You have until 7 August — what MTD ITSA actually requires of tradespeople

If you're self-employed and earned more than £50,000 in the last tax year, your first MTD ITSA quarterly update is due by 7 August 2026. Not your annual tax return — a brand new kind of submission, every three months.

Most of the tradespeople we talk to either haven't heard of it or assume their accountant is handling it. Some accountants are. Many aren't — and even if yours is, the underlying records still have to be kept digitally by you.

From 6 April 2026 onwards, if you're in scope:

• Keep digital records of every bit of business income and every business expense — no shoeboxes of receipts, no paper-only ledgers.
• Submit a quarterly summary to HMRC through HMRC-approved software, four times a year.
• File a final declaration once a year that finishes off the tax position — this replaces your current Self Assessment return.

The first quarter covers 6 April 2026 to 5 July 2026. You have until 7 August 2026 to submit the figures. Quarter 2 is due 7 November. Quarter 3 is 7 February 2027. Quarter 4 is 7 May 2027.

• April 2026 — income over £50,000: the first wave. You're in scope right now.
• April 2027 — income over £30,000: the bigger wave. Most full-time tradespeople.
• April 2028 — income over £20,000: almost everyone self-employed in the trades.

"Income" means turnover — what you invoice clients, before you take off materials, fuel, and other expenses. If you invoiced £55,000 last year and had £20,000 of costs, you're still in scope from April 2026.

HMRC has a new points-based penalty system. Every late quarterly submission earns a point; once you hit four points (one missed year), you get a £200 fine. Subsequent misses keep adding £200 each.

More importantly, you can't catch up at year-end any more. The quarterly figures are the record. Get them wrong and you're fixing them retroactively, which is more painful than getting them right the first time.

You don't need a full accounting suite to do this. You need something that:

• Captures every job as you finish it (Honest Invoices does this with voice — 30 seconds per invoice).
• Tracks expenses against the right HMRC categories.
• Submits the quarterly summary directly to HMRC — without you having to copy figures into a separate form.

That's exactly what we're building. £15/month, locked. Built by a solo developer who went through the full HMRC sandbox journey end-to-end.

1. Confirm you’re in scope.If your 2025–26 self-employment turnover was £50,000 or more, you’re in from 6 April 2026. Lower thresholds (£30k from 2027, £20k from 2028) catch most jobbing tradespeople within two years.
2. Pick HMRC-recognised software.Only software on HMRC’s “find software” list at gov.uk can submit your quarterly updates. Spreadsheet-only workflows are not compliant.
3. Sign in to Government Gateway and authorise your chosen software to submit on your behalf — this is the OAuth step every MTD app uses.
4. Start digital record-keeping from 6 April 2026.Every business income and expense from that date needs to be captured digitally, not on a paper pad you transcribe later.
5. Submit your first quarterly update by 7 August 2026.It covers 6 April to 5 July. The deadline is firm.

HMRC’s MTD penalty regime uses a points system for late submissions. Each missed quarterly update earns you 1 point. Reach 4 points and you trigger a fixed £200 penalty. Points reset after a period of compliance, but the £200 fine is real.

Late paymentof the tax that ends up being owed at year-end is separate, and steeper. A 5% surcharge applies if you’re more than 30 days late. Another 5% at 6 months. Another 5% at 12 months. On top of that, HMRC charges interest at BoE base rate + 2.5%on unpaid tax — that’s currently in the region of 7–8% APR on the outstanding balance. A £4,000 tax bill paid 12 months late costs you roughly £600 in surcharges and £300 in interest before HMRC even starts asking harder questions.