Making Tax Digital hits £30,000 in April 2027 — turnover, not profit

From 6 April 2027, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches anyone whose self-employment and property income was over £30,000 — turnover, before a single expense comes off, not the profit you keep. And the year that decides it has already ended.

What counts towards the £30,000

HMRC calls it qualifying income: your self-employment turnover plus your property income, added together, before expenses.

That is the part people get wrong, and it is not a small difference. A landlord taking £16,000 a year in rent, with £14,000 going out on mortgage interest, insurance and repairs, has £16,000 of qualifying income — not £2,000. HMRC’s own worked example is someone with £25,000 of rental income and £27,000 of self-employment income: qualifying income £52,000, whatever the profit turns out to be.

What does not count: employment income through PAYE, the State Pension and private pensions, dividends, and a share of profit from a partnership. So an NHS or council employee with a flat let out is judged on the rent alone. The salary is irrelevant, however large. Our NHS pay calculator handles the PAYE side of that picture.

The year that decides it has already ended

HMRC does not look forward. It reads the Self Assessment return for the tax year that ended two years before you start.

Qualifying income over	In this tax year	You must start
£50,000	2024/25	6 April 2026
£30,000	2025/26	6 April 2027
£20,000	2026/27	6 April 2028

So whether you are in from April 2027 was settled by the tax year that ended on 5 April 2026. Nothing you do now changes it. There is only finding out — the figure is on the 2025/26 return, the one due online by 31 January 2027.

The 2026/27 year, which you are living through now, is the one that decides April 2028 at £20,000. That threshold catches people who have never thought of themselves as in business at all: a spare room, a van at weekends, a small online shop.

What you actually have to do

Keep your records digitally, in software that connects to HMRC, and send a summary four times a year. HMRC is clear that these are summaries, not tax returns — the annual return still happens on top, and the quarterly updates have to be in before you can file it.

The sign-ups happening now are a different group

HMRC said on 12 August that more than 436,000 sole traders and landlords had sent a first quarterly update, and over 570,000 had signed up. From September it began signing people up itself — but only those whose qualifying income was over £50,000 in 2024/25, who should already have been using the system since April 2026. Confirmation comes through HMRC online services or by post, depending on the case. If it reaches you, you have been signed up, not invited: you need compatible software and any missed quarterly updates before you can file your return.

There is one softening, and it is narrower than it sounds. There are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline in the 2026/27 tax year, and the penalty points system starts the year after. Penalties for a late tax return and for late payment are unchanged throughout. People read the first as covering the second. It does not.

Exemptions exist, including for people who are digitally excluded. Being exempt does not end the paperwork: you still report your income and gains in a Self Assessment return.

How we check figures is on methodology, and every document behind this story is listed on sources.

Where these figures come from

• 436,000 sole traders and landlords make their tax digital — GOV.UK (HM Revenue and Customs)
• Check if you’re eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — GOV.UK
• Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — GOV.UK

Every figure traces to a dated document — the line this section is named after. If one here is wrong, tell us and it gets fixed publicly. Work out your own figures.