How to remember the MTD quarterly deadlines

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax adds four filing deadlines a year, and they all land on the 7th of the month. The reliable way to remember them is to set things up once so you don’t have to: add every deadline to your calendar in one click, and have a free email arrive seven days before each one. Both live on the deadlines page.

What are the dates you need to remember?

Each quarterly update covers three months of the tax year and is due about a month after the quarter ends. These are the standard periods (if you’ve elected calendar quarters instead, the deadlines are the same):

In 2026-27, the first MTD year, that means 7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Two other dates share the year: the final declaration is due by 31 January after the tax year ends (the first one by 31 January 2028), and if you make payments on account, those instalments are due 31 January and 31 July.

Is there a pattern that makes the dates stick?

One number: the 7th. Every quarterly deadline is the 7th of the month after the update period ends, so the year runs 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May. Remember “the 7th, every three months from August” and you have all four.

What’s the most reliable way to remember them?

Not memory. Set something up once and let it do the remembering:

• Your calendar: one click adds every deadline to Google Calendar, Outlook or Apple Calendar, each with a 7-day warning built in.
• Your inbox: free email reminders, 7 days before each quarterly deadline and before the January and July payments on account. No account needed.
• Your software: most MTD software shows the next deadline when you sign in, and some send alerts. Check yours actually does before you rely on it.
• A habit: every update period ends on the 5th, so “file in the first week” works for all four quarters.

Will HMRC remind you?

HMRC writes to you when MTD first applies to you, sends messages to your HMRC online account if you’ve chosen digital contact, and makes national announcements around the big dates. None of that is an alarm tuned to your quarter, and HMRC’s guidance treats the dates as yours to track. What HMRC sends, and when has the detail.

What happens if you forget one?

In the 2026-27 tax year, nothing: HMRC isn’t issuing penalty points for late quarterly updates in the first year (HMRC’s penalty guidance (opens in a new tab) confirms it). From later years a late update earns a penalty point, and four points bring a £200 penalty, so the habit is worth building now. File as soon as you notice: updates are cumulative, so the next submission simply carries the complete figures.

Two minutes now settles it for good: download the calendar and switch on reminders.