The three start dates
| Cohort | Qualifying income | You start | Income year |
|---|---|---|---|
| First | over £50,000 | 6 April 2026 | 2024-25 |
| Second | over £30,000 | 6 April 2027 | 2025-26 |
| Third | over £20,000 | 6 April 2028 | 2026-27 |
The £20,000 start date reduces the mandation threshold from £30,000 to £20,000 from April 2028, extending digital record-keeping and quarterly submission obligations to more self-employed people and landlords. It is expressed in the same terms as the two earlier waves: a total income from self-employment and property that is more than the figure.
How the threshold is tested
Qualifying income is your total income from self-employment and property before expenses - turnover, not profit - based on the tax return you submitted in the previous tax year. HMRC assesses that return, writes to confirm you need to use the service, and expects you to check your own figure as well.
The test is more than the threshold, not equal to it. The wording for every wave is income that is over the figure, and the exemption at the other end is stated just as plainly: you are automatically exempt if your qualifying income is £20,000 or less.
Two details catch people out. If you are a sole trader and have only been trading for part of the year, HMRC annualises your qualifying income; if your income comes from property, you have to annualise it yourself.
Where you live matters too. If you are UK resident, your qualifying income includes your self-employment income and both your UK and foreign property income. If you are not UK resident, it includes your UK property income and any self-employment income you declare on a UK Self Assessment return, while foreign property or self-employment income that you do not declare in the UK is left out.
Partnerships have no start date
Partnerships will need to use MTD for Income Tax in the future, and no timeline for that has been set. Until one is, a partnership does not need to use the service.
Your share of partnership profit as an individual partner does not count towards your qualifying income and does not need quarterly updates of its own. It still belongs in your tax return.
The year before you join is still a Self Assessment year
You still need to submit a Self Assessment tax return as you normally do for the tax year before you start using the service. That return is also the one HMRC checks to decide whether the next start date applies to you.
If you are already using the service and your qualifying income drops below the threshold for three tax years in a row, you can then choose to opt out.
If your start date has already passed
If your qualifying income was over £50,000 in 2024-25, you should have started using MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2026, and you can still sign up now.
From September 2026, HMRC began signing up anyone who needs the service for 2026-27 and has not signed themselves up. It happens in stages, using only the information HMRC already holds. If all of your self-employment and property income ceased before 6 April 2026, you do not need to use the service - and if you do not tell HMRC that it ceased, HMRC will sign you up on the information it has.