Making Tax Digital quarterly updates

What a quarterly update is

A quarterly update is a summary your software builds from your digital records: totals for each income and expense category. It is not a tax return, and you don’t pay tax with it. HMRC doesn’t see individual receipts or invoices.

• Each update runs from 6 April to the end of the period, so a correction is simply picked up in the next one.
• You send one for each self-employment and property business.
• You must still send it if nothing happened in the period.
• No accounting or tax adjustments are needed until the year end.

Periods and deadlines

You can send an update any time between the end of the period and the deadline. The tax return is due by 31 January after the tax year, with any tax owed.

Calendar quarters

If your accounts run to 31 March, you can choose calendar update periods ending 30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March. The deadlines don’t change. Choose them in your software before your first update: you can’t change for that tax year once an update has been sent.

Penalties

• 2026–27: no penalty points for late quarterly updates, but every update must be sent before you can file your tax return. A late tax return still earns a point.
• From 2027–28: each missed deadline earns one point, even if several businesses are late. At 4 points you pay £200, and £200 for each further missed deadline.
• Points below the threshold expire after 24 months.
• Late payment: no penalty for the first 15 days. After that, a percentage of the tax owed (3% for 2026–27, 4% from 2027–28), plus more from day 31. In your first year, you have 30 days to pay or agree a payment plan before penalties start.

At the year end

After the fourth update, make any corrections and resend it if needed, then add your accounting and tax adjustments and file the tax return through your software.

Not sure whether you need to start? See MTD thresholds and start dates. For sellers and subcontractors, the figure to record is the gross: see MTD for online sellers and MTD for CIS subcontractors.

We keep the records and prepare the updates each quarter. See bookkeeping and reconciliation and management accounts.

About Andrew

Andrew Ramsell runs the accounting and finance work for sole traders, landlords and limited companies, including their Making Tax Digital updates, and builds the software that takes recurring work off their hands. He is an AAT-qualified accountant.

Sources

HMRC guidance on GOV.UK, checked 10 October 2026:

• Send quarterly updates
• Penalties for MTD for Income Tax
• Create digital records