Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in numbers
In our price index for July to September 2026, frozen on 3 October 2026, the median starting price across the 22 MTD products we compare that have a paid plan was £8.13 a month, and the cheapest was £2.00.
HMRC publishes its figures for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in a few separate places: a press release on sign-ups and first quarterly updates, and two spreadsheets that count the people who sent a Self Assessment return for the 2023 to 2024 tax year. This page brings them together, so you can see how many people sit in each income band, where they live and what kind of work they do, and get a feel for where your own situation fits.
Each figure appears exactly as HMRC published it, with the GOV.UK page it comes from, the day HMRC published it and the day we read it.
Reading these figures
HMRC rounds each count to the nearest 1,000. In its own words, “The number of businesses is rounded to the nearest 1,000 and therefore totals may not be equal to sum of rows.” If you add up a column yourself, it may come out a little different from HMRC's total, and the total HMRC prints is the one to quote.
The counts by income band, region and sector come from Self Assessment returns rather than from Making Tax Digital itself. HMRC says that “The data in this release is based on tax year 2023 to 2024, returns received by 31 March 2025.” and that “This data release is only relating to individuals who completed an Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA) return and does not take into account partnerships or trusts.”
Sign-ups and first quarterly updates
HMRC gave these two figures in its press release of 12 August 2026. The release does not name a separate day on which the counts were taken, so we date them by the day it was published.
- First quarterly updates sent
- More than 436,000
- HMRC’s words: “More than 436,000 sole traders and landlords have successfully sent their first Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax quarterly update.”
Source: 436,000 sole traders and landlords make their tax digital (GOV.UK), published 12 August 2026, read on 12 October 2026.
- Signed up to the service
- Over 570,000
- HMRC’s words: “Over 570,000 customers have now signed up to the service.”
Source: 436,000 sole traders and landlords make their tax digital (GOV.UK), published 12 August 2026, read on 12 October 2026.
Why the sign-up figure and the population figures are kept apart
HMRC’s population figures count 864,000 people with qualifying income over £50,000, taken from tax returns for the 2023 to 2024 tax year, before anyone was required to use Making Tax Digital. The figure of 570,000 comes from HMRC’s sign-up service in 2026.
HMRC used the same total in its press release of 23 July 2026, where it wrote of “more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords within scope of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax”. The release does not say which year’s returns that figure comes from, so we show the count once, in the table by qualifying income band, with HMRC’s own basis for it.
Because the two figures count different things at different times, we do not set one against the other. The difference between them is not a count of people who have not signed up, and we would ask anyone quoting these figures not to present it that way.
By qualifying income band
HMRC explains that “Qualifying income is defined as combined income from self-employment and landlord activities.” It has set out which bands join when: “Individuals with qualifying income from self-employment and property over £50,000 will need to use MTD for Income Tax from April 2026.” and “Those with qualifying income over £30,000 will need to use MTD for Income Tax from April 2027, and over £20,000 from April 2028.”
The bands here use incomes from the 2023 to 2024 returns, so they give a sense of how large each group is rather than an exact count of who will need to join in a given year. To check your own position, the MTD threshold calculator works from your own income.
For the £30,000.01 to £50,000 band, HMRC’s press release of 5 October 2026 gives the same estimate of around 1,077,000 and says it is based on HMRC analysis of 2024 to 2025 Self Assessment returns.
| Qualifying income | Self-Employed only (not a Landlord) | Landlords only (not Self-Employed) | Self-Employed and a Landlord | Total Self-Employed / Landlords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| up to £10,000 | 1,153,000 | 1,218,000 | 58,000 | 2,429,000 |
| £10,000.01 to £20,000 | 870,000 | 712,000 | 92,000 | 1,674,000 |
| £20,000.01 to £30,000 | 637,000 | 263,000 | 75,000 | 975,000 |
| £30,000.01 to £50,000 | 798,000 | 182,000 | 97,000 | 1,077,000 |
| over £50,000 | 605,000 | 118,000 | 141,000 | 864,000 |
| Total | 4,062,000 | 2,494,000 | 463,000 | 7,020,000 |
HMRC’s table: “1. Number of ITSA businesses by qualifying income split by business type”
Source: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax business population statistics (GOV.UK), published 13 August 2025, read on 12 October 2026. Tax year 2023 to 2024.
Agents and software by income band
The same HMRC publication shows how many people in each band had an agent acting for them, and how many sent their return using commercial software. These are useful if you are an accountant planning for the coming intakes, or a reader wondering whether most people in your band already use help of either kind.
