HMRC Making Tax Digital Letters: What They Say and What to Do If You Haven't Had One

Tax Queen

Tax Expert @ Pie

5 min read

HMRC is writing to sole traders and landlords across the UK to confirm they must comply with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, sending mandation letters in waves since November 2025 to anyone whose 2024/25 Self Assessment return showed qualifying income above £50,000, with the requirement taking effect from 6 April 2026.

Introduction

Since November 2025, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has been writing to sole traders and landlords whose Self Assessment returns show they need to comply with Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax. These are known as mandation letters, and they've now gone out in several waves to reflect people filing, or amending, their returns at different times. If you've had one, it explains that you must start keeping digital records and sending quarterly updates to HMRC. If you haven't had one, that doesn't automatically mean you're in the clear.

This guide explains exactly who receives a mandation letter, what it says, how to check it's genuine, and what to do if you believe you should have had one but haven't.

Self-employed woman checking her Laptop for HMRC digital letters

Who Actually Gets a Mandation Letter

HMRC bases each letter on the income reported on your most recent Self Assessment return. If your combined gross income from self-employment and property, before expenses, known as your qualifying income, was above £50,000 for the 2024/25 tax year, you're within scope of MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2026.

Because HMRC works through the returns as they're filed, letters went out in batches rather than all at once. The earliest batch covered people who filed by the end of August 2025, with further rounds following through to people who filed close to, or after, the 31 January deadline, or who amended a return in a way that pushed their qualifying income over the threshold. If your income sits between £30,000 and £50,000, you're not affected yet, but you will be from April 2027when the threshold drops.

One detail worth knowing: if you use an accountant or tax agent, HMRC does not send them a copy of your letter. The letter itself tells you to show it to your agent, so it's worth flagging to yours if one arrives.

A professional woman discussing digital tax documents during a meeting

What the Letter Actually Says

The letter is a compliance notice, not a bill or a penalty warning. It confirms that, based on your return, you need to move from filing one annual Self Assessment return to keeping digital records and submitting four quarterly updates plus a Final Declaration through MTD-compatible software. It also sets out the penalty position: for the 2026/27 tax year, no penalty point is issued if a quarterly update is submitted late, though updates must still be sent before your tax return can be filed. From 2027/28, the usual points-based penalty system applies to quarterly updates too, and missing the 31 January return deadline can still result in a penalty point regardless of the transitional relief on quarterly updates.

Because these letters look official and reference real deadlines, they've also been copied by scammers. A genuine HMRC letter about MTD will never ask you to click a link and enter your bank details, and it will never demand an immediate payment. If anything about a letter feels off, check it against HMRC's official guidance on verifying genuine correspondence before acting on it, and report anything suspicious.

What to Do if You Didn't Get a Letter but Think You're Affected

This is the part people most often get wrong: receiving a mandation letter is not what puts you into MTD, and not receiving one is not what keeps you out of it. HMRC has been consistent on this point throughout the rollout. Responsibility for checking whether you meet the £50,000 qualifying income threshold sits with you, not with HMRC's mailing schedule.

So if your 2024/25 qualifying income was above £50,000 and no letter has turned up, don't wait for one. Check your eligibility and sign up for MTD for Income Tax directly, rather than treating silence from HMRC as confirmation you're exempt. This matters even more if your circumstances changed partway through the year, for example a new rental property or a jump in self-employment income, since HMRC's letters are only ever a snapshot based on the return already filed.

If you've successfully claimed an exemption from MTD, on digital exclusion grounds for instance, HMRC advises you can disregard any letter that does still arrive.

Two women engaged in a discussion about digital tax letters

Getting Ready if You're in Scope

If you are within MTD for Income Tax, the practical shift is away from one annual return towards ongoing digital record-keeping. You'll need software that can log income and expenses as they happen and generate quarterly updates automatically, so nothing about your 31 January filing changes overnight, but how you get there does. Our guide on Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for sole traders and landlords walks through the requirements in more depth, and our piece on filing your MTD quarterly update covers the process step by step once you're set up.

It's also worth getting familiar with how your final bill will still be calculated. Our guide to the balancing payment under Self Assessment explains how the annual reconciliation works alongside your quarterly updates, and if you're newly self-employed and haven't yet registered with HMRC, our guide on registering as self-employed is a good starting point before MTD becomes relevant to you at all.

Tax sorted using pie to check hmrc letters

Final Summary

A mandation letter from HMRC confirms you need to move to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax based on your last Self Assessment return, but it's a notification, not a gateway. If your qualifying income was above £50,000 for 2024/25, you're expected to sign up and comply whether or not a letter lands on your doormat. The safest approach is to check your own numbers against the threshold, verify any letter you do receive against HMRC's official guidance, and get digital record-keeping in place well before your next quarterly deadline.

Pie Tax, the UK's first personal taxation app, is now self-assessment software built to keep your records MTD-ready as you go, rather than scrambling to catch up. You can see how it fits together on our how it works page, or read more about why people choose Pie. Find out more about us, or if you'd rather just get started, you can try Pie today for free.

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