Making Tax Digital, in HMRC's own quarters

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax asks self employed traders over a line to keep digital records and send four updates a year. In YellowTradie those updates are on HMRC's own dates and they are cumulative from 6 April. The app shows where you sit against the line and what you need to do.

Most traders do not need to do anything yet. The page says so plainly.

What it does

The app keeps records in the way HMRC counts them for Making Tax Digital, and it reports on them in HMRC's own windows.

A quarterly update covers from 6 April to the end of the period, not just the last three months. You can fix a record and the next update carries the fix without a resend of the last one. That is HMRC's rule, not the app's. Read 2026-10-18 on gov.uk.

The app shows money received since 6 April net of VAT when you are VAT registered, the staged lines, and the next deadline. Where you are under the lowest line it says so. Where you are between lines it says which April would catch you at this size. Where you are over the line it says you are over it and names the next deadline.

Who it is for

It is for the sole trader who has heard about Making Tax Digital and wants to know if it affects them, what the line is in money, and what they would have to do.

One person and one phone, on cash basis. The money the app shows is your own payments received, not a model.

It is not an agent that files for you. The app keeps your records and works out the totals. It files nothing with HMRC.

The staged lines

HMRC's line moves in steps. These are the steps in the app, from HMRC's own announcements. Read 2026-10-21 on gov.uk:

• Until April 2027 the line is £50,000 a year. Mandated from 6 April 2026 for traders over £50,000, decided on 2024/25 turnover.
• From April 2027 until April 2028 the line is £30,000 a year. Mandated from 6 April 2027 for traders over £30,000, decided on 2025/26 turnover.
• From April 2028 the line is £20,000 a year. HMRC will mandate from 6 April 2028 for traders over £20,000, decided on 2026/27 turnover.

HMRC decides from a tax return you have already sent, two years earlier. So a £50,000 line from April 2026 looks at 2024/25 turnover. The app cannot test that from its own records. What it can do honestly is show which threshold is in force in the tax year you are in, and how close you are to it.

Most traders do not need to do anything yet. A trader under £20,000 a year on takings stays under every line. That is the one plain sentence the card would say for him.

HMRC's own quarters

The four standard update periods and their deadlines, from gov.uk, read 2026-10-18:

• 6 April to 5 July. Send by 7 August.
• 6 April to 5 October. Send by 7 November.
• 6 April to 5 January. Send by 7 February.
• 6 April to 5 April. Send by 7 May.

Each covers from the start of the tax year to the end of the period. That is why the figures grow as the year goes: the fourth holds the whole year. The app's own trading quarter is different. The app keeps both and keeps them apart.

How it works

1. Keep your records as you do with costs, jobs, and payments. The takings figure Making Tax Digital looks at is money received since 6 April, net of VAT when you are VAT registered. That is the same figure the year card prints.
2. Open Reports. The Making Tax Digital card shows the money received since 6 April, the one line that would catch you at this size, and the plain answer about whether you need to act.
3. The bar is your money against that one line. The three dated lines are under Where the line is, not in the card, because the card answers for you and the table answers why the line moves.
4. When you are over the line the card also names the next deadline for your tax year. A trader not yet in it has no update to send, so no deadline is shown.
5. Under the card, the app lists HMRC's four periods, each with the date and how many days to the deadline. Each period is shown as a cumulative total, with costs broken into HMRC's own thirteen expense categories. That split is the shape a quarterly update carries.
6. Export a period as a spreadsheet when your accountant asks. The quarterly pack covers payments received and costs paid in the period, with VAT shown where you are registered.

What it does not do

• It does not file a quarterly update with HMRC. The app keeps your records and works out the totals. Filing is done through HMRC, not from this app. The pack for your accountant carries the line Not a VAT return.
• It does not invent a turnover for two years ago. HMRC's own test for whether you are mandated is your turnover in a prior tax year. The app shows which line is in force now and how your money this year sits against it, and says in one line that HMRC decides from the return you already sent.
• It does not mix VAT in. The takings figure leaves VAT out when you are VAT registered. That detail is stated on the card so the bar and the table use the same number.
• It does not hide the three lines. Most traders under £20,000 see You do not need to do anything yet and a bar well short of the line. Traders between lines see which April would catch them. Traders over the line see the same bar and the deadline.
• It does not add the Flat Rate Scheme or the Margin Scheme. Both are a different way of working out VAT and neither is offered here.

Questions

Do I need to do Making Tax Digital?

If your takings are under £20,000 a year you do not need to do anything yet. At £50,000 you are in it now. At £30,000 you are in it from April 2027. At £20,000 you are in it from April 2028. Until then the card would say so, and the app would still keep your records the same way. Read the staged lines above, taken from gov.uk on 2026-10-21.

How are the quarters worked out?

On HMRC's own dates. The four standard periods are 6 April to 5 July, 6 April to 5 October, 6 April to 5 January and 6 April to 5 April, with deadlines 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. Each covers from the start of the tax year, not just the last three months. Read 2026-10-18 on gov.uk. Your trading quarter in the app is different, because a trader's VAT period is his own.

What figure is counted against the line?

Money received since 6 April, before expenses, net of VAT when you are VAT registered. That is what HMRC counts as turnover for the line, not profit. The card prints it and the year card prints it from the same sum.

Why does the card sometimes say I am coming in from an April ahead?

Because staged lines mean a trader between lines is not caught yet but would be on this year's money. The standing says which later line that money clears and its April. A trader under £20,000 has no coming line and sees nothing about it.

Why does only one line appear in the card?

So a tradesman knows at a glance which line matters for him. A trader over £50,000 is caught by the line in force now. A trader between £20,000 and £50,000 is caught by the first future line his size clears. A trader under £20,000 sees the lowest line he must stay under. The three line table is still on the page under Where the line is, because it explains why the line moves. It is not the card.

What about VAT?

The takings figure leaves VAT out when you are VAT registered, and that note is on the card. That matches the figure HMRC counts against the line and the figure your accountant expects.

Does this file anything?

No. Nothing in YellowTradie is sent to HMRC from the app. The accountant pack says Not a VAT return at its foot so it cannot be mistaken for a filing.

Related

• Tax: the estimate from your records, in bands, with CIS already deducted.
• Reports: the year, what you are owed with how late, and the tax and VAT section where the card lives.
• Costs and receipts: the spend read in HMRC's own categories for the update.
• Every part of the app: the other pages.

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