HMRC is rolling out Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from April 2026. If you're a UK sole trader or landlord, here's everything you need to know — thresholds, deadlines, penalties, and how AutoInvoice keeps your records ready.
United Kingdom
MTD for ITSA (Income Tax Self Assessment) is the biggest change to UK tax in a generation. It affects sole traders, freelancers, landlords, and tradespeople who file a Self Assessment return.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) is an HMRC initiative requiring self-employed people and landlords to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates of their income and expenses — instead of one annual tax return. The threshold is based on your gross income (turnover), not your profit. If you have multiple income streams, HMRC adds them together.
Sole traders & landlords
~780,000 people
Additional sole traders & landlords
~970,000 people
Broadest group
Final expansion
You must submit four digital updates per tax year to HMRC, plus a final year-end declaration — replacing the single annual Self Assessment return.
All income and expense records must be kept in digital form throughout the year. Paper records or manually-typed spreadsheets are no longer accepted on their own.
You must use software approved by HMRC to submit your records. Filing without approved software can result in penalties of up to £400 per return.
Digital records must be kept for at least 5 years after the 31 January Self Assessment filing deadline for that tax year.
Based in Ireland?MTD is a UK rule — it doesn't apply to you. Ireland has its own e-invoicing timeline under the EU's ViDA directive.
How AutoInvoice helps
AutoInvoice doesn't just save you time — it builds the exact kind of digital record trail that HMRC's MTD requires.
AutoInvoice creates a timestamped, immutable digital record for every invoice you send — automatically. No scanning, no manual entry. Your full audit trail is built as you work.
Pull a full income and client summary whenever you need it — at quarter end, year end, or when your accountant asks. No spreadsheet gymnastics.
All your invoices and PDFs are stored in the EU on secure, encrypted servers. You'll have everything Revenue or HMRC could ever ask for — accessible in seconds.
Every time AutoInvoice sends an invoice for you, it's logged with the exact date, amount, client, and status. Your record-keeping happens automatically, in the background.
AutoInvoice produces invoices and income records that meet HMRC's digital record-keeping requirements — the right fields, the right format, the right audit trail.
The average sole trader spends 2–3 hours a week on invoicing admin. AutoInvoice eliminates most of that — and produces better records in the process.
Important note:AutoInvoice is invoicing and record-keeping software — it is not currently a registered HMRC MTD bridging or submission product. For direct quarterly submission to HMRC, you'll need to export your income summary and use an accountant or HMRC-approved submission tool. We're evaluating full MTD submission support for a future release.
FAQ
If you are a sole trader or landlord filing a Self Assessment return with gross income (turnover) above £50,000 in 2024/25, you'll need to comply from April 2026. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027 and £20,000 in April 2028. Income is measured gross — before expenses — so a cleaner earning £55,000 a year but spending £20,000 on supplies is still in scope from day one.
HMRC-compatible software must be able to store income and expense records digitally, connect to HMRC's systems via API to submit quarterly updates, and maintain an unbroken digital audit trail. You cannot manually re-type figures from one system into another — HMRC calls this a 'digital link' requirement.
Not yet directly — AutoInvoice maintains your complete digital income records, which is the hardest part of MTD compliance. For the quarterly HMRC submission itself, you can export your AutoInvoice data to your accountant or an HMRC-recognised submission tool. We're actively working on a partnership with an HMRC-registered provider to make quarterly submission a one-click process from within AutoInvoice — stay tuned.
Under MTD, you must keep a digital record of every item of business income and every allowable expense, with dates and amounts. For each client transaction, you need: the date, the gross amount, and a description. AutoInvoice captures all of this automatically for every invoice you send or log.
Start building digital records now — before the April 2026 deadline arrives. AutoInvoice is free for 30 days, no card required.
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