Published 15 September 2026. Rules from HMRC guidance on GOV.UK and the Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, checked 15 September 2026. Prices are bands from published price lists and fee schedules, September 2026. Not tax advice.

Making Tax Digital for Landlords: Dates, Thresholds and What It Costs

Making Tax Digital for landlords starts with gross property income over £50,000: if your rent plus any sole-trade turnover passed that figure in 2024 to 2025, you have been in since 6 April 2026. The threshold falls to £30,000 from 6 April 2027 and £20,000 from 6 April 2028, which is where most landlords with two or three properties come in. MTD for landlords means HMRC-recognised software, digital records, four quarterly updates a year and a tax return by 31 January instead of the Self Assessment form. The tax is unchanged; the admin is not. Below: who is in, what counts as making tax digital property income, the deadlines, the penalties, what it costs and a worked example. The MTD checker gives your own start date.

Who is in and when: the three thresholds

HMRC tests your qualifying income, gross rent plus self-employment turnover before expenses, for the tax year two years before each start date, using the return you filed for that year.

Source: HMRC, Check if you're eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and the Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026, checked 15 September 2026.

HMRC writes to you before the tax year in which you must begin, and since September 2026 has been signing up anyone who should be in for 2026 to 2027 and has not done it themselves. Once in, you stay in unless your qualifying income falls below the threshold for three tax years in a row, when you can opt out.

Limited companies pay Corporation Tax and are exempt. Partnerships are not yet in and have no date. Two people who simply own a buy-to-let together are not a partnership; each is tested on their own share of the rent.

Who is exempt

• Automatic: trusts, personal representatives, Lloyd's members, anyone without a National Insurance number, recipients of Married Couple's Allowance or Blind Person's Allowance, ministers of religion, and for 2026 to 2027 only, people who claimed averaging relief or qualifying care relief on their 2024 to 2025 return.
• Digitally excluded, on application: if age, a health condition or a disability stops you using a computer, if your religious beliefs rule out digital communication, or if you cannot get internet access because of where you live. Apply by phone or post; HMRC aims to reply within 28 days.

Making tax digital property income: what counts

The threshold is not profit. Qualifying income is your total income from property and self-employment before expenses, which HMRC also calls turnover. A landlord with £32,000 of rent and £20,000 of mortgage interest and other costs has £12,000 of profit, £32,000 of qualifying income, and is in from 6 April 2027.

• Counts: rent from UK property, including holiday lets; overseas rent if you are UK resident; turnover from any sole trade.
• Does not count: employment income under PAYE, pensions, dividends (including from your own company), savings interest, and your profit share from a partnership.

Jointly owned property is tested on your share: a couple with £48,000 of joint rent each have £24,000 of qualifying income and come in from 6 April 2028 rather than 2026. If you only ever receive notice of your share after expenses, for example from a co-owner who runs everything, HMRC assesses that net figure. Once in, joint owners can report their share of the rent only in quarterly updates and add the expenses for the jointly let property before the tax return; expenses on property you own outright still go in each quarter.

Put the figure for both tax years into the Making Tax Digital checker. Landlords near £30,000 in 2025 to 2026 should read the actual return: a section 13 rent rise, covered in the Renters' Rights Act guide, can tip two properties over the line a year early.

What you have to do

1. Sign up. Use your Self Assessment Government Gateway ID; an accountant can sign you up instead.
2. Choose HMRC-recognised software. Free products exist for simple affairs, with limits such as the number of transactions. Bridging software links a spreadsheet to HMRC, provided the link is digital rather than retyped.
3. Keep digital records. Each item needs an amount, a date and a category (under £90,000 of turnover, just income or expense). Keep them for five years after the 31 January deadline for that tax year.
4. Send four quarterly updates. Each is a running total from 6 April, so a mistake in one update is corrected by the next.
5. Submit the tax return by 31 January following the tax year. Other income and reliefs go here; HMRC pre-fills employment and pension income.

Source: HMRC, Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, checked 15 September 2026. The calendar option is an election in your software.

A quarterly update carries no tax calculation and no payment; tax is still due by 31 January, with payments on account by 31 July as now. Put the four dates in the compliance calendar next to the gas safety check and the EICR.

Penalties for late updates and late payment

Points for late submissions, percentages for late payment, both from Schedules 24 and 26 of the Finance Act 2021, with the late payment rates raised on 31 May 2025.

Source: HMRC, Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax; Finance Act 2021 Schedules 24 and 26 as amended by SI 2025/589; HMRC interest rates page, all checked 15 September 2026.

The first year is forgiving on updates, not on the return: a landlord who starts on 6 April 2026, misses all four updates and files the 2026 to 2027 return late collects one point, not five. Late payment is what hurts: 6 percent of the bill after a month, then 10 percent a year plus 7.75 percent interest.

What MTD for landlords costs

Three costs: software, an accountant if you use one, and your time. Bands are from published price lists, September 2026, for one to five properties.

