HMRC has started writing to sole traders and landlords it thinks should already be filing under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — the quarterly digital reporting regime that became compulsory back in April for anyone with gross income over £50,000. If one of those letters turns up, the only sensible response is to open it and get moving, not to file it alongside every other bit of government post you’ve been meaning to deal with.
That’s worth saying plainly because the instinct with an unexpected HMRC letter is often suspicion, or at best a “we’ll get to it.” This one doesn’t reward that instinct. MTD isn’t a form you sign once — it means keeping digital records all year and submitting a running summary of income and expenses every quarter, on top of your normal return. Software has to be chosen and set up, habits have to change, and the first quarter is reliably where people trip up. Getting that wrong three months before your first deadline is a lot cheaper than getting it wrong on the deadline itself.
It’s fair to feel a bit needled by this. The threshold has technically applied since April, so a letter now can read like HMRC catching up with its own rollout rather than you being genuinely behind. That’s a reasonable gripe — but it doesn’t change what happens next. The penalties for missed quarterly submissions are real, and “I didn’t think the letter was urgent” isn’t a defence that holds up.
If you’re a sole trader or landlord anywhere near £50,000 gross income, assume this letter is coming even if it hasn’t landed yet — and note the threshold drops to £30,000 from next April, pulling in a much wider group. The businesses that will find this easiest are the ones who treat the warning shot as the useful bit, not the insult.
Has the letter turned up for you yet — and if it has, is it already sorted, or still sitting in the pile?
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