HMRC Is Signing Taxpayers Up Itself: What the 7 November MTD Deadline Means for You
If you are a sole trader or landlord in the UK and you have been putting off Making Tax Digital, HMRC may soon make the decision for you. Since September 2026, HMRC has been signing up the remaining taxpayers itself, on a staged basis, and the second quarterly update deadline is now only weeks away: 7 November 2026 . Here is what is happening, who it affects, and a practical checklist to get through the deadline without stress. What changed with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords whose combined self-employment and property income was over £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year. Note that the test is based on gross income before expenses, not taxable profit. The scope keeps widening. Those with qualifying income over £30,000 join from April 2027, and those over £20,000 from April 2028. That next wave is expected to pull roughly 970,000 more people into the system. Instead of one annual ...