Making Tax Digital for Income Tax help in Market Harborough.

I'm Jon Sternal. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started on 6 April 2026. I do this from 47 Northampton Road, Market Harborough, LE16 9HB, for sole traders and landlords. I visit clients locally.

It depends on your qualifying income: self-employment and property income added together, before expenses. Wages, pensions, dividends and partnership profits do not count. HMRC uses the tax return from two years earlier.

If you own property jointly, only your share counts. Partnerships are not included yet, and HMRC has not set a date for them. Once you are in, you stay in unless your income is under the threshold for three years in a row. Since September 2026, HMRC has been signing up people who should be in. It is still your job to check, even without a letter.

I can check whether you are in and when you start, set you up on Xero, and keep the records up to date every month. Sternal Finance is a Xero partner. Bookkeeping keeps the ledger, from £150 a month excluding VAT. This work is agreed separately, and it is not part of that fee. See also bookkeeping in Market Harborough.

Quarterly updates are running totals, not tax returns, and no tax is due with them. You still send one in a quiet quarter. A year to 31 March can use calendar quarters, with the same deadlines. The tax return and the tax are still due by 31 January.

If you started in April 2026, the later updates are 7 February and 7 May 2027, after the one due on 7 November 2026. The 2025–26 return is still due by 31 January 2027, the usual way. The first MTD software return, for 2026–27, is due by 31 January 2028.

For 2026–27 a late quarterly update does not earn a point, but a late tax return still does. From 2027–28 each missed deadline earns a point, and four points means a £200 penalty, then £200 for each further miss. Unfamiliar software is not enough for an exemption. The detail is on the Making Tax Digital page.

There is no fixed fee. Scope and fee are confirmed in writing before I start. If you are VAT registered, I keep MTD for VAT running alongside this. It has applied to every VAT-registered business since April 2022. See the VAT page and areas served.