Making Tax Digital for gig workers (April 2026)

Summary

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA) means that from April 2026, many full-time UK gig workers will have to keep digital records and send quarterly updates, instead of only doing a single Self Assessment once a year.

The thresholds are based on your qualifying income: over £50,000 (from 6 April 2026), over £30,000 (from 6 April 2027), and over £20,000 (from 6 April 2028), which will catch most people doing Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Just Eat and similar full time.

You can still use a spreadsheet plus cheap or free "bridging" software, and the single 31 January deadline stays, but you must stop throwing numbers into a shoebox once a year. The app work you do is going to be visible to HMRC every quarter.

Key facts (UK 2025-26)

• Who MTD ITSA applies to: self-employed sole traders and landlords with qualifying income (total self-employment + property income) over a set threshold.
• Thresholds and dates (as at 2025-26):
  • Qualifying income over £50,000 in 2024-25 leads to MTD ITSA from 6 April 2026.
  • Qualifying income over £30,000 in 2025-26 leads to MTD ITSA from 6 April 2027.
  • Qualifying income over £20,000 in 2026-27 leads to MTD ITSA from 6 April 2028.
• The tax year is still 6 April to 5 April, and the 31 January filing/payment deadline still applies for the end-of-year return and any balancing payment.
• MTD ITSA requires you to:
  • keep digital records of income and expenses;
  • send quarterly updates of business figures to HMRC using MTD-compatible software;
  • send an end-of-year final declaration (instead of the current self-employment pages of the SA100 / SA103).
• Quarterly updates are not full tax returns, they are rough income/expense figures; the actual tax is still finalised after the year end.
• HMRC will look at your Self Assessment return each year to check your qualifying income, then write to you to tell you when you have to join MTD.
• HMRC's list of MTD-compatible software includes some low-cost or free options, including free or "freemium" bridging tools such as DIY Accounting's free bridging and MTDsorted's free tier for spreadsheet users.
• Tax charities (TaxAid, LITRG) warn that awareness of MTD ITSA among small sole traders and gig workers is low in 2025-26; most people first hear of it when HMRC writes to them.

Legislation, case law, regulation

• Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026: require in-scope taxpayers to keep digital records and use MTD-compatible software to send quarterly updates and a final declaration; they also implement the reduction of the mandation threshold from £30,000 to £20,000 from April 2028.
• HMRC Making Tax Digital for Income Tax guidance: Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (GOV.UK), sets out thresholds, definitions of qualifying income and exemptions.
• Making Tax Digital for Income Tax collection (GOV.UK): confirms that from 6 April 2026 sole traders and landlords with income over £50,000 must use software to keep digital records and send quarterly updates.
• Taxes Management Act 1970: still underpins Self Assessment, penalties and deadlines; MTD ITSA sits on top of this rather than replacing it.
• Data Protection Act 2018 / UK GDPR: apply to data held in MTD software and by HMRC about your income and submissions.

How it actually works

1. Check if you are caught by MTD

You are in scope if:

• you are a sole trader (for example an Uber driver, Deliveroo rider, Amazon Flex driver, Just Eat courier, private hire driver with no limited company); and
• your total self-employed + property income (before expenses) is above the threshold for the relevant year.

Step by step:

• For 2024-25, add up your total gross self-employment and property income. If over £50,000, HMRC will write to you and you must use MTD ITSA from 6 April 2026.
• For 2025-26, do the same. If over £30,000, you must use MTD ITSA from 6 April 2027.
• For 2026-27, again. If over £20,000, you must use MTD ITSA from 6 April 2028.

For a full-time multi-platform driver doing £42,000 with Uber and £8,000 across Deliveroo and Amazon Flex (total £50,000) in 2024-25, MTD starts 6 April 2026. For a typical full-time driver earning £35,000 in 2025-26, MTD kicks in 6 April 2027.

2. What "digital records" really means for gig workers

Digital records mean that for each business, you must keep:

• dates of transactions (or at least totals for each quarter);
• amounts of income;
• amounts of expenses, categorised (for example fuel, repairs, insurance).

You can do this either:

• directly in MTD-compatible software (like a cloud bookkeeping app), or
• in a spreadsheet (for example Excel, Google Sheets) as long as you then use bridging software to send the figures to HMRC via MTD.

For platform income, "digital records" can absolutely start with:

• downloading your Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Just Eat, Stuart and Gophr statements regularly;
• entering monthly totals into your spreadsheet or software.

