After Your First MTD Quarterly Update: What Happens Next

The first Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax quarterly update deadline for in-scope sole traders and landlords is 7 August 2026. Whether you have already sent that update, plan to send it today, or will submit late, HMRC’s GOV.UK guidance on sending quarterly updates sets out what happens next: tax bill estimates, how corrections work, optional more frequent updates, and the next deadline on 7 November 2026.

HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026 to 2027 tax year. You still need to send each quarterly update before you can submit the year-end tax return, and late Self Assessment and late payment penalties still apply. Treat the first-year points pause as breathing room to finish digital records — not as permission to leave updates unfinished.

Tax estimates after you send — not a demand for payment

After you send a quarterly update, compatible software or your HMRC online services account can show an estimate of your tax bill for self-employment and property income. HMRC may include other information it already holds — for example PAYE employment income or your student or postgraduate loan plan type — so the estimate is more complete than property or trading totals alone.

Estimates are planning tools only. They are not a demand for payment and are less accurate if you have other income you have not told HMRC about yet, or if your accounting period does not match the tax year. Some software lets you record other income sources (such as savings interest) during the year so later estimates are fuller; those other sources are not themselves part of the quarterly update totals.

Corrections, joint property, and more frequent updates

Each quarterly update covers from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, not only the latest three months. That cumulative design means you can correct digital records as you go without resending earlier updates — later totals simply refresh the year-to-date picture.

For jointly let properties you can choose to include property income and expenses, or income only, in quarterly updates. If you omit expenses, you must report them after year end by resending the fourth quarterly update before the tax return. Solely owned properties still need income and expenses in the quarterly updates.

You can also send updates more often than once a quarter if your software allows — for example after a large receipt — but each send still covers the full update period to date. You cannot change between standard and calendar update periods for a tax year after you have sent a quarterly update.

Diary the rest of 2026/27

For most customers the second update period ends 5 October 2026 (standard) or 30 September 2026 (calendar), with a send deadline of 7 November 2026. Later deadlines are 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027 for the third and fourth updates. Keep digital records current through autumn so the November send is a check-and-approve step, not a reconstruction project.

If you have not yet sent the first update, submit as soon as records are ready. First-year quarterly late points are paused, but unfinished digital books still block a clean path to the tax return and make in-year estimates unreliable.

How FinnAccountings helps keep MTD books review-ready

Organised bank, sales, and expense categories shorten the path to quarterly update totals your adviser can review. FinnAccountings helps Ireland and UK sole traders and landlords prepare bookkeeping and tax packs with Chartered Accountant insight before you or your ICAEW/ACCA or Chartered Accountant (Ireland) adviser reviews figures. Start a free trial for review-ready drafts — we prepare packs; we do not submit MTD quarterly updates or Self Assessment returns to HMRC on your behalf.

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Related reading

Pair this with our final pre-deadline MTD checklist and student loans under MTD briefing. Use the free tax calculator for high-level Income Tax and National Insurance planning estimates only.

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