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MoneyWeek article: How to prepare for the next Making Tax Digital deadline

Journalist: Marc Shoffman, Freelance

ended 18. August 2026

There was a lot of concern about the first Making Tax Digital deadline. I am keen for comments from affected sole traders/accountants on how it actually went and how to prepare for the next one in November..

This is for a MoneyWeek online article.

2 responses from the Newspage community

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Harvey DhillonVerified
Founder & CEO at Zmartly
436,000 filed, of the 570,000 who had signed up, and HMRC thinks a good many more are in scope. So the gap isn't people who tried and failed. It's people who hadn't started. We took on clients who came to us in a panic in the last fortnight before the deadline, and every one of them filed on time. The fear was worse than the job. Two things will catch people in November. The update is cumulative, so the one due on 7 November covers 6 April to 5 October, not July to October. Treat it as a standalone three months and you under-report by a quarter. And 7th November is a Saturday, with no working day extension in the regulations. There are no penalty points for a late quarterly update this year, but you still can't file your tax return until the updates are in. It's a blocker, not a free pass.
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Chloe Mount0
Director at Tunstall Accounting
The biggest challenge has been getting clients used to keeping their records up to date throughout the year rather than sending everything after the year end. With only 33 days from the end of the quarter to submit, there isn't much room for clients to be late getting their information to us.

For November, we are already speaking to clients about getting their records in earlier and identifying those who are going to need more help.

My main concern is the extra workload this creates across a whole client base. Each quarter involves checking records, dealing with queries and chasing missing information, all within the same short window. Multiply that across a practice and it is a lot of additional work. I think MTD is manageable, but it does mean both accountants and clients having to work differently, especially as it will become even more challenging from April 2027, when the £30,000 threshold brings many more sole traders into MTD, increasing the workload significantly.