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Understanding MTD for Income Tax

How to submit a quarterly update.

A quarterly update is the core recurring task under Making Tax Digital. With EasyTaxer it takes just a few minutes. Here's how.

A quick walkthrough of submitting a quarterly update.

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The walkthrough is a silent 10-second screen recording — there is no narration, and nothing is typed or clicked on screen. Four EasyTaxer screens simply fade from one to the next:

  1. The dashboard. A Next deadline panel highlights “Company X · Self-employment”, a quarterly update covering 6 Apr – 5 Jul 2026 and due 5 Aug 2026, with an Open button; a foreign-property obligation with the same deadline is listed under it. Below, a “Complete your tax year · 2026-27” strip shows quarterly updates (0 of 8 submitted), annual submissions, calculate tax and final declaration.
  2. Your transactions. The Transactions list, one row per transaction showing its date, description, type, category and amount, with filters for search, account, type and year, and Import and New buttons.
  3. The Self Assessment workflow. For each business — self-employment and foreign property — the four quarters with their periods and deadlines, Quarter 1 marked Active and Quarters 2 to 4 Upcoming. Below them sit Trigger an In-Year Calculation, Trigger Calculation, and a Final Declaration tile greyed out until all four quarterly submissions have been made.
  4. Submitting the update. The Quarterly Update page, showing the period dates, income and the expense categories, with its confirmation dialog open over them: “Submit: Self-employment period — are you sure you want to submit this quarterly update to HMRC? This sends the period figures to HMRC.”, offering Cancel and Submit to HMRC. The recording ends here: it does not show the update being sent, or the confirmation that follows.

What is a quarterly update?

A quarterly update is a short digital summary of your business income and expenses for a three-month period, sent to HMRC. You send one for each of the four quarters in the tax year. It's a running total, not your final figures — you'll confirm everything later in your final declaration.

Because EasyTaxer already holds your records, a quarterly update is mostly a case of checking the figures and pressing submit.

When are they due?

For the standard tax year (6 April – 5 April), each quarter has a deadline a little over a month after it ends:

Quarter Period covered Deadline
Q16 Apr – 5 Jul7 August
Q26 Jul – 5 Oct7 November
Q36 Oct – 5 Jan7 February
Q46 Jan – 5 Apr7 May

EasyTaxer shows your next deadline on your dashboard, so you never have to memorise these.

Submitting your update, step by step

1

Check what's due

Open your dashboard. EasyTaxer lists the obligations it has fetched from HMRC and highlights the quarterly update that's due, with its deadline.

The EasyTaxer dashboard highlighting the next deadline — a self-employment quarterly update due 5 August 2026 — with an Open button, above the tax-year progress strip.
Your dashboard highlights the quarterly update that's due next.
2

Make sure your records are complete

Enter or import any income and expenses for the quarter that aren't already recorded. The more up to date your records, the more accurate your update — and your real-time tax estimate.

The EasyTaxer transactions list showing income and expense rows with date, description, type, category and amount, filterable by account, type and date.
Reviewing your transactions for the period.
3

Review the figures

EasyTaxer totals your income and expenses for the period and shows you exactly what it will send to HMRC. Have a quick look to make sure it matches your expectations.

The EasyTaxer Self Assessment workflow showing each quarter for every business, with calculate and submit actions — the figures EasyTaxer will send to HMRC.
EasyTaxer shows the figures for each quarter before you submit.
4

Submit to HMRC

Confirm and submit. EasyTaxer sends your update directly to HMRC through its secure API and shows you a confirmation. Your dashboard then updates to show the obligation as met — and the next deadline.

The EasyTaxer quarterly-update confirm dialog — "Submit: Self-employment period. Are you sure you want to submit this quarterly update to HMRC?" with a Submit to HMRC button.
One confirmation sends your update straight to HMRC.

A few tips

  • Keep records as you go — it makes each quarterly update almost effortless.
  • Quarterly figures are estimates; you can correct anything later in your final declaration.
  • If you have more than one business or property, you'll submit an update for each.

Common questions

What if I made a mistake?

Quarterly updates are cumulative, so a later update can correct an earlier figure, and your final declaration confirms the true totals. EasyTaxer makes amendments straightforward.

Do I pay tax with each update?

No. Quarterly updates are for reporting only. Your tax is calculated and due based on your year-end final declaration.

What happens at the end of the year?

After the tax year ends you confirm your final figures and submit your final declaration, which replaces the old Self Assessment return.

Ready to stay on top of every quarter?

EasyTaxer tracks your deadlines and walks you through each submission.

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