Tips · Bepa Books by L.C.

The threshold counts what comes in, not what you keep.

Making Tax Digital is based on your income before expenses. So if £55,000 came in and £30,000 went straight back out on materials, HMRC still sees £55,000.

Plenty of people assume it can't be them because they don't take home anything like that. Check the top line, not the bottom one.

Know your date.

When you join depends on your income from self-employment and property, before expenses.

Over £50,000From April 2026
Over £30,000From April 2027
Over £20,000From April 2028
Updates due7 Aug, 7 Nov, 7 Feb, 7 May

Am I in Making Tax Digital?

Type in what came in last tax year from self-employment and property, before any expenses come off.

A guide based on GOV.UK's thresholds, not advice. HMRC decides from your tax return, and some people are exempt. Nothing you type here is sent anywhere.

A quarterly update isn't a tax bill.

The updates are a summary of what came in and what went out. They don't mean paying tax four times a year. Your tax is still worked out after the year ends.

And the year-end return hasn't gone anywhere. It's still due by 31 January.

Sort it while it's fresh.

A payment from last week takes a second to explain. The same payment fourteen months later is an investigation. Snap the receipt the day you get it, and mark each payment as business, personal or a bit of both.

You don't need a separate business account to do this. The phone you use for both can be split with a set percentage, decided once.

Put the tax aside as the money comes in.

Move a slice of every payment into a separate pot the day it lands. Then the money in your account is actually yours, and January isn't a shock.

How big a slice depends on your profit, so it's worth working out properly once rather than guessing every month.

Thresholds and dates from GOV.UK, checked October 2026.