Quarterly digital updates instead of one January scramble. Here is what MTD actually requires — and the low-effort way to be ready.
4 May 2026 · 5 min read
Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is the biggest change to self-employed tax admin in a generation: digital records and quarterly updates to HMRC, replacing the single annual return scramble. The good news — if your records are already digital as you go, MTD is close to a non-event.
MTD for Income Tax applies to sole traders and landlords above an income threshold, phased in from April 2026 for higher earners and lower thresholds following. Check your own start date on GOV.UK — but whichever wave you are in, the requirement is the same: keep records digitally and submit quarterly summaries through compatible software.
Not a shoebox of receipts photographed in January. Each income and expense item recorded digitally, near the time it happened. The receipts in your footwell and the invoices in your head are the gap between you and compliance.
Capture at the moment of the transaction: snap the receipt when it is in your hand, log the invoice when the job ends. GraftG does both over WhatsApp — photo a receipt and it is read, categorised and stored with the VAT split out (see the receipts guide); finish a job and the invoice is generated and logged. By the time a quarterly update is due, the records already exist.
For most people, yes — but their job changes from archaeology to review. Handing an accountant twelve months of clean, categorised digital records costs less in fees and stress than handing them a bag of paper. MTD just makes that arrangement compulsory.
It phases in from April 2026, starting with higher-income sole traders and landlords, with lower thresholds following in later years. Check GOV.UK for the threshold that applies to your income.
You need digital records and MTD-compatible submission software. Capturing receipts, mileage and invoices digitally as you go — for example through GraftG on WhatsApp — is the record-keeping half; your accountant or bridging software handles submissions.
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