Unincorporated businesses, the self-employed and landlords will be phased in from April 2026 to mandatorily submit quarterly returns via digitally compatible software under MTD for ITSA. Those with total qualifying income over £50,000 are mandated from April 2026, and those with total qualifying incomes between £30,000 and £50,000 will be mandated from April 2027.

At the Autumn Budget 2024, it was announced that by the end of the Parliament (ie by April 2029 at the latest), sole traders and landlords with total qualifying income over £20,000 are likely to be mandated to use MTD for ITSA. The date when partnerships will be required to join has not yet been announced.

In the Spring Statement announcement on 26 March 2025, the government has confirmed the continued rollout of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax Self Assessment (ITSA), with sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £20,000 joining from April 2028 – earlier than previously announced. The government has also stated that it will continue to explore how it can best bring the benefits of digitalisation to more of the around 4m taxpayers who have income below the £20,000 threshold.

Read the full guidance on the steps required to prepare and file for your clients under MTD for ITSA

In the meantime, HMRC has updated its guidance on voluntarily signing up clients to help with the testing phase running up to April 2026. There are limitations as to who can sign up for this testing phase, such as being up to date with tax payments and having an accounting period for your self-employment trade coterminous with the tax year (ie 6 April to 5 April), amongst other conditions. Certain types of clients such as those in a partnership or claiming certain allowances are excluded from the test phase.

Read the full details of these conditions

Members can view webinars on the latest updates to MTD ITSA on our MTD hub.