Do I still file a Self Assessment tax return under Making Tax Digital?

Yes. You still submit one tax return for each tax year and still pay by 31 January, but once Making Tax Digital applies to you, you send that return from your software instead of filling in the Self Assessment form on HMRC's website.

Yes, you do. This is a common misunderstanding about Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. The four quarterly updates you send during the year do not add up to a tax return, and they do not finish your tax year. You still have to complete and submit one tax return for each tax year.

HMRC's guidance puts it plainly. Under Making Tax Digital you still submit one tax return every tax year and pay your tax bill as you do now, and you must still do both by 31 January following the end of the tax year.

What changes is how you send that return. Once Making Tax Digital applies to you, you complete and submit your tax return using your Making Tax Digital software rather than filling in the Self Assessment form on HMRC's website.

What changes and what stays the same

	Before Making Tax Digital	Under Making Tax Digital
Digital records	Not required	Required for self-employment and property income
During the year	Nothing to send	Four quarterly updates per business
End of year	One Self Assessment tax return	One tax return, sent from your software
Return deadline	31 January after the tax year ends	31 January after the tax year ends
Paying your tax	31 January, plus 31 July if you make payments on account	Unchanged

HMRC states that Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will not change the way you pay tax or the dates that payments are due.

Quarterly updates are not tax returns

HMRC describes quarterly updates as summaries, not tax returns. Each one is a running total of the income and expense categories for one business, and HMRC does not receive your individual records such as a receipt or an invoice.

Two things follow from that.

First, sending a quarterly update does not create a tax bill and does not bring a payment date forward. Your software will show an estimate of your tax bill for your self-employment and property income once you have sent an update, but it is only an estimate. HMRC says it will be less accurate if you have other income sources you have not told HMRC about yet, or if your accounting period does not match the tax year.

Second, you do not need to make any accounting or tax adjustments before sending a quarterly update. You send the figures as your records show them. Anything that needs adjusting gets adjusted at the year end instead.

The quarterly deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. There is more detail in quarterly update deadlines.

The year-end return, and what "final declaration" means

After your fourth quarterly update, you work through the year end for each business. That is where you make the adjustments quarterly updates deliberately leave out, such as removing expenses you cannot claim, accounting adjustments for prepayments and accruals, capital allowances on things like plant and machinery, and reliefs and allowances such as the trading income allowance.

Then you submit your tax return by declaring that your information is correct and complete to the best of your knowledge. This is the point at which your tax position for the year is settled.

You may see software and articles call this step the "final declaration". It is the same thing. HMRC's own style guide tells software companies not to use "final declaration" in customer-facing products, because the term relates only to one of HMRC's software interfaces. That is why gov.uk simply calls it submitting your tax return.

The deadline is 31 January following the end of the relevant tax year, and you can submit earlier. So for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, which is the first year for people brought in from 6 April 2026, the return is due by 31 January 2028.

Everything else still has to be reported

Your quarterly updates only cover self-employment and UK or foreign property. Your tax return still has to cover your whole income position for the year.

HMRC adds some of it for you, including:

employment (PAYE) income
income from state, private and occupational pensions
other taxable state benefits
Construction Industry Scheme subcontractor deductions
Capital Gains Tax residential property disposals
your student loan and postgraduate loan plan type, including repayments taken through PAYE
Marriage Allowance claims

You have to add the rest yourself, including:

savings interest
dividends, including dividends from your own company
your share of partnership profits
payrolled benefits that are not subject to Class 1A National Insurance
any other income or gains not added automatically

Check the figures HMRC has added rather than assuming they are complete. They are a starting point, and you are the one declaring the return is correct.

If you need to change something after you have submitted, you can amend your return using compatible software within 12 months of the submission deadline.

When you pay

Payment dates do not move. Your Self Assessment tax for a tax year is due by 31 January following the end of that tax year, and there is a second payment deadline of 31 July if you make payments on account towards your bill.

The 31 January date therefore does two jobs, as it always has. It is the deadline to submit the return and the deadline to pay.

What happens if you are late

Late submission works on penalty points. You get a point for each deadline you miss, and if you are required to use Making Tax Digital the threshold is 4 points. Reach 4 points and you get a £200 penalty, then a further £200 penalty each time you miss another submission deadline after that.

There is one exception in the first year. HMRC says there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. That does not cover your tax return, and penalty points still apply if you submit that late. See Making Tax Digital penalties for the detail.

If you leave Making Tax Digital

If your qualifying income falls below the threshold for 3 consecutive tax years, you can opt out. You then stop keeping digital records and stop sending quarterly updates, but you must still send a Self Assessment tax return for that tax year. You do not have to use Making Tax Digital software to send it, though you can if you prefer.

Who this applies to and from when

Making Tax Digital is being phased in by qualifying income. Qualifying income is your total turnover from self-employment and property income added together, before you take off any expenses, taken from the tax return you submitted for an earlier tax year. It is not your profit.

Qualifying income	On your tax return for	You must use it from
More than £50,000	2024 to 2025	6 April 2026
More than £30,000	2025 to 2026	6 April 2027
More than £20,000	2026 to 2027	6 April 2028

Until Making Tax Digital applies to you, nothing changes. You carry on with Self Assessment as normal. There is also one handover year to be aware of: you still submit a Self Assessment tax return the usual way for the tax year before you start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

See do I need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax? and what counts as qualifying income.

What MTD Gateway does about this

MTD Gateway keeps your digital records and sends your in-year quarterly updates for self-employment and UK property. It does not support the year-end tax return, the step some software calls the final declaration. You will need to finalise your tax year and submit your return elsewhere, using other compatible software or through HMRC.

Last reviewed 25 July 2026. This is general information about how Making Tax Digital works, not tax advice. We are not accountants. If your situation is complicated, speak to one, or check the guidance on GOV.UK.