Self-employed: Self-assessment

(asked on 26th January 2026) - View Source

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the readiness of the self-employed to submit quarterly returns through Making Tax Digital.


Answered by
Lord Livermore Portrait
Lord Livermore
Financial Secretary (HM Treasury)
This question was answered on 3rd February 2026

The government is undertaking a range of activities to ensure those needing to use Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from April 2026 are ready and able to do so successfully.

This includes media campaigns, awareness letters, developing guidance, and working with the software industry to ensure a broad range of MTD‑compatible products is available, including free options.

MTD quarterly updates are not like making a tax return each quarter. Software will manage much of the process, creating simple summaries of income and expenses from the taxpayer’s digital records ready for submission.

Information provided within the quarterly updates will be carried forward to the tax return, helping to reduce errors and make the end of year process faster and easier.

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