Making Tax Digital starts 6 April: what property managers and letting agents actually need to do

Around 1.8 million landlords in the UK earn rental income. As of 6 April 2026, any landlord with combined self-employment and property income above £50,000 must report that income to HMRC digitally, every quarter, using MTD-compatible software. Not annually. Quarterly.

Most landlords do not know this yet. And the letting agents who manage their properties are the ones who will field the panicked phone calls when the first deadline hits.

This post breaks down what MTD actually means for your agency, what your landlord clients need to do, and how to get ahead of it before April.

What is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD for ITSA) replaces the traditional annual self-assessment tax return with quarterly digital updates. Instead of submitting one return per year, qualifying taxpayers must now send summary income and expense data to HMRC four times a year through approved software.

The first group affected is anyone with qualifying income above £50,000. That includes landlords who earn rental income alongside or instead of self-employment income. The threshold drops to £30,000 from April 2027.

The timeline your landlords need to know

The tax year starts 6 April 2026. The first quarterly update covers 6 April to 5 July 2026, and must be filed by 7 August 2026. After that, updates are due roughly every three months:

• Quarter 1: 6 April to 5 July. Due by 7 August 2026.
• Quarter 2: 6 July to 5 October. Due by 7 November 2026.
• Quarter 3: 6 October to 5 January. Due by 7 February 2027.
• Quarter 4: 6 January to 5 April. Due by 7 May 2027.

A final end-of-period statement and tax return is still required after the year ends. But the quarterly updates are the new bit, and they are mandatory.

What happens if landlords miss a deadline?

HMRC is using a points-based penalty system. Each late filing adds a penalty point. Once a landlord hits two points, a £200 fine is issued. Points reset after a period of consistent compliance, but the fines do not get refunded.

For landlords with multiple properties across different agents, keeping track of income and expenses quarterly is a genuine operational challenge. This is where your agency comes in.

Why this matters for letting agents

You are not filing tax returns on behalf of your landlords. That is their accountant’s job. But you are the primary source of the financial data their accountant needs.

Every month, your agency processes rent receipts, maintenance invoices, contractor payments, insurance costs, and management fees. If that data is messy, late, or incomplete, your landlord’s quarterly MTD filing becomes a problem. And when it becomes a problem, they call you.

The agencies that will handle this well are the ones that already have clean, digital records of every transaction. The ones that will struggle are the ones still emailing PDF statements once a month and filing contractor invoices in a drawer.

What to actually do before 6 April

Step 1: Identify which landlords are affected. Any landlord client with total property and self-employment income above £50,000 needs to be on MTD-compatible software by April. Send a communication to your landlord base asking them to confirm with their accountant whether they fall above the threshold.

Step 2: Clean up your financial reporting. If your agency sends landlord statements monthly, check that they include all income and all deductible expenses, broken down clearly. Accountants will need to pull quarterly figures from your data. Make it easy for them.

Step 3: Digitise everything. If you are still handling any part of your financial record-keeping on paper or in spreadsheets that are not backed up, now is the time to move. MTD requires digital records kept in compatible software. Your landlords need digital audit trails, and so do you.

Step 4: Automate where you can. Every maintenance job, contractor invoice, and tenant communication that is logged digitally and automatically creates a cleaner data trail. Systems like OdjoAI that log case management, maintenance requests, and communications automatically give your agency a head start here. The less manual data entry involved, the fewer errors end up in your landlord’s tax filings.

Step 5: Brief your team. Your property managers and accounts team need to understand that landlord reporting requirements have changed. Quarterly means quarterly. If a landlord’s accountant requests Q1 data in July, your team needs to be able to pull it quickly and accurately.

What to tell your landlords right now

Send a short, clear communication to your managed landlord clients covering three things:

1. MTD for Income Tax starts 6 April 2026 if their income is above £50,000.
2. They need to speak to their accountant about MTD-compatible software if they have not already.

1. Your agency will continue providing detailed financial statements, and you are happy to coordinate with their accountant on the format of reporting if needed.

This positions your agency as proactive and professional. It also cuts down on inbound calls in July when the first deadline lands.

The bigger picture

MTD is not going away. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027, which will catch a much larger chunk of the landlord market. Getting your systems and processes right now means you are ready for the next wave without scrambling.

The agencies that treat this as someone else’s problem will spend the next two years firefighting confused landlords. The ones that get ahead of it will use it as a selling point: “We keep your records clean so your MTD filings are straightforward.”

If you want to see how OdjoAI helps property management teams keep cleaner operational records through automated case logging and communication tracking, book a demo at odjoai.com.