Making Tax Digital Quarterly Updates: What You Need to Submit

Once your digital records are in place, the next new habit under MTD is the quarterly update. Here's what has to be submitted as part of the Making Tax Digital quarterly update, when, and what happens if you miss a deadline.

The four deadlines

Unless you choose to align updates to calendar months instead (something to consider for VAT registered businesses), the standard quarters and deadlines are:

• 6 April – 5 July → due 7 August

• 6 July – 5 October → due 7 November

• 6 October – 5 January → due 7 February

• 6 January – 5 April → due 7 May

Each update is due just over one month after the quarter ending.

What actually gets sent

A common misconception is that transactional data is required. This is not the case - a quarterly update is a summary, not a receipt-by-receipt breakdown - HMRC receives category totals (for example, total travel expenses, total equipment costs, total income) for the period, built up from the digital records you (or we) have already been keeping. Updates are cumulative: each one includes the running total for the year to date, plus any corrections made to earlier periods. For example, your quarter 2 submission re-states the figures for quarter 1, including any adjustments since quarter 1 was submitted, plus the quarter 2 data (i.e. data for 6 April to 5 October is submitted).

Importantly, you still need to submit an update even if a quarter was quiet — a common scenario for wedding photographers over the winter months — a nil update is still an update.

Penalties for missing a deadline

MTD introduced a points-based penalty system for late submissions (mirroring the system already used for VAT):

• You get one penalty point for each missed quarterly update or tax return deadline

• Once you reach 4 points, you're charged a £200 penalty, and a further £200 for each subsequent missed deadline

• Points expire automatically 24 months after the missed deadline, provided you stay under the 4-point threshold

• If you do reach the threshold, points only reset after 12 consecutive months of on-time submissions, plus catching up on anything outstanding from the previous 24 months.

An important point to note is that HMRC have confirmed that there will be no penalties for late (MTD for income tax) quarterly submissions for the 2026/27 tax year, as they want to maximise engagement with the new process, and not penalise at this early stage.

Tip to manage your making tax digital quarterly updates

Treat your MTD quarter-end like you would any other event - put the dates in your calendar the moment you sign up, rather than waiting for a reminder. Because updates are cumulative, staying on top of each one also makes the year-end final declaration considerably less stressful. Of course, an alternative approach is to let Viewfinder Accounting look after it for you.

How Viewfinder Accounting Can Help

Missing a quarterly deadline is an easy way to pick up a penalty point for something that's genuinely avoidable with the right support. As part of an ongoing bookkeeping service, Viewfinder Accounting can prepare and file every quarterly update on your behalf, so you always know it's been done - and done on time.