Quick answer
No. If your qualifying income is £20,000 or less, you’re automatically exempt from MTD for Income Tax under the thresholds announced so far, and you carry on with Self Assessment as normal. Qualifying income is your gross self-employment and property income before expenses, so check your turnover, not your profit.
What counts towards £20,000
Qualifying income is your total self-employment turnover plus your gross property income, UK and overseas, before any expenses. Salary, pensions, dividends, savings interest and partnership profits don’t count.
For example, £15,000 of sales from a side business plus £8,000 of rent is £23,000 of qualifying income. That’s over £20,000, even if your profit is much lower. If that’s your 2026/27 figure, you’d need MTD from April 2028.
The thresholds
Start date | Qualifying income over | Based on your tax return for |
|---|---|---|
6 April 2026 | £50,000 | 2024/25 |
6 April 2027 | £30,000 | 2025/26 |
6 April 2028 | £20,000 | 2026/27 |
What you still need to do
File your Self Assessment tax return as normal.
Keep accurate records of your income and expenses.
Keep an eye on your turnover. HMRC checks each year’s return against the threshold, so if your income goes over £20,000 later, you’ll need to join from a later tax year.
Easy things to miss
The threshold is per person, and adds together all your trades and properties.
Side income counts, such as selling online as a business or letting a room or a holiday home.
If you own property jointly, only your share of the rent counts.
Can I join anyway?
Yes. You can sign up voluntarily for the current tax year or the next one. It can make sense if you already use bookkeeping software and want to see HMRC’s in-year tax estimates. If you just want to keep things simple, there’s no need.
Use our MTD checker to see where you stand, or read who is exempt from MTD.