Second MTD Quarterly Update Deadline: What to Submit by 7 November 2026

Who must submit the second MTD quarterly update?

The first mandatory MTD for Income Tax group began on 6 April 2026. You are generally in scope if you are an individual registered for Self Assessment, receive income from self-employment or property, and your total qualifying income was more than £50,000 on your 2024/25 tax return.

Qualifying income broadly means gross self-employment and property income before expenses. The sources are combined when HMRC checks the threshold. Employment income, dividends and pension income do not form part of this qualifying-income calculation.

Use HMRC's official checker if you are uncertain whether the requirement applies to you.

Which dates does the second quarterly update cover?

Under standard update periods, the second update is cumulative and normally covers 6 April to 5 October 2026. The submission deadline is 7 November 2026.

If you elected to use calendar update periods, it normally covers 1 April to 30 September 2026, with the same 7 November deadline.

Cumulative reporting is important. You do not send only the transactions from the second three-month period. Your software uses the digital records held from the beginning of the tax year and sends the totals accumulated to the end of the second period.

What should be included in the update?

Before submitting, make sure the digital records for each income source include:

• All self-employment sales, fees, cash income and platform payouts received or recorded during the relevant period.
• Property income, including rent and other amounts connected with the UK or foreign property business.
• Business expenses recorded in the categories supported by your MTD software.
• Corrections to transactions that were duplicated, omitted or assigned to the wrong category in the first quarter.
• Separate records for each self-employment and property source connected to your MTD account.
• A nil update for an active source where HMRC still requires an update but no income or expenses arose.

What if you missed the first MTD update?

Do not wait until November and enter only the latest three months. Bring your digital records up to date from the beginning of the tax year. HMRC's service guidance explains that a person who missed the first deadline can still send the second cumulative update by 7 November.

First check whether your software shows an outstanding first obligation. Depending on the software and HMRC connection, you may need to send the late first update and then the second one, or follow the cumulative process presented in the product. Save every submission receipt and contact the provider if the obligation list is unclear.

Read Missed the 7 August MTD Deadline? What to Do Next for the full catch-up process.

Your practical preparation checklist

Aim to complete these checks at least two weeks before the deadline:

• Confirm that the correct businesses and property sources appear in your MTD software.
• Reconcile bank feeds and investigate missing, duplicated or unmatched transactions.
• Record cash sales, cash expenses and income received outside the main business bank account.
• Check marketplace and payment-platform reports against the net deposits received.
• Separate personal spending, transfers, loan movements and capital introduced from business expenses.
• Review uncategorised transactions and attach missing invoices or receipts.
• Renew the Government Gateway authorisation if the software connection has expired.
• Submit early enough to resolve a software or HMRC connection error before 7 November.
• Save the submission confirmation and review the updated HMRC estimate.

What happens if the second update is late?

HMRC has confirmed that it will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026/27 tax year. That first-year concession includes the update due on 7 November 2026.

The requirement to submit has not been removed. Outstanding updates can prevent you from completing the annual MTD tax return correctly, and late annual returns or late tax payments remain subject to their own rules. Treat the concession as time to correct a genuine problem, not as a reason to postpone bookkeeping.

After the first-year concession, the points-based penalty system can apply to missed quarterly obligations.

How Aurestone can help before 7 November

Aurestone Advisory can check whether MTD applies, review the first six months of records, clean up bookkeeping, configure compatible software and prepare the quarterly update.

The most useful time to ask for help is before the final week. That leaves enough time to trace missing income, correct bank-feed problems and obtain software authorisation without turning the deadline into an emergency.