MTD clients must check two places for overall tax bill, HMRC letter says

HMRC has appended a new section, "Helping customers understand their Self Assessment tax bill", to the customer-communications part of its Making Tax Digital agent toolkit. In November 2026, HMRC began writing to customers required to use MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2026GOVGOVGOV, explaining that they need to check both their Self Assessment account and the MTD for Income Tax service to understand their overall Self Assessment tax billGOV. As with the earlier letters in the series, the letters go to customers rather than agentsGOV, but copies are posted in the toolkit for awarenessGOV — and the toolkit notes that each letter was accurate at the time it was sent.

The customers receiving the November letters are the first MTD waveGOV: sole traders and landlords whose qualifying income — combined gross self-employment and property income before expenses and taxGOV — exceeded £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax returnGOV, required to use MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2026. Later waves follow on the same measure: more than £30,000 in 2025 to 2026 means starting from 6 April 2027, and more than £20,000 in 2026 to 2027 means starting from 6 April 2028. Using MTD means keeping digital records in compatible software, sending quarterly updates that summarise those records, and still submitting a tax return and paying tax due by 31 JanuaryGOV — which is why a client's overall bill is split across two placesGOV.

The November letter is the latest in a phased customer-contact sequence the toolkit tracks. From November 2025 HMRC wrote to customers in the first wave according to when they filed their 2024 to 2025 return, to help them prepare. From September 2026 it started signing up customers for the 2026 to 2027 tax year who had not signed up themselves, contacting them in stages afterwards. In October 2026 it wrote to customers who missed the first quarterly deadline, telling them how to catch up and flagging future quarterly deadlines. The November letters address the next confusion point: clients who look in only one place and think the figure there is the whole bill.

The letters go to customers rather than agents, with copies posted in the toolkit for awareness; when first-wave clients ask about their overall bill, the copies give agents the same explanation the client received — that both the Self Assessment account and the MTD service must be checkedGOV. Legal basis: the MTD for Income Tax mandation by qualifying income (over £50,000 from 6 April 2026, over £30,000 from 6 April 2027, over £20,000 from 6 April 2028) with quarterly updates through compatible software.