Agent representation by qualifying income band
| Qualifying income | Have agent representation | No agent representation | Total | Percent with agent representation |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| up to £10,000 | 1,239,000 | 1,189,000 | 2,429,000 | 51% |
| £10,000.01 to £20,000 | 897,000 | 777,000 | 1,674,000 | 54% |
| £20,000.01 to £30,000 | 574,000 | 401,000 | 975,000 | 59% |
| £30,000.01 to £50,000 | 678,000 | 400,000 | 1,077,000 | 63% |
| over £50,000 | 648,000 | 217,000 | 864,000 | 75% |
| Total | 4,036,000 | 2,984,000 | 7,020,000 | 57% |
HMRC’s table: “2. Number of ITSA businesses with agent representation”
HMRC’s note: “An authorised agent is where the individual has completed a 64-8 form authorising someone else to deal with HMRC on their behalf.”
Source: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax business population statistics (GOV.UK), published 13 August 2025, read on 12 October 2026. Tax year 2023 to 2024.
Software use by qualifying income band
| Qualifying income | Use software to submit their SA return | Do not use software to submit their SA return | Total | Percent using software |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| up to £10,000 | 1,091,000 | 1,338,000 | 2,429,000 | 45% |
| £10,000.01 to £20,000 | 756,000 | 918,000 | 1,674,000 | 45% |
| £20,000.01 to £30,000 | 469,000 | 505,000 | 975,000 | 48% |
| £30,000.01 to £50,000 | 532,000 | 545,000 | 1,077,000 | 49% |
| over £50,000 | 548,000 | 316,000 | 864,000 | 63% |
| Total | 3,397,000 | 3,623,000 | 7,020,000 | 48% |
HMRC’s table: “3. Number of ITSA businesses who use software to submit the self assessment (SA) return”
HMRC’s note: “Commercial software is commercial software used to make an online end of year Self Assessment return.”
Source: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax business population statistics (GOV.UK), published 13 August 2025, read on 12 October 2026. Tax year 2023 to 2024.
By nation and English region
These counts cover people with qualifying income over £50,000 in the 2023 to 2024 tax year, the band HMRC says needed to use Making Tax Digital from April 2026, set out by where they live. HMRC’s table also has a row called Other, which it does not explain further, and it names the East Midlands as “East Midland”.
| UK country and region | Self-Employed only (not a Landlord) | Landlords only (not Self-Employed) | Self-Employed and a Landlord | Total Self-Employed / Landlords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| East Midlands | 40,000 | 5,000 | 8,000 | 53,000 |
| East of England | 69,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 | 95,000 |
| London | 104,000 | 35,000 | 28,000 | 167,000 |
| North East | 17,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 22,000 |
| North West | 51,000 | 7,000 | 11,000 | 68,000 |
| South East | 99,000 | 21,000 | 23,000 | 142,000 |
| South West | 57,000 | 11,000 | 15,000 | 83,000 |
| West Midlands | 44,000 | 6,000 | 9,000 | 60,000 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 41,000 | 5,000 | 9,000 | 55,000 |
| Northern Ireland | 20,000 | 1,000 | 6,000 | 27,000 |
| Scotland | 39,000 | 4,000 | 8,000 | 51,000 |
| Wales | 25,000 | 3,000 | 6,000 | 34,000 |
| Other | 2,000 | 5,000 | <1,000 | 7,000 |
| Total | 605,000 | 118,000 | 141,000 | 864,000 |
HMRC’s table: “1. Number of ITSA businesses customers by qualifying income over £50,000 by geographical region”
HMRC’s note: “Region is derived from the taxpayers home address converted into region defined by the ONS regional names and code.”
Source: Making Tax Digital industry and region management information (GOV.UK), published 17 March 2026, read on 12 October 2026. Tax year 2023 to 2024.
