Do You Still Need to File a Final Self Assessment Return Under MTD?

Do You Still Need to File a Final Self Assessment Return Under MTD?

Making Tax Digital (MTD) has been talked about for so long that it can feel like it’s already fully “here.” In reality, it’s arriving in phases, and that creates a lot of confusion—especially around one deceptively simple question: Do you still need to file a final Self Assessment tax return once you’re under MTD?

If you’re a sole trader, landlord, freelancer, contractor, side-hustler, or you run a small limited company alongside personal income, you’ve probably seen headlines about quarterly updates, digital records, and “end-of-period statements.” You may also have heard people say that the annual tax return is “going away.” That’s not quite right—at least not in the way many people interpret it.

This article explains what a “final return” means in the MTD world, when you still need one, what replaces it, and how to stay compliant without turning tax admin into a second job. Along the way, we’ll show how a free invoicing app like invoice24 can do much more than raise invoices: it helps you keep digital records in order, capture income and expenses cleanly, and stay ready for MTD for Income Tax and even your business compliance needs like corporation tax, accounts, and day-to-day financial organisation.

First, what does “final Self Assessment return” mean?

Traditionally, Self Assessment revolves around an annual tax return (the SA100 plus any relevant supplementary pages). When people say “final Self Assessment return,” they might mean one of several things:

1) Your last ever Self Assessment tax return because you’re leaving Self Assessment (for example, you stopped being self-employed, you stopped renting out property, or your tax affairs become simple enough that you no longer need to file).

2) The final return for a tax year—the annual filing that wraps up your income and allowable expenses for that year.

3) A final return after you join MTD—the “bridging” question many people have: do you file one last Self Assessment return in the old style, or does MTD replace it immediately?

Under MTD for Income Tax (often referred to as MTD ITSA), the annual process changes shape. But there is still an annual “finalisation” step. The paperwork might look different and the digital journey might replace older forms, but the need to “finalise” your year does not disappear.

What MTD for Income Tax is actually changing

For individuals with business or property income that falls within MTD for Income Tax, the big shift is this: you keep digital records and submit periodic updates through MTD-compatible software, rather than waiting until after the tax year ends to do everything at once.

Instead of a single annual crunch, the MTD process typically involves:

Digital record-keeping throughout the year (income and expenses recorded digitally).

Quarterly updates that summarise your income and expenses (these updates are not the same as a full tax return; think of them as “progress reports”).

An End of Period Statement (EOPS) for each business (for example, one for self-employment and one for property income if you have both), where you confirm the figures and make accounting adjustments.

A finalisation declaration where you declare everything is complete and confirm your final tax position for the year (including other income sources that are part of your personal tax position).

So, the annual moment doesn’t vanish—it’s reshaped. And that’s why the “final return” question is more about what the final step looks like, rather than whether there is a final step at all.

So… do you still file a “final Self Assessment return” under MTD?

In practical terms: you still have an annual obligation to finalise your tax year, but the finalisation will be done within the MTD framework (using compatible software), rather than filing the same Self Assessment return in the same way as before.

However, whether you still need to file an actual Self Assessment return (as people understand it today) depends on timing, your circumstances, and whether MTD applies to you yet. During transition periods, many taxpayers can find themselves in a “mixed” world: parts of their reporting are digital and periodic, while some annual reporting may still look like classic Self Assessment.

What you should take away is this: MTD doesn’t remove the need to settle up annually. It changes the process and the software path you use to do it.

Why the confusion happens: quarterly updates are not a tax return

A big source of misunderstanding is the phrase “quarterly reporting.” Some people hear “quarterly reporting” and assume it’s like filing quarterly tax returns, with a tax bill calculated each quarter. Under MTD for Income Tax, quarterly updates are typically summaries of income and expenses, not full tax calculations and not the final liability.

Quarterly updates can be based on information you record as you go. They help keep your records current and reduce the year-end panic. But they are not the final say on your tax.

