How to submit your Income Tax with Making Tax Digital

Manage your income tax digitally straight from your Tide account with Making Tax Digital (MTD). No more spreadsheets, no more stress.

This guide shows you how to:

Understand MTD

Get ready with MTD deadlines

Submit your taxes with MTD

Making Tax Digital made simple

Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a regulatory change that affects Sole Traders (including Landlords). MTD will roll out in phases and will be based on your earnings.

You'll have to submit your Income Taxes online via MTD from:

April 2026 - if you earn over £50,000

April 2027 – if you earn over £30,000

April 2028 – if you earn over £20,000

You'll now be expected to submit your income and expense updates on a quarterly basis throughout the tax year, and a final personal tax return at the end of the tax year.

Making Tax Digital deadlines

First update

Submit between

05 July – 07 August

Second update

Submit between

05 October – 07 November

Third update

Submit between

05 December – 07 January

Annual tax return

Submit by

31 January*, for the previous year

Final update

Submit between

05 April – 07 May

* Submitting your 2025 - 2026 tax return? Learn how to submit your Self Assessment over on this page.

Sign up for Making Tax Digital (MTD)

Step 1: Sign up for MTD with HMRC

Follow this gov.uk link to find out how – you'll need your Government Gateway account to sign up for MTD.

If you don't have a registered Government Gateway account, head to gov.uk.

Step 3: Link your business sources to Tide

Enter your National Insurance number

Select the business that you want to link Tide to

Once you have completed the above steps, you’re all set up to start submitting your returns via MTD.

Keep in mind that if you have multiple sources of income – say, two businesses and a rental property – you’ll need to keep digital records and file quarterly updates for each source individually. This means you’ll have to submit your updates from each Tide account for the respective business.

Submit your updates via Making Tax Digital

Step 1: Categorise your transactions

Tide automatically categorises up to 90% of transactions made through your account to help you get started.

You can categorise the rest in app, on the web, or via Tide Accounting – and all changes will be reflected to your timeline.

Tap Admin > Taxes

Update X items

Double-check your categorisation

Ensure you've added the correct category and VAT rate to each of your invoices, payments, or various other transactions.

Tap Invoices & Bills > find the relevant invoice

Mark as Paid > select the correct transactions

What if you've paid in cash?

If you made cash payments, use your Cash Register account to log in the transaction.

Tap Payments

Select your Cash Register account

Record Cash In/ Out

Then, you'll simply need to ensure that the payment has the correct category.

Step 3: View your tax estimates

Tap Tide Accounting > Self Assessment

Quarterly updates > see the due date and statuses (Available from, Open for submission, Filed)

Once the status becomes Open for submission > tap on the quarter > review your income, expenses, and taxes due to date

Ensure this information is correct > tap Review and submit

Step 4: Pay your tax bill with your Tax Account

You normally pay your tax bill in two installments – by 31 January (your main tax bill and the first payment on your account) and by 31 July (the second payment on your account).

Use your Tax Account to pay your bill.

Tap Payments > Tax Account

Select the type of tax you're paying and the correct HMRC account from the list

Enter the amount and reference number > confirm and approve the payment

If this payment fails for any reason, the money will return back to your Tax Account.