Key takeaways from our recent Making Tax Digital for Income Tax webinar
Azets recently hosted an informative webinar on Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, featuring Craig Ogilvie, Director of Making Tax Digital at HMRC. The session generated strong interest and lots of questions, highlighting that this upcoming change is top of mind for many taxpayers who will be affected from April 2026 and beyond.
Highlights from the session:
- MTD for Income Tax is confirmed to go live from April 2026, impacting sole traders, the self-employed and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000., There will be two further phases based on income levels happening in April 2027 and April 2028. Further information on who qualifies can be found on our MTD for Income Tax page.
- Digital record-keeping and quarterly returns will be mandatory.
- It’s important to note: this is not five tax returns. It will consist of four quarterly submissions plus a final declaration.
- The final declaration will be integrated into third-party software - not an HMRC form - so the user experience will vary depending on the provider.
- There’s an easement for jointly held property: only the income portion needs to be included in quarterly returns (if desired).
- Quarterly returns are cumulative, allowing taxpayers to correct any errors in the next submission.
- HMRC is testing new software designed to integrate additional income sources into the final declaration.
- Quarterly submissions aim to provide real-time tax insights, enabling better planning around decisions like capital expenditure or pension contributions.
- HMRC will offer “nudge” messages and prompts based on return data - an intriguing development we’ll be watching closely.
Watch recording
If you missed our webinar and would like to catch up on the session, you can watch the webinar recording here.
Questions from webinar
A large number of questions were submitted throughout the webinar. We've compiled answers from Azets and HMRC to provide further guidance on compliance.
We are here to help
At Azets, we’re here to help you prepare for these changes - ensuring you’re ready well ahead of April 2026.
We have created a dedicated area on our website with the latest information on MTD for Income Tax.
We will continue to keep you updated as we progress through the timeline towards MTD compliance.