Guidance

Agent update: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Published 7 July 2026

Dear Agent

I want to start this special edition of the Agent Update by thanking you for everything that you are already doing — and have done — to support the introduction of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax. We understand that it is a new way of working for you and that your clients will be looking to you for support in understanding what they need to do and when.

In this update, we’ve included some helpful reminders, videos and links to resources which we hope you’ll find useful. Remember that if your client’s total income from self-employment and property was over £50,000 on their 2024 to 2025 tax return, they need to use MTD for Income Tax in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. Thousands are signing up for MTD every week, so if you have not signed up your clients yet, now really is the time to do so. 

The first quarterly update deadline is 7 August

Perhaps most importantly, we want to make sure you are prepared for what is a really important moment coming up - the deadline to send your clients’ first quarterly update to HMRC. I hope that sending your first update will leave you feeling confident about completing the further updates throughout the rest of the tax year.

Thank you.

Craig Ogilvie, Director of Making Tax Digital.

Your client’s first quarterly update

It’s nearly time to send your client’s first quarterly update to HMRC (you need to do this by 7 August 2026).

You’ll be able to use your software to generate the update for you. It does this by creating totals for each income and expense category, based on the digital records you’ve created in the first quarter of the tax year.

If you’re happy with the figures you see, you can send the update to HMRC straight away. If you want to make changes — or if you have not finished creating their digital records yet — you have until the 7 August 2026 to send it.

A quarterly update is not a tax return and you do not need to make any accounting or tax adjustments before sending it.

Once you’ve sent the quarterly update, you’ll be able to see your client’s estimated tax bill, which will build throughout the rest of the year.

Check your update periods in your software

Your software will default to an accounting period of 6 April to 5 April. If your client’s accounting period covers 1 April to 31 March, select calendar update periods in your software before sending your first update (you will not be able to change it for the rest of the tax year). You’ll need to do this for each of your clients’ self-employment and property businesses.

What to do before you can send your update

Remember that you will not be able to send your clients’ quarterly update until you have:

Add client authorisations to your Agent Services Account

You can use your existing client authorisations for MTD for Income Tax but you need to add them to your Agent Services Account first.

How to add client authorisations to your Agent Services Account

You’ll need to repeat the process for each Self Assessment agent code, if you have more than one.

75% of people are expected to use an agent for MTD in 2026

MTD for Income Tax has also enabled customers to appoint more than one agent, giving them more control over how they manage their tax affairs.

If you do not have an Agent Services Account

You must have an Agent Services Account to be able to use MTD for Income Tax. If you do not already have one, you need to create one.

An Agent Services Account is not the same as an HMRC online services for agents account.

You can watch How do I set up an Agent Services Account for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax clients on youtube for more information.

Sign your clients up

If your clients needs to use MTD for Income Tax this tax year, it’s not too late to sign them up now.

If you’re not sure whether a client needs to use MTD, use our online tool to find out if and when they need to use it. You’ll need to sign up each client individually.

Signing your clients up gives you the opportunity to control how they join MTD for Income Tax. You can check that their income sources are up to date, make any changes that you need to and make sure your clients are set up with the correct MTD obligations from the start.

On average, sign up takes less than 4 minutes per client

How do I sign up my client to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?

To turn on closed captions, select the ‘Subtitles/CC’ button.

To check the video transcript, open the How do I sign up my client to MTD for Income Tax? on youtube.

Link your chosen software to HMRC

To be able to send a quarterly update, you need to link your chosen software to HMRC.

To do this, select the option in your software to connect to HMRC. Then enter your firm’s Agent Services Account user ID and password.

Pass the identity check — which is required for fraud prevention — by entering personal information and details from identity documents.

Finally, give permission for your software to connect to HMRC.

100+ software products to choose from so far

If you’re still choosing your software

Use our software finder tool to help:

• find compatible software that meets your needs
• search for your existing software to check if it works with MTD for Income Tax

How do I choose software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?

To turn on closed captions, select the ‘Subtitles/CC’ button.

To check the video transcript, open the How do I choose software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax? video on YouTube.

What agents are saying

At recent MTD events we’ve been asking agents, bookkeepers and accountants about their experience using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax so far.

Here’s what some of them said:

• Nick Paddenburg from Brighton Tax said:

Clients seem to be responding and have been fairly receptive, some not so much but as expected. Working closely with HMRC and software vendors has been a key part of our journey and the two way support has been incredible.

• Fozia Muddassir from Reddy Siddiqui LLP said:

For clients who we would not normally do digital first, or historically have been paper based, we are happy that this is pushing them to digitise and may therefore improve the efficiency of their collection process better.

• Anita de Louvois from Tax and Financial Solutions Limited said:

To be honest, it is a game-changer!! My clients receive quarterly reports that highlight issues early and ensure compliance. More importantly, clients are getting a more real-time perspective on their business and can assess their potential tax liability before the year is even over.

• Kate Guthrie from KAG Accounting Ltd said:

Clients have told me that it gives them a clearer picture of cashflow and how their business is performing. Within the software it gives the client an idea of the tax which will be due at the end of the year.

Read more about what other agents have to say in our MTD agent toolkit.

In the following video, accountant Kirsty St John shares practical advice on how to prepare your accounting or bookkeeping practice:

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: Real Advice from Accountants in Practice

Guidance and other useful resources

Read our dedicated step-by-step guidance for agents.

Our MTD agent toolkit also contains practical information to help tax agents prepare themselves and their clients.

As part of our MTD campaign, we’ve made a number of communication products and assets (available on the Frontify website) for you to use in your own business.

For help with your software, contact your provider directly if you need any additional support.