Making Tax Digital for landlords

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax, has begun for sole traders and landlords. As a landlord, your start date is dependent on your ‘qualifying income’. 

• From 6th April 2026 – business or property income above £50,000

• From 6th April 2027 – business or property income above £30,000

• From 6th April 2028 – business or property income above £20,000  

What is Making Tax Digital for income tax? 

MTD for income tax is a new way to report your income and expenses to HMRC. It means that instead of simply filing a self-assessment tax return on 31st January each year, you are required to use MTD-compliant bookkeeping software to file quarterly updates of your property and/or trading income and expenses. You must make a quarterly update for each business. For instance, if you have property income as a landlord and a handyman business, you will make a quarterly update for each business.  

You will then file your end of year tax return through that software, instead of a self-assessment tax return through the HMRC online portal or on paper. The information you supplied in your quarterly updates should be pulled through to your software to partially pre-populate your tax return.  

Paying your tax won’t change it will still be due by 31st January each year, plus 31st July if you make payments on account. 

The key dates and deadlines for 2026 are set out here.  

What counts towards qualifying income? 

Qualifying income is property income, such as rent, and trading income from a sole trade business. Other income such as employment income or savings interest is not counted within these thresholds. 

Our explainer on qualifying income goes into more detail on what should and shouldn’t be included. 

When do I need to calculate my qualifying income? 

Your qualifying income should be calculated based on the filed self-assessment tax return which was due by the previous January.  

For instance, to check if you should join MTD for income tax from 6th April 2026, you should look at qualifying income in your 2024/25 tax return (due 31st January 2026). 

Read our guide about Where We Are With Making Tax Digital for further background and you can read further guidance from HMRC. 

What software solutions are available for landlords? 

If you don’t keep up to date records as part of your current record keeping, you may find the move to MTD for income tax difficult to handle and costly. Landlords will need to keep records in such a way that quarterly updates can be made to HMRC, whether this is through bridging software or using fully MTD-compatible software. Fully MTD-compatible software solutions should pull together the quarterly updates for you once you have uploaded your records for the quarter e.g. receipts, bank statements, invoices etc.

No accounting adjustments are required for the quarterly updates – you only report your property income (and trading income if you have a separate sole trade business) and expenses; accounting adjustments and specific tax allowances are only included for the end of year tax return.

TaxAssist Accountants’ software partners with a number of leading accounting software providers - QuickBooks, Xero, Dext and specifically for landlords, Hammock.  

What do I have to do if I own multiple properties?

Landlords with multiple properties should report all their UK property income together. Landlords won’t need to prepare individual quarterly reports for each UK property. Property income from overseas properties must also be reported under MTD.

How about jointly-owned properties? 

Where a landlord jointly owns a property, when considering when Making Tax Digital will apply from, only the individual’s share of income counts towards their qualifying income.  

You will need to report your share of income from a jointly-owned property in your quarterly updates to HMRC. 

You can choose to include either of the following on the quarterly update for the jointly-owned properties: 

• Property income and expenses, or
• property income only, with expenses only reported in your end of year tax return.

How can TaxAssist Accountants help? 

TaxAssist Accountants have a wealth of experience helping landlords and can help you with: 

• Choosing the right MTD-compliant bookkeeping software 
• Training on how to use it 
• Pulling together and filing quarterly updates 
• Ensuring you are claiming all the tax reliefs you are entitled to 
• Completing and filing your end of year tax return 
• Reviewing your landlord business structure for tax efficiency 

For more information see our landlords page. 

 

Last updated 6 May 2026 | First published 29 Aug 2024

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This article is intended to inform rather than advise and is based on legislation and practice at the time. Taxpayer’s circumstances do vary and if you feel that the information provided is beneficial it is important that you contact us before implementation. If you take, or do not take action as a result of reading this article, before receiving our written endorsement, we will accept no responsibility for any financial loss incurred.

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