18 October 2026

MTD for Income Tax quarterly deadlines 2026/27 for accountants

If you run a small UK practice, MTD for Income Tax now sets the shape of your year. Each client sends four quarterly updates per income source, then a tax return. The Q3 deadline falls a week after the Self Assessment deadline.

This page lists the 2026/27 dates from HMRC and GOV.UK for accountants and bookkeepers, with notes on planning your workload. It is not tax advice. Check current GOV.UK guidance before you brief clients.

Who this applies to in 2026/27

From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000 (based on the relevant earlier return) must keep digital records and send quarterly updates using compatible software. HMRC has published a first-year timeline for this group (HMRC campaign, quarterly updates).

From 6 April 2027 the threshold drops to £30,000. HMRC says this brings in around 1,077,000 more sole traders and landlords (HMRC news, 5 Oct 2026). Plan for those extra clients now. Don't wait until spring 2027 to set up a chase process.

Standard quarterly deadlines for 2026/27

For standard update periods, HMRC's internal manual sets these periods and deadlines (SALF1150):

For the 2026/27 tax year, the dates are:

HMRC's public MTD timeline page (campaign.gov.uk) and the GOV.UK penalties page (GOV.UK) give the same four deadlines.

Clients can choose calendar update periods instead of standard ones if their software supports that choice. Check each client's software setting. Don't assume every client's periods end on 5 July, 5 October, 5 January and 5 April.

Updates are cumulative

Each quarterly update covers the time from the start of the tax year to the end of that update period, not only the latest three months (SALF1150; AccountingWEB explanation, 13 Oct 2026).

This matters when you find a bookkeeping error after Q1. When you correct the digital records, the correction usually goes into the next cumulative update. You still need to fix the books when you find the error, and you can't leave it until year end. But you often won't need to resubmit the earlier update for each correction. Check the correction rules for each case.

Penalties in 2026/27 (do not overstate them)

HMRC will not give penalty points for a missed quarterly update deadline in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Clients still need to keep digital records and send the quarterly updates before they can submit the tax return (GOV.UK penalties guidance).

The same GOV.UK guidance says points-based penalties for late quarterly updates start in later tax years, with a £200 penalty at 4 points (GOV.UK penalties guidance). Late payment penalties are separate and still apply to tax due, including the balancing payment due on 31 January (GOV.UK penalties guidance).

When you write to clients this year, tell them "we need your records to file on time and keep your books right". Don't lead with quarterly penalty points that do not apply yet.

In January, Q3 falls a week after Self Assessment

For clients in the £50,000 group, GOV.UK says the 2025 to 2026 Self Assessment tax return is still filed the usual way, and is due on 31 January 2027 (GOV.UK). The third quarterly update for 2026/27 is due on 7 February 2027 (GOV.UK penalties guidance).

The two deadlines are about a week apart. ICAEW named this gap as a problem after Q1 (ICAEW, 27 Aug 2026). If you start chasing Q3 records in early January, the chase overlaps with Self Assessment work. Where you can, send Q3 requests in December, and keep review days free in the first week of February.

What Q1 already taught practices

The first live deadline was 7 August 2026. HMRC reported more than 436,000 first quarterly updates and over 570,000 sign-ups (HMRC, 12 Aug 2026).

Surveys of practitioners show what those numbers cost practices:

• In an Accountants Therapy survey of 142 respondents, 67% said getting information from clients was their biggest problem (ICAEW).
• In a Dext poll of more than 500 accountants, 65% missed at least one client deadline, and 33% named chasing records as their biggest challenge (Dext / Merchants Eye).
• AccountingWEB's time study found chasing often took 30 to 60 minutes per client, while filing often took 15 to 30 minutes (AccountingWEB, 30 Sep 2026).

Each of the four deadlines needs its own round of collecting records. If that round starts late, you file in a rush or miss the date.

A simple practice calendar for the next two deadlines

Before 7 November 2026 (Q2), you should:

• send records requests as soon as the period to 5 October closes
• send reminders on days 7, 14 and 21
• keep a list of clients who need a call
• file early enough to fix software and authorisation problems, which ICAEW reported in Q1

Before 7 February 2027 (Q3), you should:

• start the records chase in December, not after New Year
• book Self Assessment work and MTD Q3 work into separate days
• tell clients that the HMRC tax estimate in their software is not their final bill (AccountingWEB, 13 Oct 2026)

Set each internal cut-off 10 working days before HMRC's deadline, and send the same request email every quarter.

About Recordsin

Recordsin is a quarterly records-chaser for small UK accounting practices. We are building it to send the checklist when each quarter ends and to list what is still missing in each reminder. Clients reply by email, without a portal login. Join the waitlist at recordsin.co.uk.