How to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Signing up for MTD is a separate step from buying software, and it catches people out: you can have perfect records and still not be enrolled. Here's the whole process, in order.

First, check whether you actually have to

Your obligation is decided by the tax return you have already filed, not by what you're earning now:

Qualifying income is turnover, not profit. It's your total self-employment and property income before expenses, added together. A landlord with £16,000 of rent and a side trade turning over £9,000 is at £25,000 — over the 2028 threshold, even if the profit is a fraction of that.

Not sure? Run the checker — it takes about thirty seconds.

What you need before you start

• You must already be registered for Self Assessment and have filed a return in the last two years. If you haven't, register for Self Assessment first — you can't sign up for MTD without a filing history.
• Your Government Gateway user ID and password — the same ones you use for Self Assessment.
• Your National Insurance number.
• For each sole trade: the business name, address and type of trade.
• The start date of any business that began within the last two tax years.
• Details of every income source — each property business and each trade separately.

The steps

1. Choose recognised software first. HMRC asks which software you'll use during sign-up, and you'll need it authorised afterwards anyway.
2. Sign up on GOV.UK with your Self Assessment credentials. Search for "sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax".
3. Verify your identity — either by matching your face to photo ID, or by answering questions about your financial history (a passport, payslip or credit record). Have one of those to hand before you begin.
4. Confirm your income sources. HMRC shows what it already holds; you add anything missing.
5. Authorise your software. You'll be sent back to your provider to grant access — this is a standard OAuth handover, and the software never sees your Government Gateway password.

The service can be slow at peak times, and HMRC occasionally takes it down for maintenance. Don't leave it to the week of a deadline.

Your accountant can do it for you

If you use an agent, they can sign you up through their own agent services account — you don't need to do anything except authorise them. Ask before you do it yourself; doing both creates confusion neither of you needs.

After you're signed up

Three things change:

• You keep digital records of income and expenses as you go — a spreadsheet you retype at year end no longer satisfies the rules.
• You send four quarterly updates a year through your software. They're running totals, and later updates correct earlier ones.
• You finish the year with a final declaration instead of the old tax return. Same deadline: 31 January.

The mistake to avoid

Signing up early sounds responsible and usually isn't. Enrolment is what starts your quarterly obligations — sign up mid-year and you may owe updates for quarters you have no digital records for. Get your record-keeping running first, then enrol.

Next: the quarterly deadlines, or how to choose software.