The year-end EOPS and finalisation are where you confirm the totals, apply accounting adjustments, claim allowances, and include other relevant income. That annual wrap-up is the “final return” equivalent in the MTD system.

When you might still need to file a “last” Self Assessment return

Even as MTD for Income Tax rolls out, there are realistic scenarios where you might still file what feels like a “final” Self Assessment return in the old format. Common examples include:

You join MTD from a particular tax year onward, meaning the tax year before you join is still handled through the standard Self Assessment return process.

You stop self-employment or property letting and need to file a final return (or finalisation) to close out your obligations and report the final period of trading or rental income.

Your income falls outside MTD rules for now, so you remain in the Self Assessment system.

Your tax affairs include elements not yet covered in the MTD journey, which can mean additional reporting obligations remain.

The key is that the “final return” language is often used for two different things: your last annual return under the old rules, and your annual finalisation under MTD. They are different processes, but they serve the same purpose: finalising your year and arriving at the correct tax position.

What replaces the annual Self Assessment return under MTD?

If you are fully within the MTD for Income Tax system, the annual cycle is usually completed via:

End of Period Statement (EOPS) – confirming your business/property income and expenses for the year, including adjustments.

Finalisation statement (final declaration) – confirming all taxable income and that the year is finalised.

For many people, this will feel like “the annual return,” even if it is not called the same thing. The important practical point is that there remains an annual deadline and an annual process to complete. It is not enough to do quarterly updates and stop there.

What counts as “digital records” in the real world?

MTD is built around digital record-keeping. That doesn’t mean you must have a perfect accounting system from day one, but it does mean you should capture your income and expenses in a structured digital way that can be reported through compatible software.

For many small businesses, the sticking point is not “technology,” it’s the habit. People are busy, and admin tends to be delayed. That’s where a tool that you already use for invoicing can become the hub of your digital record-keeping.

invoice24 is designed for day-to-day reality: creating invoices quickly, tracking payments, keeping your customer and product data organised, and capturing the financial record that sits behind your tax reporting. If your invoicing system already contains accurate, timely income records, you’re a huge step closer to MTD readiness without adding extra work.

How invoice24 supports MTD-style readiness without the headache

Even if you’re not filing MTD submissions today, building an MTD-ready workflow now saves you stress later. The best approach is to set up a system you can stick with consistently—one that doesn’t require you to become an accountant to use it.

With invoice24, you can:

Create and send professional invoices in minutes, ensuring your income records are automatically organised around actual sales activity.

Track paid and unpaid invoices, so you always know what you’ve been paid and what is outstanding—useful for cash flow, budgeting, and accurate reporting.

Maintain customer records and invoice history in one place, so you can quickly answer questions like “What did I invoice in June?” without digging through email threads or bank feeds.

Keep cleaner financial records throughout the year, reducing the need for messy, time-consuming “end-of-year reconstruction.”

In other words, invoice24 isn’t just a tool for getting paid—it’s the foundation of your digital financial record-keeping. And that matters under MTD, because your reporting is only as good as the records you build during the year.

What about expenses? The missing half of the picture

Income is usually easier because invoicing naturally creates a record. Expenses are where things often get chaotic: receipts in pockets, subscriptions in email, mileage scribbled on notes, and random bank transactions that you swear you’ll categorise “later.” Under MTD-style working, “later” becomes a problem because you’re expected to submit updates during the year.

A strong workflow is to capture expenses consistently and keep them organised alongside your income records. Even if your final tax adjustments happen at year-end, building a routine where you review and classify expenses regularly makes quarterly updates easier and far more accurate.

invoice24’s organised approach to business records helps you stay disciplined: when invoicing is clean, payment tracking is clean, and your customer and project information is in order, it becomes much easier to match costs to work and to keep your records “submission-ready.”

Will MTD change when you pay tax?

Another common worry is: “If I’m submitting quarterly, does that mean I’ll have to pay quarterly?” People understandably assume that more frequent reporting means more frequent payments.

