Making Tax Digital quarterly updates: check yours before you send it
Every 3 months you send HMRC running totals of your income and expenses from your software. This free helper shows which update is due, adds up your year so far by HMRC category, spots common mistakes and estimates the tax building up. It doesn't send anything to HMRC.
Check your quarterly update
Your records
Open your records spreadsheet and we'll add it up for you. It's read on this device and never uploaded. Or type your year-to-date totals below.
Works with our records spreadsheet (.xlsx), or any sheet or CSV with Date, Category and Amount columns using the categories below.
Self-employment: totals from 6 April to the end of this update period
If your turnover is under £90,000 you can put all expenses in the last box as one total. Money back (refunds) can be entered as a minus figure.
UK property: totals from 6 April to the end of this update period
If your property income is under £90,000 you can put expenses in one total, but mortgage interest on homes you let must still be shown separately. For a jointly owned property, enter your share.
For the tax estimate (optional)
Before tax. Leave blank if you don't have one.
Roughly, for the whole year.
Free records spreadsheet
Keep your records in a spreadsheet and send updates with bridging software, which links to the sheet and sends the totals to HMRC. It's often the cheapest way to do Making Tax Digital, and you can keep using Excel or Google Sheets.
Download the records spreadsheet (.xlsx)
- Self-employment and Property sheets: one row for each amount, with the date, a description, the HMRC category (pick from the list) and the amount.
- Quarterly totals sheet: works out the running totals for each of the 4 updates by itself. Point your bridging software at these cells.
- Set the tax year once on the Start here sheet. Start a new copy each tax year.
- Open it in Excel, LibreOffice or Google Sheets (File, Import). You can also open it in the helper above to check it.
HMRC's digital links rule: once your records are in the spreadsheet, the figures must get to your software through a digital link, such as bridging software reading the cells or a CSV import. Typing them in again, or copying and pasting, isn't allowed. Keep your receipts too: the spreadsheet is your record, but HMRC can still ask for evidence.
Each record needs the amount, the date it was received or paid, and its category. If your turnover from a business is under £90,000, sole traders can just record income or expense (use the "not split" category), and landlords can too, except mortgage interest on homes, which must stay separate.
Deadline reminders for your calendar
Download the deadlines for 3 tax years as a calendar file. It works with Google Calendar, Apple Calendar and Outlook, and reminds you a week before each one.
Downloaded. Open the file to add it to your calendar. In Google Calendar on a computer: Settings, Import and export, Import.
| Update | Standard period (from 6 April) | Send by |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 April to 5 July | 7 August |
| 2 | 6 April to 5 October | 7 November |
| 3 | 6 April to 5 January | 7 February |
| 4 | 6 April to 5 April | 7 May |
| Final declaration | The whole tax year, with any adjustments | 31 January after the tax year ends |
Every update covers the year from 6 April, so it's a running total. If nothing came in or went out, you still send an update. Mistakes in an earlier update are simply corrected in the next one. Payments don't change: you still pay on 31 January and 31 July. Late updates get penalty points, though not in 2026-27, or in 2027-28 for people who join in April 2027. How the penalties work.
Free Making Tax Digital software
HMRC doesn't make its own software, but some companies offer free versions for people with simple tax affairs. HMRC keeps the official list of software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and its finder tool asks a few questions to give you a personalised list.
- Using our spreadsheet? When the finder asks, say you want to connect to your existing records. That shows bridging software.
- Want the software to keep your records? Say you want to create new digital records. Some of these link to your bank account.
- Tell it your income sources (self-employment, UK property, foreign property) and any other income on your return, so it only shows software that handles all of it.
- Check what "free" means. Free versions can limit the number of transactions or businesses, or be free only while you bank with a particular provider. Check the final declaration (the tax return at the end of the year) is included, not just the quarterly updates.
- We don't recommend any product and aren't paid by any software company.
Not sure you need Making Tax Digital yet? It depends on your income from self-employment and property before expenses. Check when it starts for you.
Check when I startSources
- GOV.UK: Send quarterly updates
- GOV.UK: Create digital records
- GOV.UK: Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
- GOV.UK: Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
General guidance, not tax advice. The estimate assumes the rest of the year is like the part so far and ignores other income. You send your updates and final declaration yourself, from your own software.