Making Tax Digital for Doctors
Written and reviewed by the Medical Accountants editorial team. Last reviewed .
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax started on 6 April 2026. It is in force now rather than coming soon, and a large number of doctors who are inside it have not registered the fact, because the test was applied to a tax year that ended over a year ago.
It is also narrower than the panic suggests. Whether it applies to you depends on a specific figure in a specific year, and one of the largest groups of doctors in the country is not in it at all yet.
Who Is In, and From When
The first tranche covers qualifying income from self-employment or property above £50,000 in 2024/25. Qualifying income is turnover before expenses rather than profit, which catches people out. From 6 April 2027 the threshold drops to £30,000 measured on 2025/26, and from 6 April 2028 to £20,000 measured on 2026/27. HMRC sets out the tests in its eligibility guidance.
In practice a busy locum, or a consultant whose private billing runs above £50,000, is already inside it. A salaried GP with a couple of thousand pounds of extra work is not, and will not be for years.
Partnership Profit Share Is Not In Yet
This is the part most pages get wrong. The rules apply to self-employment and property income. Partnerships have not been brought in, and HMRC has said only that it will set out the timeline for them later.
So a GP partner whose only untaxed income is a profit share from the practice is outside Making Tax Digital for now. If the same partner also does locum sessions in their own name above the threshold, that trade is in. The test applies to the income, not to the doctor.
What a Quarterly Update Actually Is
It is a total of income and expenses for the period, generated by compatible software from digital records. It is not a tax return, and no accounting or tax adjustments are needed before it goes in. Nothing is calculated, agreed or paid at that point.
The periods run cumulatively from 6 April, and the deadlines are 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Because they are cumulative, an error in the first quarter is corrected in the next one rather than amended.
The Return Still Has to Be Filed
Quarterly updates do not replace the Self Assessment return. They feed it, and the return is still due by 31 January following the tax year, with the tax still payable on the same date.
So the work does not reduce. It moves from one push in January to four smaller ones through the year plus the January one. The genuine benefit, and it is real, is that a doctor doing this properly knows their tax position in August rather than five months after the year has ended.
Points Instead of Fixed Penalties
Late submission moved to a points system. One point per missed quarterly update or return deadline, a £200 penalty on reaching four points, and a further £200 for every missed deadline after that. Points below the threshold expire after 24 months; at the threshold they only clear after twelve months of filing on time plus any outstanding returns from the previous 24 months. HMRC sets this out in its Making Tax Digital penalties guidance.
Late payment penalties changed as well, with charges at 15 and 30 days and then an annualised rate accruing daily from day 31. The single 5% at 30 days is not the regime you are in any more. Where several years are already behind, start with the outstanding returns rather than the software, and see also what a locum can claim before the records are rebuilt.