More than 500,000 self-employed people and landlords had signed up for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax ahead of the first quarterly reporting deadline, according to HMRC.
However, that still left an estimated 364,000 taxpayers, more than 4 in 10 of those expected to be within scope, unregistered before the 7 August deadline.
HMRC had identified around 864,000 taxpayers with qualifying income above £50,000 who were expected to join MTD from 2026/27.
The 7 August deadline covered both registration and submission of the first quarterly update, reporting income for the opening quarter of 2026/27. Updates had to be filed using compatible software, as HMRC does not provide its own online filing service.
HMRC said taxpayers who missed the deadline would receive reminder letters. It also said further figures on registrations and quarterly updates would be published.
Craig Ogilvie, HMRC’s director of MTD, said almost 30,000 quarterly update obligations had been recorded in a single day earlier that week, adding that HMRC was “regularly breaking MTD sign-up and submission records”.
ACCA raised concerns about the number yet to register. Yogesh Dhanak, senior technical advisory manager, said the figures highlighted shortcomings in HMRC’s awareness campaign and warned that implementation remained challenging.
There are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline during 2026/27, although taxpayers must still submit the required information.
From 6 April 2027, the points-based late-submission penalty regime will apply. A taxpayer will receive a point for each missed quarterly deadline, with a £200 penalty charged once four points are accumulated.
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