Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts April 2026. If you're a sole trader earning over £50k, you're in the first wave.
Miss a filing deadline? HMRC has a points-based penalty system now. And it's not obvious how bad it gets.
So I built a calculator.
How the penalty points system works
HMRC moved away from flat fines to a points-based model. Miss a quarterly submission → 1 point. Hit 4 points → automatic £200 fine. Keep missing → fines stack.
The confusing bit: points expire, but only if you've filed everything correctly for a set period. Miss during that reset window and your clock resets too.
What the calculator does
- Estimates your penalty exposure based on how many submissions you've missed
- Shows when points expire (and when they don't)
- Flags if you're in "fine territory" already
Free, no login: landolio.com/tools/mtd-penalty-calculator
Who this is for
- Sole traders earning £50k+ (mandatory from April 2026)
- Anyone who's late with quarterly MTD submissions
- Accountants who want a quick client explainer
The bigger picture
MTD isn't just a filing change — it's quarterly submissions instead of annual. That's 4x the compliance overhead.
If you're not ready: landolio.com/tools/mtd-readiness-checker
If you want a full prep kit (templates, checklists, compatible software list): landolio.com/products/mtd-compliance-toolkit — £9, one-off.
April is 25 days away.
What's your MTD setup looking like? Using software already or still sorting it?
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