Making Tax Digital deadlines — and a calendar you can keep

Every Making Tax Digital deadline for your tax year, in one place. Pick your band below, then download all five dates straight into your calendar with a reminder two weeks before each one. Free, no signup.

Three things that catch people out

A quiet quarter still needs an update. HMRC states that if you received no income and incurred no expenses during the period, you must still send the update to tell them so. A nil update is not the same as no update.

The penalty holiday is narrower than most people think. HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026 to 2027 tax year — it's tied to that specific tax year, not to whichever year you personally join. If you come in from April 2027 or April 2028, points apply to you from day one. And even in 2026–27, penalty points still apply to a late tax return.

What each deadline actually is

The four quarterly updates are summaries, not tax returns — totals of income and expenses per category, with no accounting or tax adjustments needed. The fifth date is different: that's your tax return and payment for the year, on the usual 31 January deadline.

If you have both a property business and self-employment, you send a separate update for each, so four deadlines can mean eight filings.