You Missed the First MTD Quarterly Deadline… Now What?

The first Making Tax Digital for Income Tax quarterly deadline has officially been and gone.

7 August 2026.

If you were supposed to submit your first quarterly update and didn’t, there’s a good chance you’ve arrived here after a slightly panicked Google search.

So let’s start with the bit you probably want to know first:

Don’t panic.

Yes, you need to sort it.

No, ignoring it isn’t the answer.

But if you’ve missed the first deadline, the situation might not be quite as terrifying as you’re imagining.

Let’s go through what actually happens next.

First, what was the 7 August deadline?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, or MTDIT as we’ll call it because nobody has time to type that out repeatedly, became mandatory for the first group of taxpayers from April 2026.

For the 2026/27 tax year, it applies to sole traders and landlords whose qualifying gross income from self-employment and property was over £50,000 based on their 2024/25 tax return.

If you’re within the rules, you need to:

• Keep digital records of your business or property income and expenses

• Use MTDIT-compatible software

• Send quarterly updates to HMRC

• Submit your tax return through compatible software

For most people using standard quarterly periods, the first update covered the period from 6 April to 5 July 2026 and had to be submitted by 7 August 2026.

If you’re using calendar update periods, it covered 1 April to 30 June 2026 instead.

Either way, the submission deadline was 7 August.

And if you’re reading this because yours wasn’t submitted, here’s what you need to know.

Will I get a penalty for missing the first MTDIT deadline?

Here’s the good news: HMRC will not issue penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026/27 tax year.

This first year is effectively giving people some breathing room while everyone gets used to the new system.

That does not mean quarterly updates are optional.

You still need to keep the required digital records and you still need to send your quarterly updates.

You will also need to have sent the required quarterly updates before you can submit your tax return.

So this isn’t a case of:

“There’s no penalty. I’ll just leave it.”

Please don’t do that.

Think of it more as HMRC giving you an opportunity to fix the problem without immediately adding a penalty point to the mix.

So what should I do if I missed the 7 August deadline?

First of all, work out why you missed it.

Was it because:

• You didn’t realise MTDIT applied to you?

• You haven’t signed up yet?

• You thought your accountant or bookkeeper had done it?

• Your bookkeeping isn’t up to date?

• You don’t have compatible software?

• Your software wasn’t connected correctly?

• You knew about it but life and business happened and the deadline disappeared from your radar?

The solution depends on the problem.

But the important thing is to deal with it now rather than allowing one missed deadline to become several.

1. Check whether you actually needed to be in MTDIT

Before doing anything else, make sure the rules apply to you.

For 2026/27, MTDIT applies to qualifying sole traders and landlords with total qualifying income over £50,000.

And notice that I said income, not profit.

That’s an important distinction.

The thresholds are also being extended. Those with qualifying income over £30,000 are due to come into MTDIT from April 2027 followed by those over £20,000 from April 2028.

If you’re not sure whether you’re caught by the rules, check before making assumptions.

2. Get your digital records up to date

MTDIT isn’t simply about pressing a button four times a year. The bigger change is the requirement to maintain digital records.

If your bookkeeping for April, May and June is currently living across bank statements, receipts, emails, spreadsheets and the occasional bit of paper sitting somewhere in your car, this is the bit that needs attention.

Your compatible software uses your digital records to produce the information included in your quarterly updates.

And keeping those records properly throughout the year should make each future submission considerably less stressful.

This is exactly why we’ve always been big believers in regular bookkeeping at A B C S UK.

Good bookkeeping isn’t just about keeping HMRC happy, it tells you what’s actually happening in your business.

3. Submit the outstanding information

Once your records and software are sorted, get the outstanding position dealt with.

Quarterly updates are summaries of your self-employment or property income and expenses. They are not another tax return and you don’t have to make all of the accounting and tax adjustments you would make when completing your year-end return.

That’s an important distinction because we’ve seen plenty of unnecessary panic around the idea of having to complete “four tax returns a year”.

You don’t.

You are providing HMRC with regular summary information based on your digital records.

4. Don’t forget the next deadline

This is probably the most important bit.

The next quarterly deadline is:

7 November 2026.

Then:

7 February 2027

And:

7 May 2027

So if the first deadline caught you by surprise, now is the time to change the system rather than setting yourself another reminder for 6 November and hoping for the best.

Your bookkeeping needs to become something that happens regularly not something you suddenly remember exists when HMRC wants something.

“But my accountant deals with all of this…”

Maybe.

But please check.

One of the biggest dangers with any new compliance requirement is assuming someone else is doing something without actually having the conversation.

Ask your accountant or bookkeeper:

Am I within MTDIT?

Have I been signed up?

Who is responsible for maintaining the digital records?

Who is submitting the quarterly updates?

Is my software set up correctly?

Is there anything you need from me each month or quarter?

A five-minute conversation now could save you a much more stressful one later.

What if I’ve done absolutely nothing about MTDIT yet?

Then today is a very good day to start.

Not tomorrow.

Not “when things calm down”.

And definitely not January when you’re also thinking about Self Assessment.

Start by establishing whether you’re required to comply and then look at your bookkeeping, software and registration position.

If you’re behind, the goal isn’t to magically fix everything in five minutes, it’s to create a proper plan to get you compliant and keep you compliant.

Because while HMRC isn’t applying penalty points for late quarterly updates during 2026/27, that treatment is the exception not the rule.

After the 2026/27 tax year, late quarterly submissions can result in penalty points. Once you reach the four-point threshold, HMRC can issue a £200 penalty.

So use this first year to get your systems right.

MTDIT isn’t really the problem

This might be controversial coming from a bookkeeper, but here goes.

For a lot of business owners, MTDIT isn’t actually the problem.

It’s just exposing a problem that was already there.

If you were doing your bookkeeping once a year, are constantly behind with your records or relying on the balance in your bank account to tell you whether the business was doing well, quarterly reporting suddenly feels like a huge burden.

But your bookkeeping being up to date every few months shouldn’t only happen because HMRC has asked for some numbers.

You should know what’s happening in your business anyway.

What’s your profit looking like?

How much should you be putting aside for tax?

Are your costs creeping up?

Is your cash flow healthy?

Can you afford that new member of staff?

Can you take more money out of the business?

Those are business questions, not HMRC questions.

And they’re much easier to answer when your bookkeeping isn’t six months behind.

Missed the deadline? Fix the system, not just the submission.

If you missed the first MTDIT quarterly deadline, don’t spend the next week beating yourself up about it.

Work out what went wrong.

Get the outstanding position sorted.

Then make sure the same thing doesn’t happen in November.

At A B C S UK, bookkeeping is at the heart of what we do because accurate, up-to-date numbers give business owners something much more useful than compliance.

They give you confidence.

Our monthly packages start from £550 + VAT and combine regular bookkeeping with the wider accountancy and financial support growing businesses need.

Because your business deserves better than only looking at the numbers when HMRC asks for them.

Need help getting your bookkeeping and MTDIT position sorted? Get in touch with A B C S UK and let’s work out what needs doing: https://outlook.office365.com/book/ABCSUK2@Abcsuk.co.uk/

This blog is for general information only and does not constitute individual tax or accounting advice. MTDIT requirements depend on your circumstances, so seek professional advice if you’re unsure whether or how the rules apply to you.