MTD from April 2027: the £30,000 wave

The first wave of MTD for Income Tax started in April 2026 for gross qualifying income over £50,000. Wave two follows in April 2027, catching everyone with gross qualifying income over £30,000, hundreds of thousands more landlords and sole traders. The schedule is HMRC’s own: check if you need to use MTD for Income Tax (opens in a new tab) on gov.uk confirms each threshold and date.

Check the right number: gross, combined

The threshold is your gross income (before expenses), adding property and self-employment together. £18,000 of rent plus £15,000 of side-business takings is £33,000. That’s over the line, even though neither alone qualifies.

Which year’s income decides it?

The 2025-26 tax return, the one due by 31 January 2027. HMRC decides your April 2027 start date from the qualifying income you report there, not from what you expect to earn once MTD has started. If your letting or your trade is new and hasn’t appeared on a return yet, you join later: HMRC brings you in from the April after the first return that shows you above the threshold. The two-minute checker works it out with you.

What to do now

• Confirm your date with the free checker (two minutes).
• Put the first deadline in your calendar: your first quarterly update for 2027-28 is due 7 August 2027. The deadlines page has them all.
• Optionally, start keeping digital records early: your first quarter becomes a non-event.

Nothing is filed before your first quarter ends. The mistake to avoid is paying for heavyweight software a year early “to be safe”.