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How to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Checked against GOV.UK, 16 October 2026.

The short answer

You sign up on GOV.UK with your Self Assessment user ID and password, or an agent can. You need Self Assessment registration and a tax return sent in the last two years. Have your start date if you began in the last two tax years, the tax year you're starting, and your business name, address and trade ready.

What you need before you sign up

  • You're registered for Self Assessment and have submitted a tax return in the last two years. GOV.UK sets both as conditions.
  • Your business start date, or the date you started getting property income, if that was within the last two tax years.
  • The tax year you'll start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 means the 2027 to 2028 tax year.
  • For a sole trader: your business name, your business address and the nature of your business, in GOV.UK's words.
  • Your phone. GOV.UK says that if asked, you'll use an app on your mobile phone to give details of your current passport or driving licence.

How to sign up, step by step

  1. 1Check your date first

    GOV.UK's thresholds: over £50,000 for 2024 to 2025 started on 6 April 2026, over £30,000 for 2025 to 2026 starts on 6 April 2027, over £20,000 for 2026 to 2027 starts on 6 April 2028, all counted as your self-employment and property income before expenses, nothing else. Our checker gives you your date in three taps.

  2. 2Have your software lined up

    GOV.UK's 'Before you sign up' list says to make sure you have software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and to check with the provider that it meets your needs. The sign-up service doesn't ask for it, but from your start date the digital records and every quarterly update go through it. Through InstaQuote, ANNA's business account gives sole traders Making Tax Digital for Income Tax free for the first year; InstaQuote holds your quotes, invoices and expenses so they can go into that software as the digital records, and isn't that software itself.

  3. 3Sign up on GOV.UK, or let your agent

    Open GOV.UK's "Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax" page and press Sign up now. You sign in with the same user ID and password you got when you registered for Self Assessment. If you use an agent, GOV.UK says they can sign you up instead.

  4. 4Prove who you are if asked

    If asked, you'll use an app on your mobile phone to give details of your current passport or driving licence. Have one of them with you.

  5. 5Give your business details

    Your start date if you began in the last two tax years, the tax year you're starting from, and as a sole trader your business name, address and what the business does.

  6. 6Then the records and the first update

    Each income and expense goes in with its amount, date and category. Every quarter your software sends HMRC the totals, and your tax return goes through the software by 31 January as before. The first quarter runs 6 April to 5 July, due by 7 August.

GOV.UK: Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Step 2 sorted in about two minutes: the software

Open my free account

InstaQuote, 7 days free, then from £47 a month only if you carry on. ANNA opens from inside it, free for your first year. About 2 minutes.

  • InstaQuote does the quotes, the invoices and the chasing.
  • ANNA is the MTD software your updates go to HMRC through, free for your first year.
  • You do the job.
  • Not sure where to start? Reply to your welcome email and I'll set it up with you.
  • ANNA gives you a personal tax calendar with reminders, so no quarter slips past.
  • Prefer your accountant? They can still do it, and your records are ready for them.

I'm Tom, the founder. Ten years in the trade, every quote done in the van. If it's not quicker than what you do now, bin it and tell me why.

AdInstaQuote: 7 days free, then from £47 a month only if you carry on. ANNA: £0 monthly fee to start, MTD for Self Assessment free for the first year, and a personal tax calendar with reminders (anna.money, 14 October 2026). InstaQuote may be paid by ANNA if you open an account through us. ANNA's terms apply.

Questions people ask about signing up

Do I have to sign up myself, or does HMRC do it?

You sign up, or your agent does, on GOV.UK's page with your Self Assessment user ID and password. For the 2026 to 2027 group GOV.UK says that from September 2026 HMRC started signing up anyone who needed to use it and hadn't done it themselves, using only the details it already holds. Signing yourself up is how you make sure your income sources and circumstances are right from the start.

Can I sign up before I have to?

GOV.UK lets eligible people sign up voluntarily, and says that if you join part way through a year you'll need software to send the quarterly updates you've missed for the year so far. Signing up early with the records already running is the easy version.

Can my accountant sign me up for Making Tax Digital?

Yes. GOV.UK says that if you use an agent, they can sign you up instead. They still need your records as digital entries, amount, date and category, so what you keep day to day is what they send each quarter.

I've signed up. When is my first quarterly update?

If your start date is 6 April 2027, the first quarter is 6 April to 5 July 2027 and the update is due by 7 August 2027. Then 7 November 2027, 7 February 2028 and 7 May 2028, each covering the year so far in category totals.

What if I'm under the threshold?

Then you don't need to sign up on the dates HMRC has set so far. GOV.UK says qualifying income of £20,000 or less is automatically exempt, and you carry on sending a Self Assessment tax return as normal. Over £20,000 in 2026 to 2027 brings you in from 6 April 2028, so keeping digital records now does no harm.

Does InstaQuote sign me up or file for me?

No. InstaQuote holds your quotes, invoices and expenses so they can go into your Making Tax Digital software as the digital records. It isn't HMRC filing software itself. You sign up on GOV.UK, and ANNA, our partner, is the software your quarterly updates and tax return go to HMRC through, from the business account you open inside your InstaQuote account.

Checked against GOV.UK

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Tom, plaster still on his top, shaking a customer's hand in front of his van

I'm Tom. Ten years in the trade, and every quote done sat in the van on the drive. If that's you, keep reading.

Tom · Founder · InstaQuote Ltd

I started in the trade at 17. Ten years in, the work was fine. It was everything after the work.

Every night I'd pull up at home and sit in the van on the drive, because the quotes and the invoices and the chasing had to be done before I went in. Every night. And the better the quotes were, the more people rang, so it never got smaller. I was starting to hate a trade I'd loved since I was 17.

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I tried every system going. Every one made a quote, then left me in the van doing the rest.

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Two things we found in no other trade app we checked: the deposit on your quote books the job and the customer moves the date themselves, and your bank statement gets matched with the tax to put aside shown.

It's new. Price a real job on it, 7 days free. If it's not quicker than what you do now, bin it and tell me why.

What I want is simple: you out of the van and in the house, paid properly and on time, and back in love with the trade you picked.

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