The four quarterly update dates, and what an update contains

Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, each quarterly update covers an update period and has a due date. GOV.UK gives two sets of update periods, standard and calendar. The table below lists both, as GOV.UK showed them on 1 October 2026.

The update periods and due dates

Set	Update period	Due date
Standard	6 April to 5 July	7 August
Standard	6 April to 5 October	7 November
Standard	6 April to 5 January	7 February
Standard	6 April to 5 April	7 May after the tax year
Calendar	1 April to 30 June	7 August
Calendar	1 April to 30 September	7 November
Calendar	1 April to 31 December	7 February
Calendar	1 April to 31 March	7 May after the tax year

To use the table, find a set and an update period, and read across to the due date. In every row the due date falls after the update period ends. The period ending on 5 July, for example, is due on 7 August.

Read down each set and a pattern shows. Every standard period starts on 6 April. Every calendar period starts on 1 April. Each period after the first is longer than the one before it, because it runs on from the start.

The due dates are the same in both sets: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. The last period in each set is the longest one, and its due date falls after the tax year.

The source for these dates is the GOV.UK guidance on sending quarterly updates.

What an update contains

You send quarterly updates for each self-employment and property business you have. An update holds totals for each income category and each expense category.

It is a summary. HMRC does not receive individual receipts or invoices. The detail stays in your own records, and only the totals go into the update.

If many sales or many costs sit behind one category, the update still shows one total for that category.

Each update is cumulative

Each update is cumulative from the start of the tax year. An update for a later period therefore includes the earlier periods as well as the latest one. It is not a fresh start each quarter. It builds on the tax year so far.

GOV.UK describes this as the reason records can be corrected without resending earlier updates. In other words, a correction to the records does not mean resending the earlier updates. Each update therefore covers the tax year so far, not only the latest period.

Where the tax return fits

The tax return follows the quarterly updates. The updates come first, and the tax return comes after them.

That order is worth keeping in mind when you read the dates above. The last update is due on 7 May after the tax year, so it falls due after the tax year has ended.

Late updates in 2026 to 2027

HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates in the 2026 to 2027 tax year. GOV.UK states this for that tax year only, and this post says nothing about later years.

This is a statement about penalty points. The due dates in the table are still the dates that GOV.UK gives.

Check the dates against the source before you rely on them. The table above repeats the GOV.UK dates as they stood on 1 October 2026.

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