What a quarterly update actually is
Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, sole traders and landlords in scope have to send HMRC four updates a year instead of one big return. Each update is a running total of the income and expense categories you have recorded digitally.
It is not the same as a Self Assessment tax return. There is no calculation, no allowances applied and no tax due. The final tax bill still gets worked out once a year in the Final Declaration.
The four quarterly deadlines
Standard quarters run from 6 April and each update is due one month and five days after the quarter ends:
- Quarter 1: 6 April to 5 July, due 5 August
- Quarter 2: 6 July to 5 October, due 5 November
- Quarter 3: 6 October to 5 January, due 5 February
- Quarter 4: 6 January to 5 April, due 5 May
You can elect for calendar quarters (end of June, September, December, March) if that fits your accounting better. The deadlines shift by the same rule.
What the update actually contains
For self-employment income, HMRC wants a total for each of these categories, cumulative from the start of the tax year:
- Turnover (money in from customers)
- Cost of goods and materials
- Wages and subcontractor costs
- Vehicle and travel costs
- Premises, admin and other expenses
No line-by-line invoices, no receipts uploaded. Just the totals. But the totals must come from digital records — you cannot type them in from memory.
How Fixxa makes quarterly updates a non-event
Because every quote, invoice and payment lives in Fixxa as a digital record, your turnover and expense totals are ready to hand to your accountant or push to HMRC-recognised software when the quarter closes. You do not spend an evening rebuilding the books.