Making Tax Digital · Landlords
Making Tax Digital for landlords.
It's the rent that counts, not what's left after the mortgage. That one detail is why thousands of landlords who think they're safe until 2028 are already inside the rules.
The short version
Your Making Tax Digital start date is set by your gross rent — the full amount your tenants pay you, before the mortgage, the agent's fee, insurance or a single repair comes off.
Over £50,000 and you were in from April 2026. Over £30,000, April 2027. Over £20,000, April 2028. If you own jointly, it's your share of the rent that counts, not the whole property's.
Work out your start date
Enter the full annual rent for your properties, then your share if you own with someone else. If you're also self-employed, add that turnover in — the two are added together.
Your qualifying income: £24,000
Your start date
6 April 2028
A guide, not a ruling. HMRC works from a specific year's tax return, and joint ownership shares aren't always what people assume. If you're near a threshold, get someone to look at the actual return.
Why landlords get caught out
Ask a landlord what they make from a property and they'll tell you what's left after the mortgage. That's the number that matters to them, and it's the wrong one here.
Qualifying income for Making Tax Digital is your gross rental income. Nothing comes off it. Not mortgage interest, not the letting agent's ten per cent, not insurance, not the boiler that went in February. HMRC looks at what arrives, not what survives.
A worked example
This landlord makes £12,580 and would swear blind they're nowhere near the threshold. Their start date is April 2027.
The thresholds
| From | Gross income over | Based on your return for |
|---|---|---|
| 6 April 2026 | £50,000 | 2024 to 2025 |
| 6 April 2027 | £30,000 | 2025 to 2026 |
| 6 April 2028 | £20,000 | 2026 to 2027 |
If you're a landlord and self-employed, the two are added together. A joiner turning over £22,000 with a flat bringing in £11,000 has £33,000 of qualifying income, not two separate figures that each sit safely under a threshold.
If you own jointly
Only your share counts. A property bringing in £70,000 owned equally by two people gives each of them £35,000 of qualifying income, not £70,000 — so neither was caught by the April 2026 wave, though both are in from April 2027.
For married couples and civil partners, HMRC assumes a 50/50 split by default, regardless of who actually owns what on paper. If the beneficial ownership is genuinely different — say 75/25 — that has to be declared to HMRC on Form 17, with evidence. Without it, you're treated as 50/50 whether that suits you or not.
Uneven splits produce uneven start dates. On a property grossing £100,000 split 75/25, the majority owner has £75,000 of qualifying income and was in from April 2026; the other has £25,000 and doesn't start until April 2028. Same property, same tenants, two different sets of obligations.
Two easements most landlords have never heard of
These are the useful part of this page, and they're barely publicised. Neither needs an application — you just use them.
1. The joint property easement
If you own jointly, you can:
- record a single total for your share of each income category each quarter, rather than transaction by transaction;
- record your share of expenses just once a year instead of every quarter;
- send HMRC income only in your quarterly updates, and deal with expenses at the year end — either by amending the fourth update or on the tax return itself.
For a couple with a rental flat, this turns four detailed bookkeeping exercises a year into four one-line submissions plus a proper tidy-up in the spring. It applies only to jointly owned property — anything you own on your own needs the full treatment.
2. Three-line accounts
If your gross UK property income is under £90,000 a year, you don't have to categorise anything. Three figures will do: income, expenses, and residential finance costs kept separate. That last one isn't optional — mortgage interest on residential property always has to be shown on its own, because of how the relief works.
This one applies whether you own jointly or alone, and you can stack it with the joint property easement if both fit.
UK and overseas property are two businesses
All your UK properties count as one property business, however many you have — one set of quarterly updates covering the lot. Anything abroad is a separate business needing its own updates. You don't split it further by country, though: a flat in Spain and a place in France are one foreign property business between them.
So a landlord with three houses in Doncaster and one apartment in Alicante files two sets of quarterly updates, not four.
