Hidden MTD news in Spring Statement documents

The timetable for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self-Assessment (MTD ITSA) includes mandating sole traders and landlords with revenue exceeding £50,000 from April 2026, then £30,000 the following year. The government has published a technical note alongside the Spring Statement documents that provide further details on the measures. The note includes the following key points:

• The mandation threshold will fall to £20,000 from April 2028 for sole traders and landlords;
• Exempting certain taxpayers from MTD, including non-UK resident entertainers and sportspeople with no other income sources;
• Deferring mandation from ministers of religion, Lloyds underwriters, and recipients of the married couples’ allowance (note that this is not the same as the marriage allowance, and is only relevant where one of the couple was born before 6 April 1935) and blind persons’ allowance until after the end of the current parliament;
• Confirmation that eligible software will be mandatory – there will be no filing service provided by HMRC for the end of year confirmation.

There is still no certainty of if and/or when taxpayers with income below £20,000 will be brought within MTD ITSA. The note simply says “As part of the ongoing rollout of MTD, the government will continue to explore how we can best bring the benefits of digitalisation to a greater proportion of the 4 million sole traders and landlords who have income below the £20,000 threshold.”