You cannot rely on "I'll just add it up in my head in January" once you are in MTD: you must have some digital system, but it does not have to be expensive or fancy.

3. Quarterly updates vs quarterly tax

Every quarter, your software must send HMRC a short update:

• income for the quarter (per business);
• expenses for the quarter (grouped into categories).

Those updates:

• are not full tax returns;
• do not lock in your tax bill;
• can be corrected later in the end-of-year declaration.

You will still do a final end-of-year tax return / declaration and pay by 31 January the following year, just like now. So MTD ITSA adds four extra digital updates a year; it does not make you pay tax four times.

4. Cheap and free ways to comply

HMRC keeps a list of software that works with MTD ITSA, which includes many small-business tools.

At the cheap end (2025-26):

• Spreadsheet + free bridging. DIY Accounting's free MTD bridging is HMRC-recognised for VAT, and similar tools exist or are emerging for income tax; DIY's service is free for spreadsheet users and shows the pattern HMRC allows (spreadsheet + bridging).
• MTDsorted. Reddit's r/UKPersonalFinance highlights MTDsorted as having a free bridging tier that can take a spreadsheet and submit MTD-compatible figures.
• Low-cost cloud options. Various small-business apps marketed at sole traders charge under £10 a month and are on HMRC's list, but you must check the MTD ITSA list on GOV.UK for current names.

For a gig worker earning, say, £40,000 across Uber and Deliveroo, a basic spreadsheet plus a free or £5 to £10 a month bridging solution is likely to be enough if they keep up with entries.

5. Bridging software in plain English

"Bridging software" is just a connector:

• You keep your usual records in a spreadsheet.
• The bridging tool reads the totals from your spreadsheet and submits them to HMRC using the MTD API.
• You do not re-type everything into a second system.

HMRC explicitly accepts bridging as a valid way to comply, which is good news if you already track your Uber / Deliveroo earnings in Excel or Google Sheets.

6. What changes compared with current Self Assessment

For an in-scope gig worker:

• You still register for Self Assessment and still have a Self Assessment relationship with HMRC.
• You must now:
  • keep digital records (not just paper or ad-hoc notes);
  • send four quarterly updates;
  • send one end-of-year finalisation instead of a single annual return.

The big behavioural changes:

• You cannot leave all your record-keeping to January.
• You must choose software and get comfortable with it.
• You need to think about tax all year, not just once.

7. How many gig workers know MTD is coming?

TaxAid and LITRG both say awareness of MTD ITSA among small sole traders and landlords is low; most people will find out because HMRC writes to them after checking their 2024-25 or 2025-26 return.

Anecdotally:

• Reddit's r/UKPersonalFinance threads show many self-employed people are only vaguely aware and assume "this keeps getting delayed so it will never happen".
• Gig-specific communities (Uber driver Facebook groups, Amazon Flex Reddit) often discuss deactivation and rates constantly, but hardly mention MTD beyond occasional "I heard we have to file quarterly soon" posts.

In other words, a lot of full-time multi-platform drivers who will be over £30,000 or £50,000 qualifying income are not yet ready for April 2026 or April 2027.

8. Simplest way to comply as a gig worker

For a typical full-time multi-app driver or rider:

1. Pick one spreadsheet for all your gig work.
2. Every week, add columns for: date, platform, income, key expenses (fuel, maintenance, phone etc.).
3. Each quarter, check the totals for income and expenses.
4. Use a bridging tool (free or low-cost) to submit those quarterly totals to HMRC.
5. Keep using the same spreadsheet to support your end-of-year figures.

That lets you stay on a low budget while still complying when HMRC drags you into MTD.

Worked example

You are a 34-year-old Amazon Flex driver in 2025-26:

• You make £32,000 gross from Amazon Flex in 2025-26.
• You pick up another £6,000 gross from Uber Eats and Just Eat in the same tax year.
• Total self-employed income in 2025-26: £38,000.

1. Check your MTD trigger

For 2025-26, your qualifying income is £38,000, which is over £30,000. HMRC will look at your 2025-26 Self Assessment and, if it sees £38,000, will write to you telling you to join MTD ITSA from 6 April 2027.

2. Choose a simple setup

In 2025-26 you are still on "old" Self Assessment. You decide to get ahead:

• You set up a spreadsheet with monthly tabs.
• Every week, you add your income from Amazon Flex, Uber Eats and Just Eat, plus fuel, repairs, tyres and other costs.

In late 2026:

• You sign up for a free or cheap bridging tool (like MTDsorted's free bridging tier or a similar HMRC-listed option).
• You connect it to your spreadsheet.

