of the £50,000 cohort yet to register.

At Accountex, Hawkes took time to ‘myth bust’, stating: ‘There is a lot you will have heard about “five tax returns”, they are not tax returns. There is only one tax return, MTD does not change the number of tax returns.

‘Those