Making Tax Digital for Landlords

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) brings UK landlords into a quarterly digital reporting regime. If your property income (combined with any sole-trade income) is over the threshold for a tax year, you must keep digital records and submit four updates a year plus a final declaration.

Thresholds

Landlords are pulled in based on gross property + self-employment income in a previous tax year:

• From 6 April 2026 — combined gross income over £50,000.
• From 6 April 2027 — over £30,000.
• From 6 April 2028 — over £20,000.

Gross means rent receivable before deducting expenses, mortgage interest, agent fees or finance-cost relief.

What counts as property income

• UK residential lettings (single lets, HMOs, room rentals above the rent-a-room limit).
• UK commercial property.
• Furnished Holiday Lets (FHL) — note the FHL tax regime ended on 5 April 2025, so FHLs are now part of your normal property business for MTD and tax purposes.
• Overseas property is reported as a separate property business.

Jointly owned property

Each owner reports their share separately. The threshold test is applied to your share of the gross rents, not the whole property's rent. Spouses owning a buy-to-let 50/50 each test against their own £50k/£30k/£20k threshold.

What you have to do

1. Digital records for each property business — at minimum the date, amount and category of every income and expense item.
2. Quarterly updates for each property business (UK property and overseas property, as applicable) — even if there is no activity in the quarter.
3. Final declaration by 31 January after the tax year, where you confirm finance-cost restriction, capital allowances on commercial property, and any reliefs.

Special cases

• Non-resident landlords are still required to report once over the threshold, separately to the Non-Resident Landlord Scheme.
• Companies that own property are outside MTD ITSA — they file Corporation Tax instead. See Corporation Tax explained.
• Rent-a-room users below the £7,500 allowance and not otherwise self-employed are not pulled in.

What to do now

• Check your 2024/25 gross rents + sole-trade income against £50,000.
• Pick MTD software that supports multiple property businesses and joint ownership splits.
• Get a digital record habit started this tax year so the switch is painless.

For the wider rules see Making Tax Digital explained and Key UK tax deadlines.

The thresholds use qualifying gross self-employment and property income for 2024/25, 2025/26 and 2026/27 respectively. See HMRC’s start-date rules.