MTD ITSA Deadlines: Complete Timeline for 2026, 2027, and 2028

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) is rolling out in phases. Here is the complete timeline every UK accountant needs to know.

Phase 1: April 2026 (NOW LIVE)

**Who:** Sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 (based on 2024/25 tax year).

**What they must do:** - Keep digital records using MTD-compatible software - Submit quarterly updates to HMRC - File an End of Period Statement (EOPS) - Submit a final declaration (replacing the Self Assessment return)

**Quarterly deadlines for 2026/27:** | Quarter | Period | Deadline | |---------|--------|----------| | Q1 | 6 Apr – 5 Jul 2026 | 7 Aug 2026 | | Q2 | 6 Jul – 5 Oct 2026 | 7 Nov 2026 | | Q3 | 6 Oct – 5 Jan 2027 | 7 Feb 2027 | | Q4 | 6 Jan – 5 Apr 2027 | 7 May 2027 |

Phase 2: April 2027

**Who:** Sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £30,000 (based on 2025/26 tax year).

**Impact on practices:** This roughly doubles the number of affected clients. Practices should begin preparing these clients now.

Phase 3: April 2028

**Who:** Sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £20,000 (based on 2026/27 tax year).

**Impact on practices:** This brings in the majority of self-employed clients. For a typical small practice, this could mean 60–80% of your client base is under MTD.

What This Means for Your Practice

Client Segmentation Is Critical

You need to know, right now: - How many clients fall into each threshold band - Which are already set up with compatible software - Which still need agent authorisation - Which have gaps in their digital records

The Workload Compounds

Each phase adds more clients while you are still managing quarterly submissions for the previous cohort. By 2028, you could be managing quarterly submissions for 100+ clients simultaneously.

Start Tracking Now

The practices that will manage this smoothly are those that: 1. Segment their client base by income threshold today 2. Track readiness status systematically (not in their head) 3. Automate client communications where possible 4. Build processes that scale from 20 clients to 200

How PracticeNudge Helps

PracticeNudge gives you a single dashboard showing every client's MTD readiness status, missing documents, and follow-up schedule. No spreadsheets, no guessing.

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