A clarity tool

Am I affected by Making Tax Digital, and when?

Pick a tax year, enter your turnover and rental income for it, and see exactly which threshold applies and when it takes effect. Nothing you enter here is saved or sent anywhere.

Which tax year are your figures for?

Each threshold is checked against a specific year, not your current income, so pick the year you actually have figures for.

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Combined qualifying income: £0

Where you stand

In scope, or getting close?The earlier you're set up with the right software and records, the smoother your first quarterly update will be. I'm happy to talk through what it means for you.

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Two things that catch people out: these figures are gross turnover and gross rent, before any expenses come off, and if you have both self-employment and rental income, HMRC adds them together rather than checking each one on its own.

How this is worked out

HMRC brings people into Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in phases, and which phase applies to you is decided by your qualifying income for a specific tax year, not by a live, ongoing figure.

What's included

  • The three published thresholds and the tax year each one is checked against: £50,000 for 2024-25 (mandatory from 6 April 2026), £30,000 for 2025-26 (mandatory from 6 April 2027), and £20,000 for 2026-27 (mandatory from 6 April 2028).
  • The combined-income rule: self-employment turnover and gross rental income are added together, not assessed separately.
  • Gross figures, not profit: qualifying income is turnover before expenses are deducted.

What's not included

  • Employment income, dividends, and any income from a limited company you run, none of which count towards these thresholds.
  • An official mandation date. HMRC determines this from your actual submitted Self Assessment return and writes to confirm it, this tool is a plain-English illustration of the published rules, not that confirmation.
  • The 2026-27 threshold is the most recently announced of the three and has less settled guidance behind it than the other two, worth bearing in mind if that's the year you've selected.

For more detail on what actually happens once you're in scope, read the full guide to MTD's first threshold or what's different about the £30,000 threshold.

This is a general guide, not tax advice. It's built to explain the published thresholds correctly, not to give you a ruling on your specific situation. Content on this website is general information and does not constitute financial or tax advice. Talk it through with Daneon before you rely on it.

Thresholds and dates shown are current published HMRC policy and are reviewed each quarter. Last checked: September 2026.

Common questions

No. MTD for Income Tax covers sole traders and landlords who file Self Assessment. Income from a limited company you run, including the salary and dividends you take from it, doesn't count towards these thresholds.

Turnover. It's your gross self-employment turnover plus your gross rental income, before any expenses come off. That catches a lot of people out, particularly landlords whose profit is well under the threshold but whose gross rent isn't.

Keep your business and property records digitally, using software that works with MTD, and send HMRC a summary update every quarter. At the end of the year you confirm your final figures, which replaces the usual Self Assessment return for that income, still by 31 January.

Not yet. You carry on with Self Assessment as normal. It's worth keeping an eye on, though: the threshold is due to drop to £20,000 from April 2028, based on your 2026-27 income, and HMRC looks at your figures each year to decide whether you're in.