What Quarterly Updates Actually Involve
A quarterly update is a running summary of your income and expenses. It's not a tax bill, and it's not a tax return.
What a quarterly update is
Once you're using Making Tax Digital, your software pulls together the digital records you've been keeping and builds a summary of your income and expenses. That summary is your quarterly update. You send it to HMRC every three months.
The most common misunderstanding is that this means paying tax four times a year. It doesn't. No final tax bill is created and no payment is due when you send a quarterly update. You may see an estimated tax figure in your software or HMRC online account, but it is not the amount you have to pay at that point. You're reporting figures, not settling a bill.
Each update is cumulative. It covers everything from the start of the tax year up to the end of that update period, not just the last three months on their own. If you spot a mistake in an earlier period, you correct it in your next update rather than resubmitting the old one.
What you actually submit
A quarterly update is made up of totals: how much you earned and spent, broken into the same income and expense categories used on a Self Assessment return. There's no narrative, no attached invoices or receipts. Your software works out the totals from the records you've already entered, and you check them before sending.
If you have more than one MTD income source, each one is reported separately: each sole trade has its own quarterly update, UK property is reported as one UK property business, and foreign property is reported as one foreign property business.
If a period passes with no income or expenses to report, you still need to send an update saying so. There's no "nothing to report" exemption.
The four deadlines: standard quarters
By default, your update periods follow the tax year. These are known as standard quarters, and they apply automatically unless you choose otherwise.
| Period covered (cumulative from 6 April) | Deadline |
|---|---|
| 6 April to 5 July | 7 August |
| 6 April to 5 October | 7 November |
| 6 April to 5 January | 7 February |
| 6 April to 5 April | 7 May |
You don't have to wait until the deadline to send your update. If you're confident a period's figures are complete, your software will usually let you submit early.
The alternative: calendar quarters
If you'd rather your update periods followed calendar months instead of the tax year, you can elect to use calendar quarters. Each update still covers from the start of the period to the end of the latest quarter: 1 April to 30 June, 1 April to 30 September, 1 April to 31 December, and 1 April to 31 March.
The deadlines themselves don't change. Only the dates each period covers are different. HMRC says you should use calendar quarters if your accounts run from 1 April to 31 March.
If you're VAT-registered, check whether your VAT quarters already line up with calendar quarters before choosing this option. They don't always match, it depends on your VAT stagger group, so it's worth checking your VAT return dates first rather than assuming the two will align.
You have to make this choice in your software for each income source before you submit the first quarterly update for that source in the tax year. Once that first update is sent, you're locked into whichever option you chose until the following tax year.
What happens after you submit
Your HMRC online account will show "You sent a quarterly update" once it has gone through.
Once an update is in, your software, or your HMRC online account, may show a running estimate of your tax bill based on the self-employment and property information HMRC has received so far.
This figure is an estimate, not a bill. If you have more than one MTD income source, the estimate is only as complete as the information HMRC has received so far. For example, if you have a sole trade and a rental property, the estimate after submitting only the sole trade update may not yet reflect the property figures for that period. Once all relevant updates and any other income details have been included, the estimate should give a more complete picture. It is still only an estimate, not a final tax bill and not an amount due at that point.
The real, final figure isn't worked out until your year-end tax return.
What a quarterly update does not do
It's worth being clear about the limits of a quarterly update, because a few things people expect from it simply aren't part of the process:
- It doesn't trigger a payment. Your tax payment dates haven't changed.
- It doesn't ask for adjustments, allowances or reliefs. Those are dealt with at the year-end tax return.
- It doesn't cover non-business income, such as PAYE earnings, pensions or dividends. Those still go through your year-end submission as before.
Common questions
No. A quarterly update is a summary of income and expenses - not a tax calculation or a payment. Your actual tax bill is worked out at your year-end tax return, and your payment dates are unchanged from Self Assessment.
For the 2026/27 tax year, HMRC isn't issuing penalty points for late quarterly updates, as part of a soft landing for the first year. People joining in April 2027 get the same easement for 2027/28.* You still need to submit every update though, since your year-end tax return can't be completed until all four are in.
Yes, but only up to 10 days before the end of the update period, and only if you're confident there'll be no further transactions in that period. You can't submit earlier than that 10-day window.
You still need to send an update confirming there's nothing to report. There's no exemption from submitting just because a period was quiet. Remember each update is cumulative too, so the amounts reported will be the same as for the previous quarter.
No. The choice has to be made before your first quarterly update of the tax year. Once that update is submitted, you're locked into that choice until the start of the next tax year.
*Announced in the Budget on 28 October 2026. A Budget announcement becomes law in one of two ways. Most tax changes go into the annual Finance Bill, which becomes law when it receives Royal Assent, usually early the following year. Others are made by regulations laid before Parliament. Until then, the details can change.
This page is general guidance, not advice for your own circumstances. It was correct as at the date shown at the top, and tax rules and rates change over time. Please take advice on your own position before acting on anything here.
Ready to get your quarterly updates sorted? We handle the whole process for you.
Book a free call