Five things to know about signing up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Are you self-employed or a landlord and know you need to use Making Tax Digital for income tax, but are not sure about signing up? Here are five things we think you should know about the sign-up process!
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If you know you must follow the new Making Tax Digital rules, one of the first steps you need to take is to sign up for Making Tax Digital with HMRC. We know there are still a lot of people who have not done this yet, so we have put together some information below which might help make the sign-up process easier.
1. If you are in scope of Making Tax Digital you must sign up first before you can begin to use it
Making Tax Digital is not optional. If your gross income (known as qualifying income) is over the Making Tax Digital threshold you must follow the new Making Tax Digital rules unless you are exempt. But you cannot make any of the Making Tax Digital submissions that are required until you have signed up.
We explain what the thresholds are and how to calculate your qualifying income on our page Who does Making Tax Digital apply to in our Making Tax Digital hub. We also explain how to work out your start date if you are not sure when you must begin to use Making Tax Digital.
2. You need to have an HMRC online services account to be able to sign up
The sign-up journey starts on the GOV.UK website: Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - GOV.UK.
It begins with logging into your HMRC online services account. To do this you will either need your government gateway login details, or GOV.UK One Login details. HMRC are currently transitioning away from the government gateway and moving over to One Login, so this might be relevant to you if you are a newer user. If you have not used HMRC’s online services before, you will need to create an account at this stage.
As part of creating a new online account with HMRC, you will be asked to confirm your identity with some form of ID such as a passport, driving licence, payslip, self assessment tax information etc.
You can read more about this process and what to do if you are having trouble creating the account in our website guidance.
If you have any issues getting past the log-in stage to start the actual sign up for Making Tax Digital then contact HMRC online services helpdesk.
3. You can still sign up for Making Tax Digital even if you are not yet sure what software you will use
As part of Making Tax Digital, you will need to use approved third party Making Tax Digital software to keep your digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC.
Choosing Making Tax Digital software may feel like a difficult decision, especially if you have previously only used HMRC’s online tax return service to file your tax return. However, you don’t need to have decided what software you will use before you sign up for Making Tax Digital.
We have guidance on choosing software in our Making Tax Digital hub. There is a software finder tool on GOV.UK which can help you narrow down software that might meet your needs as you can filter according to certain requirements, such as software that is free or software that meets certain accessibility needs or deals with certain income sources.
4. Make sure you are clear about when you must start using Making Tax Digital so you know which tax year to sign up for
As part of the Making Tax Digital sign-up process, you will be asked to confirm which tax year you are signing up for – so make sure you are clear on that before you start.
If the qualifying income on your 2024/25 tax return was more than £50,000 and you are not exempt then you should have been using Making Tax Digital from April 2026. But it is important to know that there is no sign-up deadline so it is not too late to sign up now for the 2026/2027 tax year and catch up with your record keeping and tax reporting requirements.
If the qualifying income on your 2025/26 tax return is more than £30,000 and you are not exempt then you will need to use Making Tax Digital from April 2027 and so you need to sign up for the 2027/2028 tax year.
5. If your self-employment or property income started after April 2024 you will need to enter a start date when you sign up
If your self-employment or property income first arose after April 2024 then you need to enter the start date for the income as part of the sign-up process. You need to enter the month and the year. For self-employments, you will also need to enter the business name (if you have one), address and what the business does.
What if you try to sign up but get a message at the end to say you cannot sign up?
If you go through the whole sign-up process but instead of getting a message to say your sign up is complete, you get a message to say that you could not be signed up for Making Tax Digital, then what should you do? One of the most common reasons for this message is if you have not yet filed your 2024/25 self assessment tax return with HMRC. If this applies to you, then you need to complete and file your 2024/25 self assessment tax return in the usual way as soon as possible, so that you are then able to sign up to Making Tax Digital and follow the new rules.
Another reason may be because your circumstances mean that you are automatically exempt. As mentioned above, this usually only applies in limited circumstances, which are explained in our Making Tax Digital exemptions guidance. If it is not clear to you why you have been unable to sign up then contact HMRC.
Don’t put signing up off any longer!
Hopefully these tips will help you get through the sign-up process smoothly. It is not a difficult process and shouldn’t take too long to complete provided you are prepared, so don’t put it off any longer if you know you need to sign up.
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