Making Tax Digital,
without the stress.
With Lekhio your records are kept as you go: you photograph, it reads, you approve.
What HMRC said on 5 October 2026
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax will extend to sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £30,000 from 6 April 2027. Qualifying income is your turnover and any rent added together, before expenses come off.
HMRC estimates that brings in around 1,077,000 more sole traders and landlords. It says the quarterly updates are short summaries, not extra tax returns.
To see if and when it applies to you, use GOV.UK's checker.
Lekhio is not on HMRC's software list and does not send to HMRC yet.
Running a limited company? Making Tax Digital for Income Tax covers self employment and rent on a personal return, and your company's trade is neither: the company files its own return. If you also have a sole trade or rent of your own, drag the slider for that income alone.
In a partnership? Partnerships are not in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax yet, and HMRC has not set a date. Your share of the partnership's profit does not count towards the line. If you also have a sole trade or rent of your own, drag the slider for that income alone.
A guide based on the announced thresholds, which are tested on gross qualifying income and never on profit. With Lekhio your books are kept as you go either way.
General guidance, not tax advice for your exact situation. HMRC decides mandation from the tax return you have already filed, not from this page. To check, use GOV.UK's checker.
Three simple things.
Lekhio does the first and prepares the second. You stay in charge of the third.
Keep digital records
HMRC wants income and costs kept digitally. Lekhio reads each receipt you photograph and each statement you upload.
Send four short updates
Four times a year you send HMRC your figures for the year so far. Each one restates the year and replaces the last, so nothing has to be perfect first time. Lekhio prepares each one, and you send it, or your accountant does, with software that works with Making Tax Digital.
You stay in control
Nothing goes to HMRC from Lekhio. Your books are kept as you go, and the final say is always yours.
The old way, and the new way.
One big return, once a year
A shoebox of receipts and a lost weekend before January.
Four short check-ins, then the return
Four times a year, each one covering the year so far and each one prepared for you. You check it, then you send it with software that works with Making Tax Digital. Then your tax return by 31 January, built from the same figures. No shoebox, no scramble.
😌 One habit, all yearYour year, in four easy updates.
Each one covers from 6 April up to the date shown, so every update restates the year so far and replaces the one before it. Lekhio prepares it, you check it over a brew, then you send it with software that works with Making Tax Digital, or your accountant does.
Three steps, all year.
Built by the book.
Your books are kept as you go, and Lekhio does the sums properly.
Start your books as you go.
Photograph a receipt and Lekhio reads it into your books for your yes. Free account, no card.
Start freeQuestions people ask
Who has to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
HMRC decides it from a tax return you have already filed, not from the year you are in, and writes to you to say so. April 2026 was decided by your 2024 to 2025 return, April 2027 by your 2025 to 2026 return, and April 2028 by your 2026 to 2027 return. The announced lines are £50,000, then £30,000, then £20,000 of qualifying income.
Is the threshold based on my profit or my turnover?
Neither exactly. It is qualifying income: your gross turnover plus any gross rent, added together, before a single expense comes off. It is not your profit, which is the number most people reach for and is usually far lower.
What is a quarterly update, and is it a tax return?
It is a short summary of your income and costs for the year so far, which you send four times a year. Each one restates the whole year to date and replaces the one before it, so nothing has to be perfect first time. It is not a tax return and no tax is paid on it.
Does Making Tax Digital apply to my limited company?
Not for this. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax covers self employment and rent on a personal return, and a company files its own return. If you also have a sole trade or rent of your own, that income is tested on its own.
Does Making Tax Digital apply to my partnership?
Not yet. HMRC has said partnerships will join later and has not set a date, and a partner’s share of partnership profit does not count towards the line. If you also have a sole trade or rent of your own, that income is tested on its own.