MTD for Income Tax deadlines for the 2027 to 2028 tax year
The 2027 to 2028 tax year runs from 6 April 2027 to 5 April 2028. If you use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in that year, you send four quarterly updates and then a tax return, and each one has its own deadline. They are set out here in the order they fall.
Who joins MTD in 2027 to 2028
From 6 April 2027, MTD for Income Tax reaches people whose qualifying income is over £30,000. HMRC decides this from your qualifying income for the 2025 to 2026 tax year, which it reads from the Self Assessment return you sent for that year. If you are not sure where your own figures sit, the threshold calculator checks them against each step.
If MTD starts for you in this tax year
The guide to MTD from April 2027 is written for the people who join at this step. When you are ready to choose, the software selector narrows the products we compare to the ones that fit how you work, and the guide to getting your software ready covers what to set up once you have picked one.
The deadlines in date order
You can use standard update periods, which follow the tax year, or calendar update periods, which run from 1 April and end on the last day of a month. The periods differ slightly, but the deadline for each update is the same either way.
| Deadline | What is due | Standard period | Calendar period | Penalty point if late (GOV.UK) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First quarterly update | 6 Apr to 5 Jul 2027 | 1 Apr to 30 Jun 2027 | Yes | |
| Second quarterly update | 6 Apr to 5 Oct 2027 | 1 Apr to 30 Sep 2027 | Yes | |
| Third quarterly update | 6 Apr 2027 to 5 Jan 2028 | 1 Apr to 31 Dec 2027 | Yes | |
| Fourth quarterly update | 6 Apr 2027 to 5 Apr 2028 | 1 Apr 2027 to 31 Mar 2028 | Yes | |
| Tax return for the 2027 to 2028 tax year, and any tax still to pay for that year | The whole tax year | The whole tax year | Yes |
Each update covers everything from the start of the tax year to the end of its period, so a later update can put right a figure in an earlier one. GOV.UK also says: “You can send a quarterly update any time after the end of the update period up to and including the day of the update deadline. You can also send an update up to 10 days before the end of the update period if you do not expect to record any further transactions.”
The 31 January deadline that falls during this tax year, on 31 January 2028, belongs to the 2026 to 2027 tax return rather than this one.
If your software cannot reach HMRC close to one of these dates, HMRC posts planned downtime and known problems with these services on its pages Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: service availability and issues and Self Assessment: service availability and issues. HMRC also lists every service that has unplanned downtime on one page, Find out which HMRC services are experiencing issues.
Penalty points in 2027 to 2028
GOV.UK says that a late quarterly update or a late tax return each brings a penalty point, and that when you reach four points you get a £200 penalty. It adds that “You can only get one penalty point per deadline. This applies even if you have more than one business and send more than one quarterly update late (for tax years after 2026 to 2027).”
The regulations that brought the new penalties in so far cover people who had to use MTD in the 2026 to 2027 tax year and, under earlier regulations, volunteers who chose to come under them. When we checked legislation.gov.uk on 31 October 2026, the regulations that would do the same for the later intakes had not yet been made.
Paying late is dealt with separately, through late payment penalties and interest rather than points. The penalties guide explains how both work and what to do if you cannot pay on time. To see what a missed date might cost you, the MTD penalty estimator counts the points and works out a late payment penalty from the rules GOV.UK publishes.
Payments on account
If you make payments on account, GOV.UK gives their due dates as 31 January and 31 July. They are not MTD deadlines, and GOV.UK says that “Late payment penalties do not apply to any payments on account that you may need to make.”
Questions about the 2027 to 2028 deadlines
When are the MTD deadlines for the 2027 to 2028 tax year?
The four quarterly updates for the 2027 to 2028 tax year are due on 7 August 2027, 7 November 2027, 7 February 2028 and 7 May 2028. The tax return for that year, and any tax still to pay for it, is due on 31 January 2029.
Do calendar update periods change the deadlines?
The deadline for each update is the same whether you use standard or calendar update periods. Standard update periods follow the tax year, and calendar update periods end on the last day of a month, so the periods themselves differ slightly.
How early can I send a quarterly update?
GOV.UK says: “You can send a quarterly update any time after the end of the update period up to and including the day of the update deadline. You can also send an update up to 10 days before the end of the update period if you do not expect to record any further transactions.”
What happens if I send an update late in 2027 to 2028?
GOV.UK says that a late quarterly update or a late tax return each brings a penalty point, and that when you reach four points you get a £200 penalty. It adds that “You can only get one penalty point per deadline. This applies even if you have more than one business and send more than one quarterly update late (for tax years after 2026 to 2027).”
Which tax return is due on 31 January 2028?
The tax return deadline that falls during the 2027 to 2028 tax year, on 31 January 2028, belongs to the 2026 to 2027 tax return rather than the 2027 to 2028 one.
Other tax years
- MTD deadlines for the 2026 to 2027 tax year
- MTD deadlines for the 2028 to 2029 tax year
- Deadlines calendar, which counts down to your next date and can send you a reminder
Where these dates come from
The update periods and deadlines come from GOV.UK’s table for every tax year, and the threshold from the date GOV.UK gives for each step. We last read these pages on 17 October 2026.