Does your Making Tax Digital software do the tax return?

If you are already sending quarterly updates, the year end can feel a long way off. It still needs planning. For the 2026 to 2027 tax year, your tax return is due by 31 January 2028.

Not every MTD product handles the tax return yet. Some only send quarterly updates, which would leave you looking for something else close to the deadline.

One point that confuses people: if you joined in April 2026, your 2025 to 2026 return is still an ordinary Self Assessment return, due by 31 January 2027. The MTD tax return starts with 2026 to 2027.

What the year end involves

Your quarterly updates are running totals of income and expenses for each business or property. They are not your final position. At the year end you finish the picture:

• Make any adjustments and claim allowances. Quarterly figures are unadjusted totals, so year-end adjustments and allowances are added at this stage.
• Add your other income. A salary, a pension, savings interest or dividends never go into quarterly updates, but HMRC needs them on the return to work out your tax.
• Review the tax calculation. Your software shows you HMRC’s calculation. Read it carefully before you submit.
• Submit by 31 January. You can submit earlier if you want to know what you owe sooner.

All four quarterly updates must be sent first. GOV.UK says: “You will need to send your quarterly updates before you are able to submit your tax return.” (HMRC previously called this step the final declaration, so you may still see that term in older material.) The details are on GOV.UK’s page about submitting your tax return.

An example: Sarah

Sarah is a self-employed photographer. She has been in MTD since 6 April 2026 because the qualifying income on an earlier Self Assessment return was over £50,000. Our guide to MTD thresholds explains how that test works. Her turnover for 2026 to 2027 is £54,000, and that is the figure her quarterly updates build up to over the year.

She also works two days a week at a local college, earning £11,000 a year through PAYE, and her savings account pays £420 interest over the year.

Her quarterly updates contain only the photography business. By the last update they show the year’s £54,000 of income and her business expenses. The college pay and the interest appear nowhere in them.

At the year end, Sarah:

1. makes any year-end adjustments her business figures need
2. enters her college pay and the tax already deducted, using her P60
3. enters the £420 of savings interest
4. reviews the tax calculation in her software, which now covers all her income and the PAYE tax already paid
5. submits the return before 31 January 2028

If her software only sent quarterly updates, steps 2 and 3 would have nowhere to go. She would then need a second product that works with the first, or a move to software that does both.

Using one product or two

GOV.UK allows more than one product, but only one product for each separate submission. Its example is “one for creating records and sending your quarterly updates and another for submitting your tax return”.

The catch is the next line: “If you use more than one product, you’ll need to make sure they can work together to meet all your Making Tax Digital for Income Tax requirements.” Two products that cannot pass information between them leave the gap to you. If an accountant prepares your return, ask which product they use before you settle on your own, and see our guide to using MTD software alongside your accountant.

What to check in your software now

You do not need to act today, but these questions are better answered well before January:

• Does it file the tax return? Look for this stated explicitly. “MTD compatible” can mean quarterly updates only.
• Can it report every other income source you have? GOV.UK says software must “allow you to report all your other income sources to complete your tax return”. Ask the provider directly rather than assuming.
• Does it cover every business and property you have? Someone with self-employment and a rental property needs both handled.
• If you plan to use two products, confirm with both providers that they work together.

Working out which of your other income belongs on the return is a separate question, covered in MTD when you have other income.

Switching software part-way through the year

Moving mid-year is simpler than it sounds because updates are cumulative. GOV.UK puts it this way: “Each time you send a quarterly update it will cover from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, not just the previous three months.”

In practice, you import your records so far into the new software and your next update covers the year to date. Updates you have already sent stay with HMRC.

Two things to watch. Keep the same update periods, standard or calendar, because you cannot change them for a tax year once you have sent a quarterly update.

And if an update is overdue, sending a later one does not replace it. The update deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. If you have missed one, send it first (it covers the year to date), then send the next by its own deadline. There are no penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026 to 2027, but a late tax return is penalised from the start. Our guide to MTD deadlines has the full calendar.

Where Quarterwise fits

Quarterwise keeps your digital records and files both the quarterly updates and the year-end tax return, for UK property, overseas property and self-employment. For the return it also sends the other income and reliefs a return needs, including employment and pensions, UK and foreign interest and dividends, State Pension, pension contributions, Gift Aid, Marriage Allowance and the High Income Child Benefit Charge.

Someone like Sarah could do her quarterly updates and her return in one place. The Free plan covers one self-employment business or one property with full filing; Pro adds unlimited businesses or properties. Moving across mid-year means importing your records so far, after which your next update picks up the year to date.

This guide is general information, not tax advice.

Common questions

Last updated 5 October 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.