If you’re one of the more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords HMRC says are now inside MTD Quarterly Tax, you’ve already cleared one hurdle: your first quarterly update, covering 6 April to 5 July 2026, was due on 7 August.1 The second one is coming up fast — for most people it covers 6 April to 5 October 2026, due by 7 November 2026.2
It’s tempting to treat this the same way you’d treat a VAT return: pull together the last three months of income and expenses and send them off. That’s exactly where mistakes creep in — MTD for Income Tax updates don’t work like VAT quarters at all.
01Year so far, not last three months
HMRC’s guidance is explicit: each quarterly update covers everything from the start of the tax year up to the end of that update period — not just the three months since your last submission.2 So update two isn’t “July, August, September” in isolation. It’s a fresh running total of everything since 6 April 2026, recalculated to include July–September.
Why this trips people up
If you manage records in a spreadsheet and upload each quarter as its own block — the way a VAT return works — your year-to-date figures can come out wrong from the second update onward, even if each quarter’s entries are individually correct. Check that your software is adding this quarter to the running total, not reporting July–September on its own.
02What update two actually contains
A quarterly update totals your digital records into the same income and expense categories used on a Self Assessment return, then sends those cumulative totals to HMRC.2,3 It isn’t a tax calculation and it doesn’t replace your Self Assessment return or final declaration — it’s a running record of your trading and property income as the year progresses.3
Found an error in update one?
You generally don’t need to go back and resubmit it. Because each later update recalculates the year-to-date figures from your (corrected) digital records, fixing the underlying record and filing your next update normally carries the correction through.2 The one update HMRC explicitly lets you resend is the fourth and final one, specifically so you can make last corrections before your final declaration.2
03The standard quarterly periods
Most people on MTD for Income Tax follow these four periods, each due one month and two days after it ends.2
| Update | Period covered | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 6 Apr – 5 Jul | 7 Aug |
| 2 ← you are here | 6 Apr – 5 Oct | 7 Nov |
| 3 | 6 Apr – 5 Jan | 7 Feb |
| 4 (final) | 6 Apr – 5 Apr | 7 May* |
*Following tax year. A minority of businesses use calendar-quarter periods instead (for example, 1 April–30 June rather than 6 April–5 July).1 If that’s you, check which dates you signed up to before assuming 7 November applies.
04No penalty point this year — don’t switch off
HMRC has confirmed a “soft landing” for year one: no penalty points for late quarterly updates in the 2026–27 tax year.4 Useful breathing room — but not a reason to relax:
Payment penalties still apply
In your first year under the new regime you have 30 days from the payment due date to pay in full or set up a Time to Pay arrangement before penalties start; after that, penalties and daily interest can be charged on what’s outstanding.4
The points system is delayed, not gone
From quarterly updates due in the 2027–28 tax year, each missed deadline earns one penalty point; a £200 fine applies at four points, and £200 again for each subsequent miss.4 Building the habit now avoids a scramble next year.
We cover the full points mechanics — expiry, resets, the £200 stacking — in our MTD ITSA Guide 2026, and HMRC’s guidance has the complete tables.4
05Checklist before 7 November
- Reconcile the full 6 April–5 October period, not just July–September.
- Confirm transactions are categorised the way your Self Assessment return expects — the categories are shared.
- Fixed an error from update one? Correct it at the source so this update’s year-to-date total is right.
- Check your digital links are intact end-to-end — see our MTD-friendly spreadsheets guide.
- Confirm standard vs. calendar quarters, and diary the correct deadline.
- Note any corrections made, for your own records and whoever prepares your final declaration.
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See how it worksFAQs
Do I need to resubmit my first quarterly update if I found a mistake?
Will I be fined for missing the 7 November deadline?
What if I signed up using calendar quarters instead of the standard periods?
What comes after this update?
Sources
- HMRC, “Deadline approaches for first Making Tax Digital quarterly update”, GOV.UK, 23 July 2026.
- HMRC, “Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: Send quarterly updates”, GOV.UK guidance.
- HMRC, “Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: Updates”, GOV.UK guidance.
- HMRC, “Penalties for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”, GOV.UK guidance.
- HMRC, “Act now: 864,000 sole traders and landlords face new tax rules in two months”, GOV.UK, 5 February 2026.
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