7 August 2026: the first MTD quarterly deadline in history

7 August 2026 was a date no UK taxpayer had faced before: the deadline for the first-ever Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax quarterly update. If you’re a landlord or sole trader with qualifying income over £50,000, it was your first one, and the same date returns every August.

What was due on 7 August?

The first quarterly update covered 6 April to 5 July 2026, a summary of your business income and expenses for those three months, grouped into HMRC’s categories. It is not a tax return, and no tax is calculated or paid on 7 August. It’s a running summary, sent to HMRC digitally through MTD-compatible software. If yours is still not filed, it is not too late: updates are cumulative, so the next one carries the whole year to date (missed the 7 August deadline?).

Why the first year is low-stakes

HMRC has confirmed a soft landing in its MTD penalties guidance (opens in a new tab): no penalty points for late quarterly updates in this first year, while everyone finds the routine. So a missed 7 August brings no fine and no point: you just file as soon as you can. The soft landing does not cover the year-end final declaration, first due 31 January 2028: the tax itself is due that day, and interest runs from day one. More on that in our guide to MTD penalties and the first-year soft landing.

How do you get ready for the next one?

• Confirm it applies to you: the two-minute checker gives your exact start date.
• Check you’re actually signed up with HMRC: it’s a separate step from picking software, and it’s the one people miss.
• Put all four deadlines in your calendar (7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May) from the deadlines page.
• Have your income and expenses for the year to date to hand, digitally. If they’re on a bank statement, most of the job is already done.

How did the first MTD deadline go?

More than 436,000 sole traders and landlords successfully sent their first quarterly update, HMRC reported on 12 August 2026 (opens in a new tab), with over 570,000 signed up to the service by that date. If yours wasn’t among them, the first-year position holds: no penalty points for late 2026-27 updates, and missed the 7 August deadline? covers catching up.

The work is a review-and-file job, not a tax return. If you’d rather not carry the dates in your head, we can email you 7 days before each one: no account, no software sign-up.