The first quarterly update deadline is 7 August 2026

Landlords with qualifying income over £50,000 were mandated into Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026. The first quarterly update under the standard, tax-year-aligned periods covers 6 April to 5 July 2026 and is due on 7 August 2026. That is the first hard date the regime has ever produced for landlords, and the period covered by the second update is already half over by the time it arrives.

Two facts about it come first. No tax is paid quarterly — HMRC's guidance is explicit that Making Tax Digital does not change the way you pay tax or the dates payments are due. And there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026/27 tax year. Each update still has to be sent before you can submit your tax return.

The four deadlines, and what each update covers

Read the middle column carefully. Each standard update runs from 6 April to the quarter end, so the figures are year to date rather than three months in isolation. That matters in practice: an error in the first update is corrected simply by sending the right cumulative totals in the second, rather than by unpicking a filed return.

If your bookkeeping runs to calendar month ends, you can elect calendar quarters instead — to 30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March. The deadlines are exactly the same dates. The election changes the period end, not the day the update is due.

What an update contains

Far less than most landlords expect. An update is totals for each income and expense category. HMRC's guidance calls them summaries, not tax returns, and states that HMRC will not receive details of individual digital records, such as a receipt or an invoice. It also states that you do not need to make any accounting or tax adjustments before sending a quarterly update.

Here is an illustrative first update for a landlord with two flats, covering 6 April to 5 July 2026. The figures are illustrative.

That is the whole submission. HMRC does not receive the tenancy agreements, the plumber's invoice or the mortgage statement. Nothing on that list is a tax figure: the £3,150 of finance costs is reported as a category total, and the Section 24 restriction that turns it into a basic rate tax reducer is applied later, at the return, not here. Capital allowances, private use adjustments and the property income allowance are all return-stage matters as well.

The penalty position, stated precisely

For 2026/27 only, there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline. After that, late submission is points-based:

• One point for each missed quarterly update or return.
• The threshold is four points.
• At four points you get a £200 penalty, and a further £200 for every subsequent miss.

The new penalty regime applies from the tax year you join Making Tax Digital. For a landlord who joined on 6 April 2026 that is 2026/27, and points for late quarterly updates apply from 2027/28.

An illustrative example of what paying late costs

Take a landlord who joined on 6 April 2026 with a balancing payment of £6,000 for 2026/27, due on 31 January 2028. 2026/27 is this landlord's first year under the new penalties. The figures are illustrative.

• Paid in full, or with a payment plan agreed with HMRC, within 30 days of the due date: no late payment penalty. Late payment interest is still charged from the first day.
• Paid 45 days late: penalties apply. At day 15, 3% of £6,000 = £180. At day 30, a further 3% of £6,000 = £180. From day 31 to day 45, 10% a year on the £6,000 for fifteen days is about £25.

Paid 45 days late, the total is roughly £385 on a £6,000 bill, plus interest. The same landlord's 2027/28 balancing payment, due on 31 January 2029, has no 30-day first-year period and uses the 4% figures: paid 45 days late, that is £240 at day 15, £240 at day 30 and about £25 for the days after, roughly £505.

The return still exists, and so do the payment dates

Quarterly updates do not replace the Self Assessment return. The return is still due by 31 January following the end of the tax year, and it is filed through your MTD software rather than through HMRC's online Self Assessment service. HMRC pre-populates employment, pension and state benefit income; dividends, savings interest and gains have to be added by you. Payment dates are untouched, which means 31 January and 31 July continue to be the dates that matter to your bank balance.

What is worth doing before 7 November

• Send the first update even if you are late. There is no penalty for 2026/27, and filing it establishes the year-to-date position that the second update builds on.
• Fix the categories, not the receipts. If income and expenses are landing in the wrong category, that is the error that persists all year. The individual documents never reach HMRC.
• Diarise 7 November 2026 for the update covering 6 April to 5 October.
• Decide on standard or calendar quarters and stop switching. The deadlines are identical, so pick whichever matches how your records already close.
• Put the 31 January 2027 payment aside now. The 2025/26 balancing payment due that day is still under the current Self Assessment penalties.

Every date in the MTD cycle, alongside Self Assessment, payments on account, the 60-day capital gains window and company filing dates, is on our landlord tax calendar. The mechanics of the regime are in the Making Tax Digital guide, and if the quarterly rhythm is the part you would rather hand over, property bookkeeping and our MTD service are what that looks like. If you are not sure you should be filing at all, start with why qualifying income is gross rent.