HMRC to Auto-Enrol Sole Traders and Landlords into MTD
Key Takeaways
HMRC will sign clients up whether or not you act first. From early September 2026, and in stages after that, HMRC is automatically enrolling sole traders and landlords into MTD for Income Tax for 2026/27 where they haven't already registered themselves or via an agent.
The £50,000 trigger is based on 2024/25 income HMRC already holds. Anyone whose combined self-employment and property income exceeded £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year is in scope, and HMRC is using its own records to identify them.
Whoever raises MTD first controls the conversation. If a letter from HMRC is a client's first encounter with MTD, the practice spends the next few weeks reacting; signing clients up yourself sets the timing, the onboarding and the expectations.
Quarterly reporting turns record-keeping into a continuous process. Income and expense data now needs to be accurate every three months rather than reconstructed once a year, which is where most of the operational risk sits.
Onboarding volume is the real bottleneck, not the rules. Practices with many affected clients need a repeatable setup process and a single view of submission status, because doing this client by client at year-end doesn't scale.
HMRC has just confirmed a significant shift in how Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for IT) will roll out. From early September 2026, and in stages over the following months, HMRC will automatically sign up sole traders and landlords for MTD for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, where they have not already signed up themselves or through an agent.
This applies to anyone whose qualifying income was over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year, based on HMRC's own records.
In other words, if you haven't proactively moved your affected clients onto MTD, HMRC will do it for you. And that changes the timeline for a lot of practices.
What this actually means for your practice
By signing up clients early, you not only get the technical breathing room you otherwise might not have, but it also allows you to control the narrative with your client. The risk of not signing them up early is that their first experience of MTD IT would be a letter from HMRC.
The better scenario is this: You raise it. You explain it. You set the timeline.
The three things to sort out before September
- Identify who's affected. Go through your client list and flag anyone with a qualifying income (self-employment plus property income, combined) that exceedes the £50,000 threshold for 2024/25 and where the MTD for IT registration has not yet been completed. These are the clients you need to contact in advance of HMRC reaching out to them directly.
- Sign clients up yourselves, on your terms. Signing a client up through your firm, rather than letting HMRC do it automatically, means you control the timing, the onboarding, and the quality of the records from day one. It also means fewer surprises for your client.
- Get the record-keeping foundations right, early. This is where most of the risk sits. MTD for IT means quarterly submissions, which means your clients' income and expense data needs to be accurate and up to date every three months, not just once a year. Firms that get this right early save themselves a lot of admin later.
How Dext Solo helps you move fast
Our MTD software Dext Solo was built specifically for this: sole traders and unincorporated landlords who need a simple, standalone way to capture, categorise, and report their numbers ahead of MTD.
A few reasons it's worth a look before the September deadline:
Client onboarding in around 10 minutes. Once you're connected to HMRC through your agent services account, Dext Solo pulls through a client's income sources automatically, so most of the manual setup is done for you.
Flexible data capture. Clients can submit receipts and invoices by mobile app, WhatsApp, email, or bank feed, whichever fits how they actually work.
Built for the detail MTD demands. Joinlyt-let properties, CIS clients, cash or accruals accounting, and standard or calendar quarters are all supported, so the software flexes to the client rather than the other way round.
Our AI Agent for accountants Dext AI Assist, included at no extra cost. It learns how you categorise documents for each client and suggests rules to speed up future submissions, while leaving you firmly in control of every decision.
One dashboard for every MTD deadline. See the status of every client's quarterly submissions at a glance, so nothing gets missed as volumes increase.
Getting ahead
Managing the change and your ways of working now will ultimately pay dividends in the future.
FAQs
Yes. From early September 2026, and in stages over the following months, HMRC is automatically signing up sole traders and landlords for MTD for Income Tax for the 2026/27 tax year where they haven't already registered themselves or through an agent.
Qualifying income is self-employment and property income combined. If that total exceeded £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year, according to HMRC's records, the client is in scope for 2026/27.
Yes, and it's the better route. Registering clients through your firm lets you control the timing, the onboarding and the quality of the records from day one, rather than responding to an HMRC letter that lands with the client first.
Quarterly. Clients submit income and expense data every three months, which means their bookkeeping needs to stay current throughout the year rather than being caught up at year-end.