The four deadlines
Updates are cumulative — each covers the tax year to date rather than just the last three months, so an error early on gets corrected later rather than following you around.
| Period covered | Deadline |
|---|---|
| 6 April – 5 July | 7 August |
| 6 April – 5 October | 7 November |
| 6 April – 5 January | 7 February |
| 6 April – 5 April | 7 May |
Then the final declaration, still due by 31 January, which does the job your tax return does now. There's more on penalties and the general rules on our main Making Tax Digital page.
What doesn't count towards the threshold
- Employment income through PAYE, however much it is.
- Pensions, state or private.
- Dividends, including from your own company.
- Capital gains when you sell a property — that's a different tax and a different regime.
- Tenancy deposits held as security. They're not your income; they're the tenant's money you're holding.
What to do now
- Work out your real number. Gross rent, your share, plus any self-employment. The tool above does it, or ring us and we'll do it off your last return.
- Check your ownership split is actually what you think. If you're married and the beneficial split isn't 50/50, Form 17 needs to be in — and it isn't retrospective.
- See whether the easements apply to you. If they do, the job is much smaller than the headlines suggest.
- Get your records onto software before your start date, not after. Moving mid-year is the painful version.
- Decide who's filing. You or an agent. Both fine. Neither, by accident, is not.
We do this for landlords already.
We've been filing quarterly updates since MTD went live in April, so we know where it actually snags — joint ownership shares, mortgage interest sitting in the wrong place, agents' statements that arrive net rather than gross.
We'll work out your start date, tell you whether the easements apply, get your records onto Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent, and file the lot. One fixed fee, agreed before we start.
Message us on WhatsAppCall 07868 005731
Or email whitfieldandhanson@gmail.com — we reply the same working day.
- Your start date worked out free, on the phone
- Joint ownership and Form 17 sorted properly
- Both easements applied where they fit
- All four quarterly updates filed for you
- Final declaration handled, same as your return now
- Doncaster based, HMRC-registered agents
Common questions
Is it my rent or my profit that decides my start date?
Your rent. Gross, before mortgage interest, agent fees, insurance or repairs. It's the single most common misunderstanding among landlords, and it's why people who make £12,000 a year from a property can find themselves inside rules they assumed were for someone much bigger.
We own the flat jointly. Do we both have to do MTD?
Only if your individual share of the gross rent crosses a threshold. Split equally, a £70,000 property gives you £35,000 each — so neither of you was in from April 2026, but both of you are from April 2027. Watch the exact figures, though: the thresholds are "more than", so £30,000 each puts you in the April 2028 group rather than 2027. If the split is uneven, you can genuinely end up with different start dates on the same property.
Do I have to do quarterly bookkeeping on a jointly owned property?
Not in full. The joint property easement lets you record a single total for your share of each income category each quarter, deal with expenses once a year rather than quarterly, and send HMRC income only in your updates. You don't apply for it — you just use it.
Does the £1,000 property allowance keep me under the threshold?
No. The allowance reduces the profit you pay tax on. Qualifying income for MTD is measured on the gross rent before any allowance or expense.
I've got property here and a place abroad. Is that one business or two?
Two. All UK property is one business with one set of quarterly updates, and all foreign property is a second business with its own — but you don't split the foreign side further by country.
What about the money I hold as a deposit?
It isn't your income and doesn't count. It's the tenant's money held as security.
Do I pay tax four times a year now?
No. The quarterly updates are information only. Your payment dates don't change, and neither do payments on account if you make them.
Will you check my start date without charging me?
Yes. Ring 07868 005731 with your rough rental figures and we'll tell you where you stand. It takes about five minutes and there's no bill attached to it.
Related
General guidance, not advice. This page explains the rules as they stand on 12 August 2026 and isn't tax advice for your circumstances. MTD is still moving — dates and detail have changed before. Check anything important against GOV.UK, or ring us and we'll talk it through.
Sources: HMRC guidance on eligibility and qualifying income (GOV.UK); Low Incomes Tax Reform Group guidance on Making Tax Digital for landlords; Association of Taxation Technicians guidance on the joint property and three-line accounts easements. Reviewed by Henry Hanson, HMRC-registered agent.