The line is gross income, not profit
The test is on qualifying income: your turnover plus any rent, added together, before a single expense comes off. A sparky turning over seventy thousand and keeping forty five is over the £50,000 line, not under it. Look at the top line of your last return, not the bottom.
Over the line
You are in from April 2026. That means digital records, four quarterly updates a year, and then your tax return by 31 January after the year ends, which you send yourself. The first quarterly update covers 6 April to 5 July and is due by 7 August; the second covers to 5 October and is due by 7 November. There are no penalty points for a late quarterly update in 2026/27. That is not the same as it not mattering: every update for the year has to be in before the return for that year can be filed, so a missed one is put off rather than written off. A late return earns a point from the year you join, and late updates start earning points the year after.
Under the line
Nothing changes for you this year. Self Assessment carries on as it was. The line drops to £30,000 from April 2027 and to £20,000 from April 2028, so if you are between those numbers you have time, but not as much as it feels like.
Before somebody sells you a deadline
Half the panic about Making Tax Digital is coming from people it does not apply to yet. Know which side of the line you are on before you pay for anything with a countdown on it.
Lekhio works it out. You send it. Nothing goes near HMRC until you press yes.
Where HMRC says it: HMRC guidance, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: who needs to sign up and when; the Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021 as amended. Checked 2026-08-31. This is general information about the rules, not advice on your own position.