How to Sign Up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (2026/27)

This guide is general information, not advice.

This guide is for sole traders and landlords who know they are in scope for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and now need to get through the sign-up service itself. Whether you are in scope, and from which April, is covered in who needs to comply; this page does not repeat it.

By the end you will have signed up (or had an agent do it), connected your software, and know what the service expects from you in the first year and how you get out again if your circumstances change.

Before you start

GOV.UK’s sign-up page sets two entry conditions. To sign up you must “be registered for Self Assessment” and “have submitted a tax return in the last 2 years”. You cannot sign up without a National Insurance number before the start of the tax year; GOV.UK’s exemption page treats that as an automatic exemption for the year.

Check the exemptions first. If one applies, “you will not have to sign up”, though you continue to file Self Assessment as normal. The who needs to comply guide lists them.

Then get software. HMRC does not provide any; its software finder lists products that have passed its recognition process, including bridging software that connects to a spreadsheet you already keep. GOV.UK’s advice is to “always check with the software provider to make sure their software will meet your needs”, including every income source you have.

Have ready, per the GOV.UK list:

• the user ID and password you got when you registered for Self Assessment
• your business start date, or the date you started receiving property income, if that was within the last 2 tax years
• the tax year you will start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• for a sole trader: your business name (“the name you use on your invoices”), your business address and the nature of your business
• something to pass an identity check: the service may ask you to match a photo of your face to your passport or driving licence using a phone app, or answer questions drawn from your passport, credit reference, driving licence, Self Assessment record, latest P60 or a recent payslip

You will not be asked about other income (employment, savings, dividends) at sign-up. Those are added in your software before the tax return.

Step-by-step

1. Go to the sign-up service. Select “Sign up now” on the GOV.UK sign-up page and sign in with your Self Assessment user ID and password. Complete the identity check if you are asked for one.
2. Tell HMRC about every self-employment and property income source. GOV.UK says to “check each one in the online service and add any that are missing”, including any that has ceased since your last tax return. If all your sources have ceased, tell HMRC before the start of the next tax year and it will write to confirm you do not need the service.
3. Confirm the tax year you will start. Someone mandated from April 2026 picks 2026/27. A volunteer can choose “the current tax year or the next one”; volunteering part-way through a year means sending “any missed quarterly updates for the year so far” through software.
4. Submit. HMRC “will check that you’re eligible to sign up based on the details that you provide”.
5. Or let your agent do it. GOV.UK’s agent page says the agent needs an agent services account and your authorisation. An existing Self Assessment authorisation counts, but must appear in that account, and “adding authorisations will not automatically sign up your client”, so the agent still signs you up individually.
6. Connect your software. Per get your software ready, choose “connect with HMRC” in the software, enter the user ID and password you used to sign up, pass the identity check if asked, and give permission. You repeat the connection every 18 months. The software defaults to a 6 April to 5 April accounting period; if yours runs 1 April to 31 March, select calendar periods before your first quarterly update, because “you cannot change your accounting period after you have sent a quarterly update”.
7. Find the service in your HMRC account. Sign in to HMRC online services and select “Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”. If it is not listed, GOV.UK’s access page says to use “Add a tax to your account” and answer the security questions. From there you can see due dates, a tax estimate, penalty points, and the opt-out option if you are a volunteer.

Deadlines and what happens next

• When to sign up. GOV.UK: “If you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, you should sign up now.” From September 2026 HMRC “will start to sign up anyone who needs to use” it for 2026/27 and has not done so, in stages, using only the information it holds, and will contact you afterwards. If that happens, follow the HMRC-signed-you-up steps: confirm the income sources it recorded, get software, catch up on digital records from the start of the tax year and send any overdue update.
• The return for the year before still goes in the old way. GOV.UK repeats it on every page: you “still need to submit a Self Assessment tax return for the tax year before you start”. For an April 2026 starter that is the 2025/26 return, due 31 January 2027.
• Quarterly updates. Every 3 months your software sends totals of income and expenses for each business. The update periods, the four deadlines and the points regime are set out in the quarterly deadlines guide. GOV.UK confirms HMRC “will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates for the first tax year (2026 to 2027)”; you must still send them before you can file the return.
• The tax return. Filed through your software by 31 January following the end of the tax year, and you pay as you do now by the same date. HMRC pre-fills what it holds (PAYE income, pensions, CIS deductions, residential property CGT disposals, Marriage Allowance); you add savings interest, dividends and any partnership share yourself before submitting.
• How to leave. Per if your circumstances change, you can opt out only if you amended the previous year’s return and it took your qualifying income below the threshold, or your qualifying income “has been below the relevant threshold for 3 consecutive years”. The option appears in your HMRC online account only when you are eligible; updates already sent for that year are deleted and you file a Self Assessment return instead. If you become digitally excluded, apply for an exemption; once confirmed you stop quarterly updates but “must still report income and gains in a Self Assessment tax return”. Records must be kept for at least 5 years from the return deadline: a 2026/27 return due 31 January 2028 means keeping them to at least 31 January 2033.

Common mistakes

• Waiting for HMRC’s letter. GOV.UK says that if you did not receive one “it is still your responsibility to check if and when you need to use” the service.
• Letting HMRC sign you up when your circumstances have changed. HMRC uses only what it already holds, so a new property business or a ceased trade will be wrong from day one. Signing up yourself lets you correct it at the start.
• Sending the first quarterly update before checking the accounting period. The period is locked once an update goes in.
• Assuming an agent’s Self Assessment authorisation is enough. It has to be in the agent services account, and each client is signed up separately.
• Treating the year-before return as replaced. The 2025/26 Self Assessment return is still due on 31 January 2027, under the old penalty rules.

Worked example

The dates and thresholds are from GOV.UK’s find out if and when and if your circumstances change pages.

A landlord’s 2024/25 return showed qualifying income over £50,000, so the service applies from 6 April 2026. They sign up in September 2026, choose 2026/27, and file the 2025/26 return by 31 January 2027 in the old way. Rents then fall. GOV.UK’s own opt-out example: if qualifying income is £20,000 or less on the 2026/27 return, £20,000 or less on the 2027/28 return, and £20,000 or less on the fourth quarterly update for 2028/29 (sent by 7 May 2029), they can opt out after the end of 2028/29 and do not need the service for 2029/30.

Related reading

• Who needs to comply with MTD for Income Tax 2026/27 - thresholds, qualifying income and the exemptions list.
• MTD quarterly deadlines and penalties 2026/27 - the four update dates and the points regime.
• MTD for Income Tax software 2026/27 - choosing between record-keeping and bridging products.