Your first MTD quarterly update – what needs submitting by 7 August?
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is now live and, for many sole traders and landlords, the first major deadline is fast approaching.
If you’re required to use MTD for Income Tax from the 2026/27 tax year, your first quarterly update must reach HMRC by 7 August 2026.
But what exactly are you submitting? How accurate do the figures need to be? And is this simply a mini tax return four times a year?
Let’s clear up some of the confusion.
Who does the 7 August deadline affect?
From 6 April 2026, MTD for Income Tax became mandatory for sole traders and landlords whose total qualifying income from self-employment and property was over £50,000.
For those in scope, MTD means using compatible software to:
- – keep digital records of business and property income and expenses
- – send quarterly updates to HMRC
- – submit the year-end tax return through compatible software
The first quarterly update deadline is 7 August 2026.
What period does your first update cover?
That depends on which update periods you use.
For standard update periods, your first update covers:
6 April to 5 July 2026
For calendar update periods, it covers:
1 April to 30 June 2026
The submission deadline is 7 August 2026 in either case.
There’s an important point here. If your accounting period runs from 1 April to 31 March and you want to use calendar update periods, you need to select that option in your software before sending your first update. Once you’ve sent an update, you can’t change the update periods for that tax year.
So, what actually needs submitting?
Your compatible software uses the digital records you’ve kept to create totals for your income and expense categories.
In simple terms, HMRC wants a summary of the figures recorded for each relevant source of self-employment or property income.
Your update will include totals for the income and expense categories you’ve used. MTD uses the same broad categories as Self Assessment.
Crucially, HMRC doesn’t receive every individual receipt or invoice as part of the quarterly update. Your software sends the category totals, not copies or details of each transaction.
You may need to submit more than one update
If you have more than one self-employment or property business, don’t assume one combined figure will cover everything.
HMRC requires quarterly updates for each self-employment and property business within MTD.
For example, if you have:
- – a self-employed consultancy business
- – a separate property business
You’ll need an update for each source.
This makes it particularly important to check that your software and HMRC records show the right income sources before you submit.
Is the quarterly update a mini tax return?
No.
This is one of the most important points to understand.
A quarterly update is not a tax return, and HMRC says you don’t need to make accounting or tax adjustments before sending it.
That means the first update isn’t meant to be a fully adjusted set of year-end accounts. You don’t need to complete the same work that would normally take place when preparing your final tax position.
Your software takes the digital records entered so far, groups them into the relevant categories and creates the totals for you to check and submit
Does everything need to be perfect by 7 August?
Your records should, of course, be as complete and accurate as you can reasonably make them.
But MTD quarterly updates work on a cumulative basis.
Your first standard update covers 6 April to 5 July. The next covers 6 July to 5 October. It doesn’t simply report the next three months in isolation.
This means later updates can reflect corrections you’ve made to your digital records. You don’t normally need to go back and resend an earlier update simply because you corrected a record later. (GOV.UK)
That’s a useful distinction, but it isn’t a reason to rush through the first submission without checking it. Poor records now can create more work later and make your estimated tax position less useful.
What if you had no income or expenses?
You may still need to submit an update.
HMRC’s guidance says that if you’ve had no income and no expenses during the latest update period, you must still send the quarterly update to tell HMRC.
So, no activity doesn’t automatically mean no submission.
What shouldn’t be included?
The quarterly update focuses on your relevant self-employment and property income and expenses.
Other sources of income don’t form part of the quarterly update itself. Depending on your software, you may be able to add items such as savings income during the year to give you a fuller view of your likely tax position. But these sit outside the quarterly update and must ultimately be dealt with when you complete your tax return.
This distinction matters. Your quarterly update isn’t a complete statement of every part of your personal tax affairs.
What should you check before you press submit?
Before sending your first update, take a few minutes to check that:
- – you’re signed up for MTD for Income Tax
- – your compatible software is linked to HMRC
- – all relevant transactions have been entered into your digital records
- – income and costs sit in sensible categories
- – your bank feeds have pulled through correctly, where you use them
- – you haven’t duplicated transactions
- – you’ve included each relevant self-employment or property business
- – you’re using the right standard or calendar update period
The first submission sets the pattern for the rest of the year. A clean, workable process now can save a great deal of time before the next deadlines.
What happens after you submit?
Once you’ve sent the update, you’ll be able to see an estimated tax bill through your software or HMRC online services.
That estimate builds through the year as you send more updates. However, it may not show the full picture if HMRC doesn’t yet know about other income sources or if other tax adjustments still need to be made.
Treat it as a useful guide rather than a final tax calculation.
What if you miss the 7 August deadline?
HMRC has confirmed that it won’t apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026/27 tax year.
However, that doesn’t mean you can ignore the deadlines. You still need to keep digital records and send the required quarterly updates before you can submit your tax return. Penalties can still apply to late tax returns and late tax payments.
And beyond the first year, late quarterly submissions move into the points-based penalty system.
Don’t leave your first MTD update until the last minute
For many sole traders and landlords, 7 August 2026 will be the first real test of the new MTD process.
The update itself may be simpler than you expect. But problems can arise if you haven’t signed up, your software isn’t linked correctly, income sources are missing, or your digital records haven’t been kept up to date.
The sooner you check where you stand, the more time you’ll have to put things right.
Your first MTD quarterly update shouldn’t be a last-minute scramble.
At Dux Advisory, we can help you understand what needs reporting, check that your records and software are ready and make sure you have a clear process for future updates.
Contact Dux Advisory today. We’re ready to help you meet the 7 August deadline and keep your MTD reporting on track.
