Landlords and sole traders expect Making Tax Digital for Income Tax to take six full days of their time in its first year, according to research by business management platform Tide.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with revenues over £50,000, who must now keep digital records and update HMRC every quarter instead of once a year.
The six-month mark falls on 6 October, and the rules extend to owners with revenues over £30,000 in 2027. Tide asked 500 qualifying business owners and landlords how much time the added admin would take, and the answer was six full days in the first year.
Time away from customers
Some 44% of respondents expect MTD admin to eat into normal working hours, and 36% expect it to take time they would otherwise spend serving paying clients and customers. The burden is heavier for others. More than half (58%) expect it to take more than a working week, and 13% predict more than 10 full days.
Personal time also absorbs some of the work. Respondents expect to complete the admin:
- in the evenings (38%)
- at weekends (35%)
- during planned time off or on holiday (32%)
The cost
Tide valued the lost time using respondents' average daily revenue. On that basis, six days of admin equals £1,778 in income per business in the first year, or around £1.5bn across the 864,000 qualifying businesses.
"Six months in, business owners know what Making Tax Digital is," said George Schmidt, chief executive for UK and Europe at Tide. "What they're still counting is the time it takes: days away from customers, evenings, weekends and even holidays given up to increased tax admin."
"With the second quarter closing on the 5th October and the next update due by 7th November, now is the time to make MTD work around the business, not the other way round. Tide current account holders can submit MTD returns for free in the Tide app using our HMRC-recognised tool, so they can spend less time on tax and more time running their business."
