Despite the first deadline for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax arriving on 7 August, over 400,000 qualifying landlords and sole traders have still not signed up.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The total number of those who are affected by this deadline is 864,000, which means just under half are on track to miss the submission.<\/p>\n
With this many people yet to register, what can be done to stay on top of the quarterly MTD filings and prepare for upcoming changes?<\/p>\n
MTD is compulsory for landlords and sole traders whose combined income from self-employment and property exceeded \u00a350,000 in the 2024\/25 tax year.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not a tax return that is due on 7 August, but a short summary of income and expenses for the first three months of the 2026\/27 tax year.<\/p>\n
The looming deadline is also not optional, as quarterly MTD filings are a legal requirement for taxpayers within the current bracket.<\/p>\n
MTD\u2019s catchment will eventually be extended to millions more, with the threshold dropping to \u00a330,000 of qualifying income in April 2027 and to \u00a320,000 of qualifying income in April 2028.<\/p>\n
The deadline should be seen as a preview of what\u2019s to come with MTD, so it is important to get prepared before the compliance scope extends to you and your business.<\/p>\n
Arriving alongside the broadened scope of MTD in April 2027, a points-based penalty system for taxpayers missing quarterly deadlines will be introduced.<\/p>\n
With each missed quarterly deadline earning one point, a balance of four points results in a \u00a3200 fixed penalty.<\/p>\n
A period of compliance and timely submissions can reset an individual\u2019s point balance, so penalties can be easily avoided if individuals stay proactive.<\/p>\n
MTD filings are relatively straightforward, only requiring a few minutes to submit information on HMRC-compliant software.<\/p>\n
However, HMRC has reported that of the 100,000 MTD taxpayers who have already registered, 69 per cent used accountants or agents.<\/p>\n
With a penalty system rolling out in the next tax year and guidance that can feel confusing, it is unsurprising that most people are seeking help to stay compliant.<\/p>\n
Accountants can help to ensure digital record keeping is up to date and filings are submitted on time, checking for errors that might lead to penalties.<\/p>\n
For people managing properties and running businesses, accountants can help relieve some of the workload to give time back to individuals with already tight schedules.<\/p>\n
While changing to new MTD software can be a headache for individuals used to paper reporting, experts can select the software and teach compliant data entry techniques.<\/p>\n
Our team can remove the stress from MTD, keeping your records up to date, your software compliant and your quarterly updates submitted on time.<\/p>\n
If you aren\u2019t sure if you are ready for the August 7 deadline, or you need to begin quarterly MTD filings next tax year, we can help you with the transition.<\/p>\n
We are happy to talk through what MTD means for you and your business, so you can get prepared and avoid any late submission penalties.<\/p>\n
Get in contact today to become MTD-ready.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Despite the first deadline for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax arriving on 7 August, over 400,000 qualifying landlords and sole traders have still not signed up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6032,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,33,34,7],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7139,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7138\/revisions\/7139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bainesjewitt.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}