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 2: Connect your account to HMRC

You can either sign up for our free Making Tax Digital tool or for an accounting subscription – tap Admin to select yours. Once you have your subscription active:

Tap Admin > Taxes

The banner for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax > Connect to HMRC

Enter your Government Gateway ID and password

Connect Tide to your HMRC account

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