Compliance
When are the Making Tax Digital deadlines?
Last updated 12 August 2026 · Reviewed by Nick Thorpe, founder
The short answer
Quarterly updates are due 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May each year, each covering the tax year so far. The 2026-27 final declaration and any tax are due by 31 January 2028. The next quarterly deadline is 7 November 2026.
The dates repeat in a fixed pattern every year, which is the one kind thing about the whole regime. Four quarterly updates, then the normal Self Assessment year end. Here is the calendar for a landlord mandated from April 2026.
The quarterly updates
Updates are cumulative: each covers the period from 6 April to the end of the latest quarter, so a late or corrected quarter simply rolls into the next filing.
| Update | Period covered | Due |
|---|---|---|
| Quarter 1 | 6 April to 5 July | 7 August |
| Quarter 2 | 6 April to 5 October | 7 November |
| Quarter 3 | 6 April to 5 January | 7 February |
| Quarter 4 | 6 April to 5 April | 7 May |
The first update of 2026-27 fell due on 7 August 2026; the next is 7 November 2026. A quarterly update is a summary of income and expenses sent from HMRC-recognised software. It is not a tax return and no tax is due with it. If you missed the August one, what happens after a missed update covers the catch-up; the short version is that HMRC is not issuing penalty points this first year, and the cumulative design means one sitting in your software puts you straight.
The year end does not move
The final declaration for 2026-27, the step that replaces the Self Assessment return for mandated landlords, is due by 31 January 2028 along with the balancing payment. Payments on account, if you make them, stay on 31 January and 31 July. In the middle of all this, the 2025-26 return still needs filing the old way by 31 January 2027, and that return is also the one HMRC checks against the £30,000 threshold for the April 2027 intake. Our guide to whether Making Tax Digital applies to you in 2027 works that through.
Penalties from year two
2026-27 is a practice year for the updates: late ones earn no penalty points. From the 2027-28 year each late update is one point, four points is a £200 fixed penalty, and the counter keeps running with four deadlines a year. Late payment penalties apply throughout and always did.
The filing itself sits with you or your accountant, not your letting agent; what an agent supplies is data that arrives already itemised. Our owner statements give rent, fee and maintenance month by month from the portal, which is the record MTD software wants. The full regime, thresholds and all, is in does Making Tax Digital apply to landlords.