HMRC has confirmed that 436,000 taxpayers filed their first Making Tax Digital for Income Tax quarterly update on time, leaving more than 400,000 landlords, sole traders and small business owners short of the first 7 August deadline.
The figure means barely half of the 864,000 people expected to file completed the first update in time. HMRC is not charging late filing penalties during the first year, but it has already confirmed that compulsory sign-up for the next wave will begin from September for taxpayers who should have joined for 2026-27 and have still not registered.
For landlords, the news matters now because the missed first deadline does not stop the regime moving on. The next quarterly update is due on 7 November, and the autumn sign-up push gives landlords only a short window to get software, records and agent arrangements in order.
Half of mandated landlords and sole traders missed the first cut-off
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became mandatory from April 2026 for landlords and sole traders with qualifying income above £50,000. The first update covered income and expenses for the opening quarter of the tax year and had to be sent through compatible software.
HMRC had warned before the deadline that the update was a legal requirement and not a tax return. The tax authority also said the new quarterly filing should take only minutes through recognised software, but the completion numbers now show that a large share of the target group still did not get over the line in time.
That shortfall matters because the current soft-landing period can create a false sense of safety. Landlords may avoid some late filing penalties in year one, but they still need to keep digital records, stay inside the system and be ready for the next submission point.
HMRC will begin another sign-up push in September
According to HMRC’s Making Tax Digital update guidance, the next quarterly update is due on 7 November. From September, the department will also begin signing up taxpayers who were required to use Making Tax Digital for 2026-27 but have not yet registered.
This follows Landlord Knowledge’s earlier report on HMRC’s first 7 August filing deadline, which set out the legal start of the regime for landlords above the £50,000 threshold. The latest numbers suggest awareness and readiness were weaker than ministers hoped.
Landlords should also compare today’s filing total with ACCA’s warning that around 400,000 landlords were at risk of missing the first deadline. In the event, the final outcome broadly matched that concern, underlining how many landlords left preparation too late.
The practical issue now is less about whether the first deadline was missed and more about whether systems are fixed before November. Landlords still working on spreadsheets, paper records or loose bookkeeping need to decide quickly whether to move onto software directly or hand the process to an accountant before the next filing point arrives.
What this means for landlords
- If you missed 7 August: do not treat the first-year easements as a free pass – get signed up and sort compatible software before the 7 November update.
- Watch for: HMRC’s September sign-up action for taxpayers who should already be using Making Tax Digital for 2026-27.
- Bottom line: the first filing deadline has passed, but the compliance pressure on landlords is only increasing from here.
Editor’s view
The headline number is not that 436,000 people filed on time. It is that so many still did not. For landlords who have delayed, the cheapest fix is to treat November as the real deadline and stop assuming HMRC will keep the training wheels on forever.
Author: Editorial Team – UK landlord & buy-to-let news, policy, and finance
Published: 18 August 2026
Sources: HM Revenue & Customs
Related reading: HMRC sets 7 August deadline for first landlord MTD updates