3. Quarterly life under MTD from 6 April 2027

From 6 April 2027 onwards:

Quarter 1 (6 April to 5 July 2027):

• Your spreadsheet shows £9,500 income and £2,000 expenses.
• You use bridging software to send those figures to HMRC.

Repeat for quarters 2, 3 and 4.

After 5 April 2028:

• You still do an end-of-year finalisation (similar to a tax return) by 31 January 2029, adjusting for any mis-categorised expenses or missed income.
• Your actual cash tax bill is still once a year, but you have been feeding HMRC live-ish numbers all year instead of one big hit.

What Reddit, TikTok and forums get wrong

1. "MTD means you'll have to pay tax four times a year instead of once." Wrong. You send quarterly updates, but the payment dates and payment on account rules still centre on the 31 January and 31 July cycle.

2. "You must buy expensive accounting software, spreadsheets are banned." Wrong. HMRC accepts bridging software that links spreadsheets to their MTD systems, and there are free and low-cost options.

3. "MTD got cancelled / will never really happen." Wrong. The government has delayed it before, but as of 2025-26 the regulations are in place and GOV.UK explicitly says MTD ITSA starts for over £50,000 income from 6 April 2026, then over £30,000 from 6 April 2027, then over £20,000 from 6 April 2028.

4. "MTD only applies if you register a limited company." Wrong. It is mainly aimed at sole traders and landlords, not companies.

5. "If you're under £50,000 now, you never need to worry about MTD." Misleading. The threshold falls to £30,000 in 2025-26 (mandation from 2027) and £20,000 in 2026-27 (mandation from 2028), which will pull in most serious gig workers.

Action steps for the reader

1. Add up your 2024-25 self-employed and property income to see if it is over £50,000. If yes, assume MTD ITSA from 6 April 2026 and watch for HMRC's letter.
2. Add up your 2025-26 self-employed and property income to see if it is over £30,000. If yes, plan for MTD from 6 April 2027.
3. Start keeping all your gig earnings and expenses in one spreadsheet, with separate columns for each platform and each expense type.
4. Check HMRC's MTD-compatible software list and pick either a free/cheap bridging tool or a simple app you are happy to stick with.
5. Aim to update your records weekly so quarterly submissions are just a matter of totalling the columns.
6. Share accurate information about MTD in your driver/rider chats and call out TikTok or Reddit advice that says "it's cancelled" or "you must pay four times a year".

Related tools GigKiln should build

• MTD trigger checker: asks for your 2024-25, 2025-26 and 2026-27 gig income and tells you exactly which April (2026, 2027 or 2028) you fall into.
• Spreadsheet template for gig MTD: pre-built sheet with sections for Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon Flex, Just Eat, Stuart, Gophr and expense categories.
• Quarterly reminder and checklist: sends workers a simple list of what to tally and how to push numbers into a bridging tool.
• Software chooser: compares free/cheap MTD-compatible apps and bridging tools suitable for gig workers.

Related guides

• "Self Assessment for gig workers filing for the first time (SA100 and SA103)"
• "Trading allowance vs actual expenses for Uber, Deliveroo and Amazon Flex"
• "Record-keeping for gig workers: what to keep, how long to keep it"
• "Payments on account and MTD: how to plan your cash"

Sources

Primary

• GOV.UK, Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, accessed 18 April 2026.
• GOV.UK, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: collection, accessed 18 April 2026.
• HM Treasury / HMRC, Reduction of the mandation threshold from £30,000 to £20,000 from April 2028, accessed 18 April 2026.
• GOV.UK, Choose the right software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, accessed 18 April 2026.
• LITRG, Who does Making Tax Digital apply to?, accessed 18 April 2026.
• TaxAid, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD for ITSA), accessed 18 April 2026.

Secondary

• MoneySavingExpert, Guide to Making Tax Digital, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Moore, When does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax start?, accessed 18 April 2026.
• DIY Accounting, Free MTD VAT Bridging Software for Spreadsheet Users (for bridging pattern), accessed 18 April 2026.
• Reddit r/UKPersonalFinance, Making Tax Digital: Free Platforms (MTDsorted free bridging), accessed 18 April 2026.
• Digital Tax Matters, Making Tax Digital Threshold Lowered To £20,000, accessed 18 April 2026.
• Apex Accountants, Making Tax Digital Income Thresholds: What You Need to Know about Income Drop Relief, accessed 18 April 2026.