Making Tax Digital Checker
Enter your gross self-employment and property income for a tax year to check whether you must use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and the exact date it starts.
How this is calculated
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax becomes mandatory in stages, based on your qualifying income: your gross self-employment turnover plus gross property income, combined, before expenses. It excludes employment, pension, dividend and partnership profit-share income.
Each mandation date is assessed against a specific prior tax year's Self Assessment return, not against the year mandation starts. The full timetable:
| Qualifying income over | Assessed on your return for | You must use MTD from |
|---|---|---|
| £50,000 | 2024/25 | |
| £30,000 | 2025/26 | |
| £20,000 | 2026/27 |
Partnerships and Limited companies are out of scope regardless of income. No further threshold reduction beyond 6 April 2028 has been announced.
Worked example
Suppose that in 2024/25 you turned over £38,000 as a sole trader and received £14,000 in rent, both before expenses. Neither figure reaches the £50,000 threshold on its own, but qualifying income is the total of the two:
| Step | Amount |
|---|---|
| Gross self-employment turnover | £38,000 |
| Gross property income | £14,000 |
| Total qualifying income | £52,000 |
| Mandation threshold for 2024/25 | £50,000 |
| You must use Making Tax Digital from | 6 April 2026 |
Open this example in the calculator to change any figure.
Sources
Frequently asked questions
- Is qualifying income gross or net profit?
- Gross. HMRC assesses your turnover and rent before you deduct any expenses or allowances, not your profit.
- Do I combine self-employment and property income together?
- Yes. Qualifying income is the total of gross self-employment turnover and gross property income across the tax year, even if neither source alone crosses the threshold.
- Which tax year is actually checked?
- HMRC checks a prior tax year's Self Assessment return, not the year mandation starts. Mandation from 6 April 2026 is based on your 2024/25 return.
- Does my share of partnership profit count?
- No. Your share of profit from a partnership as an individual partner does not count toward qualifying income, even though it is reported through Self Assessment.
- Are limited companies or partnerships affected?
- No. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax applies to individuals: sole traders and landlords. Partnerships and limited companies are out of scope.
- What if my income varies a lot year to year?
- Each tax year is assessed separately against that year's threshold. Falling back below the threshold in a later year does not automatically remove you from Making Tax Digital once you have joined. Check gov.uk's exemption guidance.
- Will the threshold fall further after 6 April 2028?
- No further reduction has been announced as of the last-verified date on this page. This checker will be updated if HMRC confirms one.
- Does rental income from property abroad count?
- UK property income counts, and foreign property income counts if you are UK tax resident. See gov.uk's qualifying income guidance for the full list of included and excluded income.