Sole traders and landlords earning over £50,000 have their second Making Tax Digital for Income Tax quarterly update due on Saturday 7 November 2026. HMRC has used the run-up to this one to answer the questions it says came up most after the first deadline in August, and the most useful fact in the release has nothing to do with software: there is no penalty for missing this deadline, this year.
What the deadline actually covers
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for anyone with gross self-employment or property income over £50,000. Everyone in that group sent a first quarterly update by 7 August, covering 6 April to 5 July. The second update, due 7 November, covers 6 April to 5 October, because each quarterly update restates the whole tax year to date rather than reporting the quarter in isolation. A quarterly update is not a tax return: it is a running summary of income and expenses sent through HMRC-recognised software, no tax is calculated, and nothing is paid when it goes in. The actual bill for 2026-27 is only settled when the final declaration replaces the old Self Assessment return, by 31 January 2028. Two more quarterly updates and that final declaration complete the cycle for this tax year.
Worked example: a landlord who missed the first one
Take an illustrative case: a landlord with two rental properties, gross rental income of £58,000, who missed the August deadline because they didn't realise it applied to them, assumed it was something their software would handle automatically, and only found out from their accountant in October. Nothing has happened to them for missing it. HMRC's own guidance confirms no penalty points are being issued for late quarterly updates in the 2026-27 tax year, and anyone in that position can simply send the missed update now alongside the one due 7 November. The cost of catching up is entirely their own time: pulling four months of rent, mortgage interest, repairs and agent fees into HMRC-recognised software in one sitting, instead of the twenty minutes a month it takes once a bank feed is doing the collecting. That gap between "mildly annoying now" and "actually penalised" closes on 6 April 2027. From the 2027-28 tax year, a points-based system starts: one point for each missed quarterly deadline, and once four points build up, a fixed £200 penalty is charged, with points only clearing after a sustained run of on-time submissions. A landlord who treats all four of this year's deadlines as optional is rehearsing exactly the habit that costs £200 from next April.
Five myths HMRC is correcting, and why they matter
The release is structured as myth-busting, and each one removes a specific reason people have been putting this off. First, a quarterly update is not the same as a tax return and triggers no tax calculation, so there is nothing to get wrong in the way a return can be wrong. Second, anyone who sent their August update successfully does not need to ring HMRC to check it arrived; the submission history is visible in the HMRC online account or the software itself. Third, "specialist accounting software" is not a requirement: the recognised list includes full bookkeeping packages, free options for simpler affairs, and bridging software that lets a well-kept spreadsheet carry on being a spreadsheet while still filing digitally. Fourth, a mistake spotted in the August figures doesn't need a resend; correcting the underlying record carries the fix into the next update automatically, because the whole year restates each time. Fifth, the Saturday deadline does not need beating before the weekend. Updates can go in any time up to and including 7 November, and HMRC is explicitly encouraging people to send as soon as their records are ready rather than waiting for deadline day, with the Self Assessment helpline open 9am to 3pm that Saturday for anyone who gets stuck.
What it means for sole traders and landlords
If you're already in MTD because your turnover cleared £50,000, this update is routine admin if your records are current, and a one-off time cost if they're not. Either way, nothing is at stake financially this year beyond your own time, so there's no reason to let a software problem or a missing receipt stop you sending something close to right by Saturday. If your turnover sits between £30,000 and £50,000, you're not caught yet, but HMRC has already confirmed that group joins from April 2027, and it has not yet published the software sign-up timetable for them in the way it did for the current group ahead of April 2026 — worth reading alongside our piece on the £30,000 threshold if that's you. If you missed the August deadline entirely, the practical fix is the same as for the landlord above: send both updates now, and use the lack of a penalty this year as the reason to fix the record-keeping process before the 2027-28 points system makes the same gap expensive.
What to do this week
First, check your submission history in your HMRC online account or your MTD software before assuming anything has gone wrong; most "did it arrive" worries are unfounded. Second, if your digital records for July to October aren't complete, block out the time now rather than on Saturday, since the quarterly update needs the real numbers, not an estimate. Third, if you're still filing from a part-paper, part-spreadsheet system and found this quarter more stressful than it should have been, that's worth fixing before the November-to-January quarter, which runs straight into Self Assessment season for anyone with other income to declare. Our Making Tax Digital service sets up HMRC-recognised software against your actual bank feeds, so each quarter becomes a five-minute check rather than a backlog, and our landlord accounting team handles the property-specific side of it, including the figures that don't come through a bank feed at all, such as apportioned mortgage interest relief.
What is still uncertain
The 7 November deadline, the absence of a 2026-27 penalty, and the 2027-28 start date for points-based penalties are all confirmed by HMRC. What isn't yet published is the detailed sign-up and software transition timetable for the £30,000-to-£50,000 group joining from April 2027, which HMRC has said will firm up over the coming months rather than all at once. Treat this November's deadline and next April's expansion as fixed points to plan around, and the precise rollout mechanics for the next group as still to be confirmed.
Our tax planning team can check where your own filing obligations sit and get your software doing the quarterly admin for you.