MTD Quarterly Updates for Landlords: What You Submit in 2026/27

Who has to send MTD quarterly updates in 2026/27?

For 2026/27, MTD for Income Tax applies to landlords and sole traders who are registered for Self Assessment, have property income or self-employment income, and had qualifying income of more than £50,000 in the 2024/25 tax year.

Qualifying income means gross income before expenses. For landlords, that means rental income before deducting letting agent fees, repairs, insurance, mortgage interest or other costs. If you have both property income and self-employment income, you add the gross figures together for the threshold test.

The threshold then falls to more than £30,000 from 6 April 2027 based on 2025/26 qualifying income, and more than £20,000 from 6 April 2028 based on 2026/27 qualifying income.

What landlords actually submit each quarter

A quarterly update is a summary of your digital records. HMRC says quarterly updates are summaries, not tax returns. Your software totals the income and expense categories you have used, then sends those totals to HMRC.

For UK property income, the main categories include total rent, other income from property, premiums for the grant of a lease, reverse premiums and inducements, repairs and maintenance, rent, rates, insurance and ground rents, legal and professional fees, costs of services provided, travel expenses, residential property finance costs and other allowable property expenses. Our MTD rental income and expense categories guide explains the landlord categories in more detail.

HMRC does not receive your individual invoices, bank transactions, photos of receipts or tenancy agreements in the quarterly update. You still need to keep the records digitally in case HMRC asks questions later.

The 2026/27 quarterly update deadlines

The standard MTD update periods follow the tax year. The first 2026/27 update covers 6 April 2026 to 5 July 2026 and is due by 7 August 2026. The following updates are due by 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027.

You may be able to use calendar quarters instead. That aligns the periods to 1 April to 30 June, 1 July to 30 September, 1 October to 31 December and 1 January to 31 March, while keeping the same filing deadlines.

For 2026/27, HMRC will not charge penalty points for late quarterly updates. That is a first-year soft landing only. You still need to send the quarterly updates before you can submit your end-of-year MTD tax return.

What is estimated, provisional and final?

The quarterly update is not the final tax position. You do not have to make accounting or tax adjustments before sending it. That means you normally deal with final adjustments, disallowable costs, private-use adjustments and other non-property income in the end-of-year MTD tax return.

After each quarterly update, HMRC can provide an estimated tax bill using the information it has. That estimate can be useful, but it may be incomplete if you have PAYE income, dividends, savings interest, capital gains, student loan repayments or other items that are not yet fully reflected.

If you spot an error after submitting a quarterly update, you normally correct the underlying digital record and your next submission or correction process should update the position. See how to correct an MTD quarterly update if you have duplicated rent, missed an expense or used the wrong category.

Full categories, consolidated expenses and mortgage interest

Some landlords can use simpler reporting. If your annual UK property turnover is below the VAT registration threshold, currently £90,000, HMRC’s digital record-keeping direction allows you to categorise digital records as income or expense instead of using the more detailed categories. This is often called consolidated expenses or three-line accounts.

Residential property finance costs are the big exception. If you have mortgage interest or similar residential finance costs, you must keep and submit those separately from other expenses, even if you use consolidated expense reporting.

If your property records are already in a spreadsheet, you may still be able to comply if the spreadsheet is connected to HMRC through compatible software. The practical question is whether your system keeps digital records, preserves digital links where required, and can submit the quarterly updates without manual retyping.

Common landlord situations: multiple properties, joint owners and nil quarters

If you own several UK rental properties personally, they are normally treated as one UK property business for MTD quarterly updates. You do not usually send a separate update for each individual flat or house, but you should still keep records that let you understand each property’s performance.

Foreign property income is different and needs to be reported separately from UK property income. If you have both UK and overseas property, check that your software can handle both sources before the first deadline.

Jointly owned property can be confusing because each owner’s MTD position is tested separately. A joint owner normally reports their own share of the income and expenses, not the full property figures. If your quarter has no rent and no expenses, you still need to submit a quarterly update telling HMRC that there is nothing to report.

• One UK property business can include more than one UK rental property.
• Foreign property income is not combined with UK property income in the same update.
• Joint owners look at their own share of rental income for their own MTD position.
• A nil quarter still needs a quarterly update.
• Letting agent statements should be recorded gross, with agent fees shown as expenses.

Step by step

1. 1

   Check whether you are in scope

   Use your 2024/25 Self Assessment figures to check whether your gross property and self-employment income was more than £50,000. If it was, you are in the first mandatory MTD group from 6 April 2026 unless an exemption applies.

2. 2

   Choose compatible software

   Pick MTD-compatible software that can keep digital property records and submit quarterly updates. Check that it supports your real situation, such as joint property, foreign property, bank feeds, spreadsheets or an accountant user.

3. 3

   Keep digital records from the start

   Record rental income, agent deductions, allowable expenses and residential finance costs digitally from 6 April 2026, or from 1 April 2026 if you use calendar quarters.

4. 4

   Review the quarterly totals

   Before each deadline, check the income and expense totals created by your software. Look for common errors such as net agent income, duplicated bank feeds, personal costs and mortgage capital repayments.

5. 5

   Submit the quarterly update

   Send the update by 7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Keep evidence for the figures because HMRC receives totals, not the individual receipts.

6. 6

   Finalise the year

   After the fourth update, complete the MTD tax return, make final adjustments, add other income and submit by 31 January 2028.

A worked example

Amira owns two buy-to-let flats. Her 2024/25 gross rents were £54,000, so she is in MTD from 6 April 2026. She receives £4,500 rent per month in 2026/27 and has letting agent fees, repairs, insurance and mortgage interest.

The quarterly update sends year-to-date totals from the digital records. Amira does not pay tax when the update is filed. Her final 2026/27 tax position is settled through the MTD tax return due by 31 January 2028.

Frequently asked questions