Making Tax Digital for Income Tax stopped being a future date on a calendar this April — it's now the law for the first wave of the self-employed. If your gross self-employment income (that's creator income before any expenses) was over £50,000 in the 2024–25 tax year, you were required to start using it from 6 April 2026. If that's you and nothing's changed yet, here's what's actually different.

What changes versus the old Self Assessment

Three things replace the annual return-and-forget routine:

  • Digital records — income and expenses kept in MTD-compatible software throughout the year, not reconstructed from bank statements in January.
  • Quarterly updates — a running summary of income and expenses sent to HMRC roughly every three months, through that software.
  • A final declaration — once a year, confirming the figures and any adjustments, which replaces the old Self Assessment return itself.

HMRC reviews each Self Assessment return and writes to confirm if you're over the threshold and need to join by the next 6 April — but the responsibility to check sits with you either way, letter or no letter.

Who's affected, and who's next

The rollout is phased on qualifying income (gross self-employment plus property income combined):

  • Over £50,000 (2024–25 income) — mandatory from 6 April 2026, already live
  • Over £30,000 (2025–26 income) — mandatory from 6 April 2027
  • Over £20,000 (2026–27 income) — mandatory from 6 April 2028

For creators specifically, that £50,000 is a lower bar than it sounds. It's gross income across every stream — ad revenue, sponsorships, subs, tips, product sales — before a single expense comes off, and it includes the market value of taxable gifted deals and PR packages. A creator who feels mid-tier can easily be over the line on paper, and a heavy gifting year can tip someone into it without much extra cash landing.

The creator advantage: you're basically already doing this

The reason MTD lands lightly on creators specifically is that most already reconcile multiple platform payouts through the year rather than doing it all in January — see our post on keeping one set of books across five platforms. If your bank feed already runs into FreeAgent (included in every Social Leaders package) and your gifted-income log is kept up as you go, a quarterly update is a few clicks, not a project.

What to actually do

Check your 2024–25 gross self-employment income. Over £50,000 and not yet set up? Get compatible software running now — the update deadlines don't wait for you to catch up. Under £50,000 but growing fast? Start digital record-keeping this year anyway, so the £30,000 phase in 2027 is a formality rather than a scramble. Either way, it's built into how we run every client's books — talk to us and it's one less thing to think about.