How to Sign Up for MTD for Income Tax: Step by Step

To sign up for MTD for Income Tax you first choose compatible software, then complete HMRC's online sign up on GOV.UK using the Government Gateway details you already use for Self Assessment. HMRC does not enrol you automatically, even if it has written to tell you that you are in scope. This guide walks through what to have ready, the steps in order, and what changes once you are signed up.

Key takeaways

• Signing up is something you or your accountant must do. A letter from HMRC is not enrolment.
• Get compatible software before you sign up, not after.
• You sign up yourself as an individual and then confirm each self-employment and property income source.
• If your qualifying income for 2025/26 is over £30,000, MTD applies to you from 6 April 2027.
• An accountant needs a separate MTD authorisation from you before they can act.

What does signing up mean?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is HMRC's system for sole traders and landlords to keep digital records, send a summary of income and expenses every quarter, and finalise their tax position after the year end through software. Signing up is the step that moves your record from the traditional Self Assessment service onto the MTD service. Until it is done, your software cannot connect to HMRC for you and you cannot submit quarterly updates.

HMRC's own instructions are in its guidance on how to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The process can change, so follow the current version of that page when you do it.

Who has to sign up, and when?

MTD for Income Tax is being phased in by qualifying income:

• Over £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year: from 6 April 2026.
• Over £30,000 in the 2025/26 tax year: from 6 April 2027.
• Over £20,000 in the 2026/27 tax year: from 6 April 2028.

Qualifying income is your gross income from self-employment and property added together, before expenses. It does not include wages, pensions or dividends. Our guide to MTD qualifying income explains the test, and you can check your position on GOV.UK.

HMRC works out who is in scope from the Self Assessment return for the relevant year. For the April 2027 group, that is the 2025/26 return, due online by 31 January 2027. If the figures on that return put you over £30,000, expect to be within MTD a little over two months later. That is a short gap, which is why it is worth preparing now. See preparing for MTD in April 2027.

Some people are exempt, for example where it is not reasonable for them to use digital tools. Our article on MTD exemptions and digital exclusion covers this.

Signing up yourself or through an accountant

Agent authorisation for MTD is separate from the authority an accountant may already hold for your Self Assessment. Our guide to MTD agent authorisation explains how to approve it.

What to have ready

• Government Gateway user ID and password. The ones you use for your Self Assessment account. Check they work before you start.
• National Insurance number.
• Details of each income source. For self-employment, the business name, what it does and when it started. For property, when you started receiving rental income.
• Your accounting method. Whether you use the cash basis or traditional accruals accounting. See cash basis vs accruals.
• Compatible software, installed and working. HMRC keeps a list of software compatible with MTD for Income Tax. If you keep records in a spreadsheet, you will need bridging software.

Step by step: how to sign up

1. Confirm you are in scope. Check your qualifying income for the relevant year, or decide that you want to join voluntarily.
2. Bring your Self Assessment record up to date. File any outstanding returns and make sure HMRC holds your current address and contact details.
3. Choose software. Check that it handles quarterly updates and the year end submission, and that it covers every income type you have.
4. Start the sign up on GOV.UK. Sign in with your Government Gateway user ID and follow the questions about you and your income sources.
5. Confirm the tax year you are signing up from. Where the service gives a choice, check carefully that it matches the year you intend to start.
6. Wait for confirmation. HMRC confirms when the sign up has been processed. Keep the confirmation.
7. Authorise your software. In the software, connect to HMRC and grant access using the same Government Gateway details. This link usually has to be renewed periodically.
8. Check your income sources appear. Each business and property source should now show in the software with its quarterly obligations.
9. Start keeping digital records from day one. Then diarise the quarterly deadlines: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May.

What changes after you sign up

• You keep digital records of business and property income and expenses. See MTD digital records explained.
• You send four quarterly updates a year. Our first quarterly update checklist covers the first one.
• You finalise the year through software by 31 January, in place of the traditional online return for that year.
• Payment dates do not change. Tax is still due on 31 January, with payments on account on 31 January and 31 July where they apply.
• Returns for years before you joined are still filed the traditional way.

Worked example (illustrative)

"Daniel", an illustrative example, is a self-employed electrician who also lets out a flat. In 2025/26 his trade turnover is £27,000 and his rental income is £9,600. Neither is over £30,000 on its own, but qualifying income adds the two together, giving £36,600. He will be within MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2027.

In November 2026 he files his 2025/26 return early, so he knows where he stands. In January 2027 he picks software that supports both self-employment and UK property, and moves his invoicing into it. In February he signs up on GOV.UK, confirming both income sources and that he uses the cash basis. He connects the software to HMRC and sees two sets of quarterly obligations, one for the trade and one for the property. His first updates, covering 6 April to 5 July 2027, are due by 7 August 2027, and by then he has had three months of practice.

Daniel is invented for illustration and is not a real client.

Common mistakes

• Treating the HMRC letter as enrolment. It is a prompt to act, not confirmation that anything has been set up.
• Looking at profit instead of gross income. The threshold is tested on income before expenses.
• Forgetting to combine sources. Self-employment and property income are added together.
• Signing up before choosing software. You then have obligations and no means of meeting them.
• Using the wrong login. Sign up with the Government Gateway ID linked to your Self Assessment record, not a separate business or VAT login.
• Leaving it until July. If something goes wrong with the sign up, you want months in hand before 7 August, not days.

How we can help

We sign clients up, set up the software, and then run the quarterly updates and year end submission on a fixed fee. MTD compliance starts from £49 per month. See our MTD Compliance service, view our pricing, or contact us to check whether and when you need to join.