Bands from published software price lists and accountants' fee schedules, September 2026, ignoring introductory discounts. No product is named because prices change monthly.

For two or three properties the realistic figure is £0 to £240 a year for software and £150 to £500 more for the accountant, so MTD adds between nothing and £740 a year to the cost of running the properties. To stay at the low end, use the free tier if you have two or fewer lets and no sole trade, open a separate bank account for the rent so the feed imports cleanly, and have the accountant do the return only. The rental yield calculator takes the software cost as a running cost.

Worked example: a two-property landlord

A landlord in Leicester owns a three-bedroom house let at £1,400 a month and a two-bedroom flat at £1,200 a month in her sole name, and has a salaried job. Her gross rent for 2025 to 2026 is £31,200; the salary does not count. Over £30,000, she is in from 6 April 2027. Had the flat been jointly owned with her partner, her share of its rent would be £7,200, her qualifying income £24,000 and her start date 6 April 2028.

Illustrative figures. Deadlines from HMRC guidance, checked 15 September 2026; expenses are before mortgage interest, which is a 20 percent tax credit rather than a deduction.

Her cost: a basic plan at £8 a month, £96 a year, and £200 more from her accountant for the return. Total £296 and about six hours in the first year; her tax bill does not change. The certificate cost calculator and the insurance guide give the rest of her running costs.

Common mistakes

• Testing profit, not rent. A portfolio that makes a loss can still be over £50,000 of qualifying income.
• Forgetting the side business. A £12,000 consultancy and £20,000 of rent is £32,000, and in from 6 April 2027.
• Counting the whole rent on a joint property. Only your share counts.
• Treating the agent's statement as a digital record. A PDF is not a digital record unless its figures reach the software through a digital link.
• Leaving sign-up until July. A 7 August update leaves no time to set categories or reconcile the feed; sign up before 6 April.
• Assuming quarterly updates mean quarterly tax. They do not; payment dates are unchanged.
• Missing the five-year record rule. The 2026 to 2027 records must be kept until 31 January 2033.
• Thinking licensed property is different. An HMO licence changes council obligations, not tax reporting.

What happens to Self Assessment

Self Assessment does not disappear; the form does. For the tax year before you start you file a normal return, so a landlord entering on 6 April 2027 still submits the 2025 to 2026 return by 31 January 2027. From then on the updates and the return go in through the software, with the other income sections (employment, pensions, dividends, interest, capital gains) completed there rather than on the HMRC website. The calculation and the payment dates do not change.

Below the threshold nothing changes: a landlord with £18,000 of gross rent keeps filing online and HMRC has set no date. If you sell up, the obligation ends with the property business, though the landlord database entry and the deposit return are separate jobs. The site's tools assume an individual landlord in England; a company landlord should ignore this guide.

Frequently asked questions

Does Making Tax Digital apply to landlords?

Yes, to individual landlords whose gross rent plus any self-employment turnover is over £50,000 (from 6 April 2026), over £30,000 (from 6 April 2027) or over £20,000 (from 6 April 2028), tested on the tax year two years earlier. Limited companies are outside it and partnerships have no date yet.

When does MTD for landlords start for a two-property portfolio?

Usually 6 April 2027 or 6 April 2028. Two properties at £1,300 a month are £31,200 of gross rent, over £30,000 and in from 6 April 2027. Two at £1,000 a month are £24,000, over £20,000 and in from 6 April 2028. Jointly owned property counts at your share only.

Is the Making Tax Digital threshold based on rent or profit?

Gross rent before any expenses, added to any sole-trade turnover. A landlord with £32,000 of rent and £12,000 of profit has £32,000 of qualifying income. Employment income, pensions, dividends and interest do not count.

What are the quarterly update deadlines?

7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, for the cumulative periods from 6 April to 5 July, 5 October, 5 January and 5 April. The tax return is due by 31 January following the tax year, and nothing is paid with the updates.

What is the penalty for a late quarterly update?

One penalty point per late submission; at four points you pay £200, then £200 for each further late submission. There are no points for late quarterly updates in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, only for a late return. Late payment of the tax costs 3 percent at 15 days, 3 percent more at 30 days and 10 percent a year from day 31, plus 7.75 percent interest.

Do I still need to file a Self Assessment tax return?

You file a normal return for the year before you start, for example the 2025 to 2026 return by 31 January 2027 if you begin on 6 April 2027. After that the return goes in through your MTD software by 31 January each year and the online Self Assessment form is no longer used.

Sources

HMRC guidance on GOV.UK: eligibility and start dates; qualifying income; quarterly updates; digital records; the tax return; penalties; exemptions; applying for an exemption; signing up; compatible software; Self Assessment deadlines; HMRC interest rates. Legislation: Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026; Finance Act 2021 Schedule 24 and Schedule 26. Price bands from published price lists and fee schedules, September 2026. See the methodology.