How to sign up for MTD for Income Tax: step by step

You must use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax if you are a sole trader or landlord registered for Self Assessment, you have self-employment or property income or both, and your qualifying income is more than the threshold for the tax year. Qualifying income is your self-employment and property income before expenses.

HMRC checks your return each year and writes to you if you are over a threshold. If you do not get a letter, GOV.UK says it is still your responsibility to check whether and when you need to use MTD. Partnerships do not use MTD yet.

To use HMRC’s sign-up service you must be registered for Self Assessment and have submitted a tax return in the last 2 years. You still send a normal Self Assessment return for the tax year before you start using MTD.

If all your self-employment and property income has stopped, tell HMRC before the start of the next tax year. If you do not, you will still need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

Gather these before you start, so you can finish in one go. The sign-up service does not ask about your other income, such as a salary, savings or dividends. You add that in your software before you submit your tax return.

• Your Self Assessment user ID and password.
• Possibly a passport or driving licence, to prove your identity through a mobile app.
• The start date of your business or property income, if it started within the last 2 tax years.
• The tax year you want to start in.
• For a sole-trade business, the business name you use on invoices, the business address and the nature of your trade.

In outline, signing up yourself looks like this. HMRC does not provide software, so you need a compatible product as well as signing up.

1. 1Check whether and when you need to use MTD, using your qualifying income and the table above.
2. 2Go to HMRC’s Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax page on GOV.UK and sign in with your Self Assessment user ID and password.
3. 3Prove your identity if you are asked to.
4. 4Confirm your self-employment and property income sources and enter the details HMRC asks for.
5. 5Choose the tax year you are signing up for.
6. 6Choose software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and connect it to HMRC.
7. 7Start your digital records from the start of the tax year, and send any quarterly updates already due.

From September 2026, HMRC started to sign up anyone who needs to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for 2026 to 2027 and had not signed up. This is happening in stages over the coming months. HMRC contacts you afterwards with a confirmation letter in your HMRC online services or by post, and a message shows when you sign in to your account.

When HMRC signs you up, it uses only the information it already holds, which may be out of date. That is why the first job is to check your income sources. All your UK properties count as one UK property business, and all your foreign properties as one foreign property business.

If you think you should not have been signed up, contact Self Assessment: general enquiries. You can apply for an exemption if you think you are digitally excluded.

1. 1Sign in to HMRC online services.
2. 2Confirm your income sources, add any new ones and tell HMRC about any that have stopped.
3. 3Get compatible software.
4. 4Catch up your digital records from the start of the tax year.
5. 5Send any overdue quarterly update as soon as possible.

You can sign up before you have to, for the current tax year or the next one. If you join part way through the current year, you must send any quarterly updates you have missed for the year so far.

When you volunteer, you agree that the new penalties apply to you, and you cannot change your mind once you have agreed. Volunteers do not get penalties for late quarterly updates, but a late tax return earns a point, with a 2-point threshold and a £200 penalty. Our article on MTD penalties explains the rules in full.

If you use an agent, they can sign you up instead, through HMRC’s separate sign-up service for agents. They need an agent services account and your authorisation.

You can have one main agent at a time and any number of supporting agents. Only the main agent can submit your tax return. An agent always acts through HMRC’s agent services, not your own sign-in.

Take a fictional person who runs a small catering business and lets out one flat in the UK. Neither source is over £30,000 on its own, but qualifying income adds them together before expenses.

On her 2025 to 2026 return, qualifying income of £34,000 is more than £30,000, so she must use MTD from 6 April 2027. When she signs up she confirms two income sources: one self-employment business and one UK property business. She will send a quarterly update for each.

From your start date you keep digital records of your income and expenses in software, for each business. You send a quarterly update for each business by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Your own deadlines come from HMRC and show in your software and HMRC online account.

After the tax year ends, you make any year-end adjustments, add your other income and submit your tax return by 31 January. HMRC calls the tax return under MTD the final declaration. The way you pay tax and the payment dates do not change.

HMRC does not provide software. Its software finder lists products that have been through HMRC’s recognition process, and HMRC does not recommend any of them. If you keep spreadsheets, you can carry on and use bridging software to send your updates and tax return. SimpleTaxFlow is one product on HMRC’s list that works with spreadsheets.

You can use more than one product, but only one product for each separate submission. For example, a landlord cannot split property updates across two products. HMRC cannot advise on specific products, so ask the provider if you are unsure.

• It covers all your income sources and any other income you need to report.
• It can send quarterly updates and submit the tax return.
• It fits your accounting period.
• It supports more than one agent, if you use agents.
• It has HMRC Assist.
• Its price, noting that free products may limit the number of transactions.

Tax rules can change and your circumstances matter. Use HMRC’s current guidance to confirm what applies to you.