Note: this post is intended as a community wiki that will be continually updated from your comments and any new information as it arises.
Disclaimer: always seek your own advice on financial matters. We can't guarantee accuracy!
There are two groups affected by the Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative:
1. Individuals
If you work for yourself as a sole trader or earn money from property you are likely affected. There are thresholds to be met (on gross annual income) but they may change in future. There are some narrow exemptions including some based on age, disability and broadband access.
The current roll-out dates and thresholds are:
- 6 April 2026 if your turnover is above £50,000
- 6 April 2027 if your turnover is above £30,000
- 6 April 2028 if your turnover is above £20,000
The government refer to this as "Making Tax Digital for Income Tax" and you can read more here: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - HMRC guide.
2. Businesses
If you are registered for VAT you should already by complying with MTD as the deadlines have passed. You can voluntarily register for VAT but if your annual taxable turnover is over £90k it's mandatory: when to register for VAT - GOV.UK.
Companies that pay corporation tax will also eventually join MTD too (see timescale for implementation - wikipedia.org). I don't think we have a firm deadline on that yet but if anyone has firm info let me know in a comment!
The wise wiki owl is from source, copyright K.-M. Hansche - Edited by: Arad, CC BY-SA 2.5 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
