Making Tax Digital for landlords

For MTD, a landlord’s qualifying income is the rent received before expenses, added to any self-employment turnover. Above £50,000 on the 2024 to 2025 return, MTD applied from April 2026; above £30,000 on the 2025 to 2026 return, it applies from April 2027.

Check your start date

Independent tool, not affiliated with HMRC. It applies the rules published on GOV.UK to the figures you enter. It is not tax advice. HMRC’s letter and your HMRC online account are the only authoritative answer; if in doubt, ask HMRC or a tax adviser.

Your properties are one business (or two)

All your UK lettings form a single UK property business, including furnished holiday lets from April 2025. Non-UK lettings form one foreign property business. Letting another UK property is not a new income source: you start keeping digital records for it from the first rent. Stopping one property while you still let others does not need to be reported to HMRC.

Jointly owned property

Threshold: only your share of the rent counts. If you only receive your share after expenses (for example from a letting agent or co-owner), HMRC assesses that figure.
Quarterly updates: for jointly let properties you can send either income and expenses, or income only. If you leave the expenses out, you add them after the end of the tax year by resending your fourth quarterly update before you submit your return.
Properties you own alone always need income and expenses in each update.

Worked example

Priya lets a flat she owns alone for £1,400 a month (£16,800 a year) and co-owns a house with her brother, let for £2,000 a month (£24,000 a year, her share 50% = £12,000). She has no other self-employment. Her qualifying income is £16,800 + £12,000 = £28,800.

Not over £30,000: her 2025 to 2026 return does not bring her in from April 2027.
Over £20,000: if her 2026 to 2027 return shows the same, she needs MTD from 6 April 2028.

Non-resident landlords

If you were not UK resident in 2024 to 2025, only UK property income (and self-employment income declared on your UK return) counts. Filing the SA109 residence page on your 2024 to 2025 return gave an automatic exemption for 2026 to 2027; from 2027 to 2028 you need MTD if your 2025 to 2026 qualifying income is over £30,000. See exemptions.

Not landlord income for MTD

Income from UK REITs and PAIFs.
A one-off sale of UK land taxed as a trade, if it falls in a single tax year.
Dividends from your own company, including a property company.

Questions people ask

I own three flats. Is that three quarterly updates?

No. All your UK properties are one UK property business, so one quarterly update per deadline. Foreign properties form a separate foreign property business with its own update.

I own a house jointly with my spouse. Whose threshold counts?

Each owner is assessed separately, on their own share of the rent. With £50,000 of rent split equally, each has £25,000 of qualifying income from it.

Mortgage interest is my biggest cost. Can I deduct it for the threshold?

No. The threshold uses rent before any expenses.

I let a room in my home under Rent-a-Room relief. Does MTD apply?

GOV.UK mentions Rent-a-Room income as something you can record by resending the fourth quarterly update if you decide to claim the relief after the end of the tax year. It does not say how Rent-a-Room receipts affect qualifying income on the pages we checked; ask HMRC if this decides whether you are in or out.

Official sources

Work out your qualifying income for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — GOV.UK, last updated 11 September 2026, read 29 September 2026.
Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: Send quarterly updates — GOV.UK, last updated 19 May 2026, read 29 September 2026.
Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: Add or cease income sources — GOV.UK, last updated 16 July 2026, read 29 September 2026.
Find out if you can get an exemption from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — GOV.UK, last updated 28 May 2026, read 29 September 2026.

Rules checked against GOV.UK on 29 September 2026.