this new regime will be in force from April 2026 and represents the most significant change to the UK tax system since the introduction of self assessment in 1995.

If you are self-employed or a landlord and have either annual business sales or annual property rental income of over £50,000 then you will be subject to MTD for Income Tax from April 2026.

It is important to note that it is the sales or rental income figures that are key, and not your net profit figure. It is very important to plan ahead since the threshold falls to £30,000 from April 2027 and falls again to £20,000 from April 2028.

From 6 April 2026, records of income and expenses will need to be kept digitally (eg by the use of spreadsheets or software packages), and submissions to HMRC must be made directly from those digital records. The date, amount and category of each expense needs to be recorded.

Then, each quarter a ‘quarterly update’ will need to be submitted to HMRC just over a month after each quarter-end. There will then be a final year-end return due by 31st January.

So, instead of the annual self-assessment return due each 31 January, affected taxpayers will have to submit five returns a year instead of one.

We are currently talking to our clients impacted and advising them of the first steps that must be taken and how we can help.