Hello and welcome to April — the start of a brand-new
financial year! As always, this time of year brings fresh updates from the Government and one of the most notable changes on the horizon is HMRC’s ‘Making
Tax Digital’ for Income Tax Self-Assessment which is coming into affect from April 2026. This is directly affecting
small businesses trading through self assessment, and property landlords.
What’s Changing?
If you’re used to submitting a Self-Assessment tax return
once a year, things are about to change. HMRC is moving towards quarterly
reporting, much like what VAT-registered businesses already do. This means
instead of sending in your figures once a year, you’ll now be expected to
submit updates every three months, using Accounting software compatible with
HMRC, the spreadsheet will become a thing of the past.
Who Does This Affect?
This will roll out in phases:
- From
April 2026: If your total self-employed or property turnover is over
£50,000, you’ll be required to comply.
- From
April 2027: The threshold lowers to £30,000.
This applies to landlords as well as sole traders, so even
if you're just renting out property and not running a business, this could
still apply to you.
What Should You Do?
If you're likely to be affected, don’t panic. We’ll be in
touch with you individually to discuss the best approach and make sure you’re
set up well in advance.
It’s worth noting that HMRC has already changed the start
date a few times, so we are still in the early days of implementation.
Information is a little light at the moment from HMRC side of things, but we’ll
keep you updated as soon as we know more.
Here to Help
We know this might feel like a big shift, and it’s
perfectly normal to feel unsure about how it will all work. If this news has
left you with questions or concerns, please call or message us — we're here to
help guide you through it all.
Let’s make this new tax year a smooth one!
