Making Tax Digital: Your Second Quarterly Update Is Due 7 November

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000. If that is you, the first quarterly update was due on 7 August. The second is due on Saturday 7 November 2026.

We covered who has to join, and when, in an earlier post. This one is about the next deadline: what the update covers, what happens if you miss it, and what to do if you have not signed up at all.

What period does this update cover?

There are two types of update period. Which one you use changes the dates covered, but not the deadline.

• Standard update periods follow the tax year. This update covers 6 April to 5 October.
• Calendar update periods run from 1 April and end on the last day of a month. This update covers 1 April to 30 September.

GOV.UK says calendar periods are worth considering if your accounts run from 1 April to 31 March, as this makes record keeping simpler. But you must choose calendar periods in your software before you send your first update. You cannot change the update periods for a tax year after you have sent a quarterly update. So if you already sent your August update, you are fixed for this year.

What a quarterly update actually contains

A quarterly update is a summary, not a tax return. Your software adds up your digital records and sends totals for each income and expense category. These are the same categories as Self Assessment.

Some points people get wrong:

• It is cumulative. The 7 November update covers the whole year so far, from the start of the tax year to the end of the period - not just the last three months. That means you can correct earlier mistakes without resending old updates.
• HMRC does not see your receipts or invoices, only the totals.
• You do not need to make accounting or tax adjustments first.
• You send one update for each self-employment and property business you have.
• If you had no income and no expenses in the period, you must still send the update.

You can send it any time from the end of the update period up to the deadline. After you send it, you can see an estimate of your tax bill in your software or your HMRC online account.

What happens if you miss 7 November?

For this tax year, not much straight away. HMRC says it will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026 to 2027 tax year.

But there are two catches:

1. You still have to send all your quarterly updates before you can submit your tax return using software. A missed update does not go away.
2. Penalty points still apply this year for a late tax return. Late payment penalties also apply.

From the 2027 to 2028 tax year, the points system covers quarterly updates too. You get one point for each missed deadline. At 4 points you get a £200 penalty, and another £200 each time you miss a further deadline. You only get one point per deadline, even if you have more than one business. Below 4 points, each point is removed automatically 24 months after the missed deadline.

What if you have not signed up yet?

If you were required to join from 6 April 2026, GOV.UK says you should sign up now. From September 2026, HMRC started signing up people who are required to join and had not done so.

If HMRC has signed you up for you, it will tell you through your HMRC online account or by post. You then need to:

• get software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (HMRC does not provide it)
• catch up and create digital records from the start of the tax year
• send any overdue quarterly update as soon as possible

If you think you should not have been signed up, contact HMRC's Self Assessment general enquiries. If you think you are digitally excluded, for example because of age, disability or location, you can apply for an exemption.

Does this apply in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is an HMRC scheme. The GOV.UK pages we checked set out one set of dates and rules, with nothing different for Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.

Before 7 November

1. Check which update period you are on in your software.
2. Bring your records up to date to 5 October (or 30 September).
3. Send the update, even if the period had no income or expenses.
4. If you have an accountant or agent, check they are sending it.

Sources: GOV.UK / HMRC: Send quarterly updates; Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax; Sign up your business for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax; Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax; Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HM Treasury: Budget 2026 (28 October 2026).