Guidance
Making Tax Digital and the Renters' Rights Act, explained by the people who build against the HMRC API rather than read about it. Every figure is sourced and dated.
Making Tax Digital
MTD quarterly updates run on standard or calendar periods. The choice moves the period end, not the deadline: both file on 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. It locks once you file for the year, so most landlords next choose for 2027-28. Here is how to decide.
· 10 min read
Making Tax Digital
HMRC’s guidance mostly says “compatible” MTD software, elsewhere it says “recognised”, and it tells software makers not to claim “approved”. It does not recommend any product. It replaced its software table with a finder tool in July 2025. On 6 November 2026 the finder showed 165 results for sole traders and landlords combined, and an update note on HMRC’s guidance page says products in development are listed too. Here is how to check any product yourself.
· 8 min read
HMRC API Changelog
HMRC moved version 7.0 of its Individual Losses API to production on 16 June 2026. Version 6.0 is capped at 2025-26 and HMRC plans to retire it on 1 August 2028. Software that has not moved will be rejected when landlords send losses for 2026-27, from 6 April 2027.
· 9 min read
Making Tax Digital
By law, MTD software providers must send HMRC details of the device and connection you file from: your browser, screen size, time zone, IP, connection port and the identifier you sign in with. HMRC lists sixteen headers for web software. Here are the fourteen we normally send, the two we do not, and the one that made us build a small service to collect it.
· 11 min read
Making Tax Digital
Many guides stop at “connect and your software does the rest”. Here is the rest: one PUT per income source and the supporting API calls around it, sixteen fraud prevention headers, several of them about your own device, a four-hour token and an 18-month authorisation.
· 15 min read
Compliance
One calendar for MTD and the Renters’ Rights Act, updated November 2026. The landlord database now has dates: it opens on 15 December 2026, with registration deadlines from 14 March to 14 November 2027 by region. Plus what is in force, what is not law yet, and what stopped existing on 1 May 2026.
· 14 min read
Making Tax Digital
Much of the internet says mortgage interest is not reported quarterly under Making Tax Digital. HMRC’s own quarterly update direction says it is. Put it in the wrong box and HMRC deducts it in full instead of restricting it, which understates a higher-rate landlord’s tax, and the figures still look plausible.
· 11 min read
Making Tax Digital
MTD quarterly updates are cumulative. Every one restates your figures from the start of the tax year, and each submission invalidates the last. That is why your second update looks double, why a Q1 mistake is corrected by your next update once your records are fixed, and why, from 2025-26, HMRC’s API keeps one record per UK property business per tax year, not one per quarter.
· 10 min read
Making Tax Digital
There is no penalty for missing the 7 August or 7 November 2026 MTD quarterly update, but you still have to send it. Missed 7 November? Send the 6 April to 5 October update as soon as you can (until the next period ends on 5 January 2027). The next deadline is 7 February 2027. If you sent it by 7 November, HMRC’s developer guide says it met both obligations. The waiver covers quarterly updates only: a late 2025-26 tax return still costs £100 under the old rules unless you volunteered for MTD in 2025-26 or earlier, a late 2026-27 return earns a penalty point if you are required to use MTD for 2026-27 or volunteered for it in 2026-27 or earlier, and late payment still costs you.
· 10 min read