If you’re a landlord in Coventry or Warwickshire with combined property and self-employment income over £50,000, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA) went live for you on 6 April 2026. Your first quarterly submission is due by 7 August 2026. Here’s what matters, and why the first year is more manageable than the headlines suggest.
What MTD for Income Tax Requires
MTD changes your reporting in three ways.
Digital records. Every rental income and expense transaction must be kept in MTD-compatible software, or in a spreadsheet linked through bridging software. HMRC no longer accepts paper records or standalone spreadsheets on their own.
Quarterly updates. You send four summaries a year. On standard tax-year quarters, the deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May.
A final declaration. This replaces the old Self Assessment return and confirms your full-year figures. For 2026/27, it’s due by 31 January 2028.
Each quarterly update is a running summary that gives HMRC your income and expense totals. There’s no tax to pay each quarter, and you can correct figures in a later update or at the final declaration, which takes most of the fear out of the process.
Who Has to Comply in 2026
The £50,000 threshold is based on your qualifying gross income (rent before expenses, plus any self-employment) from your 2024/25 tax return. Employment, dividend and pension income fall outside this test. Three or four typical Coventry buy-to-lets can push you over the line quickly.
If you’re under £50,000 today, plan ahead. The threshold falls to £30,000 in April 2027 and to £20,000 after that, so most Warwickshire portfolio landlords will be inside MTD within two years.
Your First Submission: A Simple Checklist
The first update covers 6 April to 5 July 2026 and is due by 7 August. Work through this in order.
- Confirm you’re signed up. Registration for Self Assessment is separate from being signed up for MTD, so check both.
- Choose your software. Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent and landlord tools such as Hammock and Landlord Studio are all HMRC-recognised. Bridging software connects an existing spreadsheet.
- Enter the quarter’s transactions. Rent, mortgage interest, repairs, agent fees and insurance. Bank feeds automate most of this once set up.
- Categorise consistently. Use HMRC’s property income categories. Sloppy categorising now creates a painful year-end clean-up.
- Review and submit. Sense-check totals against your bank statements, file through the software, and keep the HMRC confirmation.
Treat this as a fixed 45-minute task in the first week of each deadline month and it stays straightforward.
Penalties: The Year-One Soft Landing
This is where early coverage often gets things wrong, so it’s worth being precise. HMRC has confirmed a soft landing for 2026/27, with no penalty points for late quarterly updates in this first year for landlords mandated from April 2026. You still have to file every update, because HMRC won’t accept your final declaration until all four are in. A late quarterly update in year one simply won’t start the penalty clock.
The soft landing leaves your final declaration outside its cover. A late 2026/27 return, due 31 January 2028, can still earn a point. From 2027/28, the full regime applies to quarterly updates and the annual return alike. Under that points system, each late submission earns a point. At four points you’re charged £200, with a further £200 for each subsequent lapse. Points clear over time once you return to consistent on-time filing.
Keep one more date straight. Your final old-style Self Assessment for 2025/26 remains due by 31 January 2027, and it sits entirely outside MTD under the old rules.
Hybrid Portfolios Report Differently
MTD ITSA covers your personally held property only. Anything owned by your limited company stays under corporation tax for now. Hybrid landlords therefore run two parallel systems, which makes cleanly separated accounts essential. For the full mechanics, from director’s loans to SPV mortgages, read our guide: [Hybrid Buy-to-Let Portfolio: Running Personal and Limited Company Properties Together].
Get Your MTD Setup Sorted Early
The soft landing eases the pressure for year one, and your records, software and final declaration still carry real consequences. The best first step is a quick conversation with your accountant about your software choice and how your quarterly updates will be prepared.
If you’re a landlord in Coventry, Warwick, Leamington or across Warwickshire and you don’t have an accountant who handles MTD, get in touch with us and we’ll happily recommend a good one.
Contact us today and we’ll point you in the right direction.
