How to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

Signing up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax happens on GOV.UK, not inside your software. This trips people up: you can connect Quarterwise to HMRC successfully and still be told HMRC does not recognise you, because connecting and signing up are two different things. Connecting gives software permission to act for you. Signing up is what puts you on the Making Tax Digital service in the first place.

Before you start

To sign up you need to be registered for Self Assessment and to have submitted a tax return in the last two years. Have these ready:

• Your Government Gateway user ID and password — the same ones you use for Self Assessment
• Your National Insurance number
• The date your property letting or self-employment started, if that was within the last two tax years
• The tax year you want to start from
• If you are a sole trader: your business name, address and what the business does
• Details of each income source, if you have more than one property business or trade

HMRC may also ask you to confirm your identity, either by matching a photo of yourself to a passport or driving licence, or by answering questions about information they already hold about you.

The steps

1. Check whether you need to be in yet. Making Tax Digital applies from 6 April 2026 if your qualifying income is over £50,000, from April 2027 over £30,000, and from April 2028 over £20,000. Qualifying income is the gross figure from property and self-employment combined, before expenses. Our guide to the thresholds explains how HMRC works it out.
2. Choose compatible software first. HMRC asks you to have software before you sign up, and the sign-up journey assumes you already know what you will use. Quarterwise is on HMRC's list of recognised software and is free for one property.
3. Sign up on GOV.UK. Use HMRC's sign-up service and sign in with your Self Assessment Government Gateway details.
4. Connect your software. Once HMRC has you signed up, connect Quarterwise on the HMRC page in your account and authorise it. Your businesses will then appear.
5. Keep digital records and file. From then on you send a quarterly update four times a year and one tax return after the tax year ends. Our deadline guide lists every date.

If HMRC will not let you sign up

Some people are exempt and the service will refuse them, which is correct rather than an error. The most common reason is that your last Self Assessment return included the SA109 residence or remittance pages, which delays you until at least April 2027. Trustees, personal representatives of someone who has died, and Lloyd's underwriters are exempt with no end date. Separately, you can apply for an exemption if you cannot use digital tools. While you are exempt you carry on filing an ordinary Self Assessment return and no Making Tax Digital penalties can apply to you.

Once you are signed up

Signing up does not change what you owe or when you pay it. Your tax is still due by 31 January as it always was. What changes is that your records have to be digital, and you send figures four times a year instead of once. If your bookkeeping is up to date, each update is a review-and-send job rather than an evening's work.

Common questions

Last updated 20 August 2026. Quarterwise is software, not a tax adviser — if you’re unsure how the rules apply to you, check with HMRC or a qualified accountant.