By industrial sector
This table sets the same people out by the kind of work they do. HMRC says that “Industrial sector is assigned to an industry (UK Standard Industrial Classification of Economic Activities 2007 (SIC2007)) using the business text descriptions supplied on self-assessment returns.” Every landlord is counted under real estate, which is why the column for landlords only is blank in every other row.
| Industrial sector | Self-Employed only (not a Landlord) | Landlords only (not Self-Employed) | Self-Employed and a Landlord | Total Self-Employed / Landlords |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A. Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing | 20,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 11,000 | 30,000 |
| B. Mining and Quarrying; C. Manufacturing; D. Electricity, Gas, Steam and Air Conditioning; E. Water, Sewerage and Waste | 16,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 3,000 | 19,000 |
| F. Construction | 224,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 27,000 | 251,000 |
| G. Wholesale and Retail Trade, Repairs | 57,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 15,000 | 72,000 |
| H. Transport and Storage | 28,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 6,000 | 34,000 |
| I. Accommodation and Food | 22,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 6,000 | 28,000 |
| J. Information and Communication | 13,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 3,000 | 15,000 |
| K. Financial and Insurance | 8,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 3,000 | 11,000 |
| L. Real Estate | 3,000 | 118,000 | 4,000 | 125,000 |
| M. Professional, Scientific and Technical | 57,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 21,000 | 77,000 |
| N. Admin and Support Services; O. Public Admin, Defence and Social Services | 28,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 7,000 | 35,000 |
| P. Education | 16,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 6,000 | 21,000 |
| Q. Health and Social Work | 40,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 14,000 | 53,000 |
| R. Arts, Entertainment and Recreation | 24,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 7,000 | 31,000 |
| S. Other services activities; T. Households; U. Overseas | 27,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 6,000 | 34,000 |
| Unknown | 22,000 | Blank in HMRC’s table | 5,000 | 27,000 |
| Total | 605,000 | 118,000 | 141,000 | 864,000 |
HMRC’s table: “2. Number of ITSA businesses customers by qualifying income over £50,000 by industrial sector”
HMRC’s note: “All landlords are categorised as "L. Real Estate", as a result no Landlord only will be placed outside of this industry category in column C”
Source: Making Tax Digital industry and region management information (GOV.UK), published 17 March 2026, read on 12 October 2026. Tax year 2023 to 2024.
Download the figures
Every figure on this page is also in a CSV file of HMRC’s MTD figures, one line for each figure in the same order, with HMRC’s own description, the tax year, the GOV.UK source, the day HMRC published it and the day we read it.
HMRC's statistics are Crown copyright, and HMRC says that “This statistical release is Crown copyright. Its contents can be used as long as the source is made clear by the user.” If you use a figure, please credit HMRC and link to the GOV.UK page it comes from, which is listed beside each one. Acrenvo did not produce these statistics, and HMRC has not reviewed this page. The full collection is on HMRC’s statistics page for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
Our own figures are about what MTD software costs. The latest are in our price report for July to September 2026, which has its own CSV and citation line.
How to cite this page
If you use this record in an article, a report or your own research, we suggest citing it like this, so that a reader can find the same data and see which date it describes.
Acrenvo, “Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in numbers”, https://acrenvo.com/mtd-in-numbers, data as of 12 October 2026, Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
If you keep your references in a reference manager, the same citation in BibTeX is below, ready to select and paste.
@misc{acrenvo-mtd-in-numbers-2026,
author = {{Acrenvo}},
title = {{Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in numbers}},
year = {2026},
url = {https://acrenvo.com/mtd-in-numbers},
urldate = {2026-10-12},
note = {Data as of 12 October 2026, Crown copyright under the Open Government Licence v3.0}
}Questions about these figures
Where do these MTD figures come from?
HMRC publishes its figures for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in a few separate places: a press release on sign-ups and first quarterly updates, and two spreadsheets that count the people who sent a Self Assessment return for the 2023 to 2024 tax year. Each figure appears exactly as HMRC published it, with the GOV.UK page it comes from, the day HMRC published it and the day we read it.
Can I reuse HMRC's figures from this page?
HMRC's statistics are Crown copyright, and HMRC says that “This statistical release is Crown copyright. Its contents can be used as long as the source is made clear by the user.” If you use a figure, please credit HMRC and link to the GOV.UK page it comes from, which is listed beside each one. Acrenvo did not produce these statistics, and HMRC has not reviewed this page.
Why does a column not always add up to HMRC's total?
HMRC rounds each count to the nearest 1,000. In its own words, “The number of businesses is rounded to the nearest 1,000 and therefore totals may not be equal to sum of rows.” If you add up a column yourself, it may come out a little different from HMRC's total, and the total HMRC prints is the one to quote.
Can I compare the sign-up figure with the population figures?
Because the two figures count different things at different times, we do not set one against the other. The difference between them is not a count of people who have not signed up, and we would ask anyone quoting these figures not to present it that way.