UK freelancers above £30,000: Making Tax Digital starts 6 April 2027

What changed

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax replaces part of the yearly Self Assessment routine. You keep digital records and send HMRC quarterly updates of your income and expenses from compatible software, and you still complete your tax return.

It arrives in three steps. Each one looks at the qualifying income on an earlier tax return.

Who counts

Qualifying income is your total income from self-employment and property, before expenses: your turnover, not your profit. Employment income, dividends and pensions don’t count, and neither does your share of a partnership’s profit.

With qualifying income of £20,000 or less you are exempt and keep filing Self Assessment as usual.

What it means for freelancers

• Check your 2025 to 2026 return. The gross figure decides: £32,000 of turnover with £10,000 of profit is over the line.
• Sign up yourself. HMRC writes to people over the threshold, but a letter is not a sign-up, and no letter doesn’t mean you’re out.
• Pick software before April. It has to be on HMRC’s list of compatible software.
• Keep records as you go. Quarterly updates leave little room for a once-a-year catch-up.

This is not tax advice: check your case with HMRC’s tools or an accountant.

In Freeboard

Sources

Read on 10 November 2026.

• GOV.UK: find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• GOV.UK: work out your qualifying income
• GOV.UK: exemptions from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• GOV.UK: sole traders and landlords earning more than £30,000 urged to act now (5 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords