How to Sign Up for MTD for Income Tax: Step by Step

To sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, use the sign-up service on GOV.UK. You sign in with the same user ID and password you use for Self Assessment, prove your identity if asked, check your self-employment and property income sources, and confirm the tax year you will start. You must already be registered for Self Assessment and have sent a tax return in the last two years. The whole thing usually takes one sitting if you have your details to hand.

This guide covers who needs to sign up and when, what to have ready, each step of the service, and what to do straight after. It is written for UK landlords and sole traders. If HMRC has already told you it has signed you up, read HMRC signed you up for MTD? What to do next instead.

Who needs to sign up, and by when

Your start date depends on your qualifying income: self-employment turnover plus property income, before expenses, from your tax return. GOV.UK's eligibility guidance sets out three stages:

• Over £50,000 in 2024 to 2025: you should have started from 6 April 2026. You can still sign up if you have not.
• Over £30,000 in 2025 to 2026: you start from 6 April 2027.
• Over £20,000 in 2026 to 2027: you start from 6 April 2028.

The sign-up guidance says that if you need to use the service for 2026 to 2027, you should sign up now. Check your own figures with our MTD eligibility check, and see what counts towards the £50,000 if you are close to a threshold.

Some people do not need to sign up at all because they are exempt, for example anyone with qualifying income of £20,000 or less. Our guide to MTD exemptions lists who is exempt and how to apply.

Before you start

Three things must already be true:

1. You are registered for Self Assessment and have sent a tax return in the last two years.
2. You have sent, or will send, the return for the year before you start. If you start on 6 April 2026, your 2025 to 2026 return still goes in the usual way, by 31 January 2027.
3. You have chosen software. GOV.UK asks you to check that your software is compatible before you sign up. You connect it to your HMRC account afterwards, from inside the software.

When choosing software, GOV.UK's software guidance says to check that it covers every income source you have, lets you send quarterly updates and submit your tax return, and works with your accounting period. You can use more than one product, as long as only one product is used for each separate submission. Our comparison of free MTD software sets out what each option covers.

What to have ready

• Your Self Assessment user ID and password.
• Your phone, with your passport or driving licence, in case you are asked to prove your identity. Since 13 October 2026 identity is confirmed through an app on your phone; the option to answer questions instead has been removed.
• The date your property income started, if it began within the last two tax years.
• For a sole trade: the start date if it began in the last two tax years, the business name as it appears on your invoices, the business address and the nature of the trade.
• Details of any income source that has stopped since your last return.

You are not asked about your other income or gains, such as savings interest, dividends or a salary. You add those in your software later, when you prepare your tax return.

How to sign up, step by step

1. Open the service. Go to the sign-up page on GOV.UK and choose "Sign up now".
2. Sign in. Use the user ID and password you were given when you registered for Self Assessment.
3. Prove your identity if asked. Use the app on your phone with your passport or driving licence. If you have trouble, GOV.UK points you to HMRC's support contacts.
4. Check your income sources. Each self-employment and property business is shown. Add any that are missing and include any that have stopped since your last return. All your UK lettings count as one UK property business, so you do not add each house separately. Overseas lettings form one separate foreign property business.
5. Confirm your start year. Choose the tax year you will start using Making Tax Digital.

If all your self-employment and property income has stopped, tell HMRC before the next tax year starts. It will update your records and write to confirm you do not need to use the service.

Notes for landlords

• Joint owners keep records of their own share of the income and expenses only. See our guide to MTD for jointly owned property.
• A letting agent is not your tax agent unless you have authorised them as one. If you have an accountant, they can sign you up through their own agent route instead.
• Landlords who are also sole traders report each business separately. Our guide to MTD with rental and self-employed income explains how the updates stack up.

Signing up voluntarily

Anyone can volunteer, for the current tax year or the next one. If your start date is 6 April 2027 or 6 April 2028, joining early gives you a practice run while the stakes are lower. Two things to know:

• If you join part way through a year, you need to send any quarterly updates you have missed for the year so far, using your software.
• Volunteers have separate penalty rules, and HMRC confirms when you become liable for penalties.

The voluntary sign-up glossary entry has a short summary.

If you do not sign up

From September 2026, HMRC began signing up people who must use the service for 2026 to 2027 but had not done it themselves. It uses only the information it already holds, which may be out of date. Signing up yourself means you check and correct your own income sources first.

For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, no penalty points apply to late quarterly updates. You still have to send all four before you can submit your tax return, and late returns and late payments are still penalised. Our MTD penalties guide covers the points system.

What to do straight after

1. Connect your software to HMRC. You do this from inside the software, by signing in with your HMRC details and giving it permission.
2. Create digital records from your start date. With the standard accounting period that means from 6 April. Each record needs the amount, the date and a category. Our guide to MTD digital records for landlords explains what to keep.
3. Note your quarterly deadlines. With standard update periods they are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Each update covers the tax year so far, from 6 April. See the 2026/27 quarterly update calendar.

VoxaMTD is MTD software for UK sole traders and landlords. It keeps your digital records and sends quarterly updates for self-employment and UK property income using the standard update periods (6th to 5th), and sending quarterly updates is free. See how quarterly updates work in VoxaMTD.

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Sources

• Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (GOV.UK), read on 2 November 2026.
• Check if you're eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (GOV.UK), read on 2 November 2026.
• Choose the right software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (GOV.UK), read on 2 November 2026.
• Send quarterly updates (GOV.UK), read on 2 November 2026.

This guide is general information, not tax advice.