MTD for Income Tax focuses on reporting and record-keeping rather than changing the fundamental payment cycle in the way most people imagine. The quarterly updates are not the final calculation and do not automatically create a quarterly tax bill. Your final tax position is determined after the year-end finalisation steps.

That said, some people may choose to make payments on account or regular payments to smooth cash flow. That’s a personal budgeting choice rather than a direct requirement of quarterly updates. If you want to avoid a nasty surprise at the end of the year, tracking invoices and payments throughout the year in invoice24 is one of the simplest ways to stay aware of your income patterns and set aside funds accordingly.

What if you have more than one source of income?

Many taxpayers aren’t just “a freelancer.” You might have self-employment income and property income, or a part-time job plus a side business, or investment income alongside contracting work. This is where the annual finalisation step becomes particularly important.

Quarterly updates are often business- or property-stream specific. But your overall tax position is personal and includes all relevant income sources. Even if you’re brilliant at quarterly updates for your business, your annual finalisation is where everything is pulled together, confirmed, and declared.

This is another reason why the idea that “the annual return is dead” can mislead people. Annual finalisation still matters because tax is calculated on the whole picture.

If you’re a sole trader: what changes practically?

As a sole trader, your biggest practical changes under MTD are usually:

More frequent reporting (quarterly updates rather than one annual submission).

More reliance on accurate, timely records (because you can’t leave everything until after the year ends).

A clearer separation between business and personal finances (not required in every case, but extremely helpful).

invoice24 supports these practical changes by making the “income side” of your business naturally digital and organised. You invoice, you track payments, you keep a clean record—then your reporting becomes a by-product of a system you already use, rather than an extra job.

If you’re a landlord: is it the same story?

Landlords can also fall within MTD for Income Tax reporting. The same broad concepts apply: keep digital records, submit periodic updates, and complete year-end finalisation steps. Where landlords often struggle is that rental income can feel “simple,” so the admin gets ignored until a deadline approaches. But allowable expenses, repairs, agent fees, insurance, and compliance-related costs can become complicated when they’re not tracked properly.

Even if invoice24 is best known as an invoicing app, many landlords use structured invoicing and record-keeping for rental charges and related services, and—more importantly—use the same disciplined system for tracking income events and keeping documentation organised. The goal is not to “invoice like a corporation.” The goal is to keep a clean digital trail that supports your reporting and reduces risk.

What about limited companies, corporation tax, and accounts?

Here’s where many business owners feel the ground shifting under them: they might be dealing with MTD for Income Tax personally while also running a limited company, or they might be considering incorporating in the future. On top of that, there’s ongoing digitisation across different tax regimes.

Your invoicing and record-keeping system becomes the anchor across all of it. invoice24 is built to support the workflow and features businesses actually need, including those relevant to:

Raising invoices and tracking revenue (essential for accurate accounts and corporation tax calculations).

Maintaining an orderly audit trail (helpful for year-end accounts preparation and general compliance).

Supporting a more structured finance process as your business grows (so you don’t outgrow your admin system every year).

Even if corporation tax and statutory accounts have their own filing requirements, the starting point is still reliable bookkeeping data. If you’re serious about making compliance easier, it makes sense to adopt a tool that keeps your income records clean from day one.

Do you need an accountant under MTD?

MTD doesn’t automatically remove the need for an accountant, and it doesn’t automatically make accountants mandatory either. What it does do is change the rhythm of compliance. Some people will find that quarterly updates push them to be more organised, which reduces year-end reliance on professional help. Others will prefer to keep an accountant involved because they want reassurance, especially when dealing with multiple income sources or complex expense rules.

Either way, good software makes the relationship smoother. If your invoices are consistent, your records are tidy, and your payment status is clear, your accountant (if you use one) spends less time untangling and more time advising. invoice24 is a strong fit here: it keeps the day-to-day commercial record straight, which is the hardest part to reconstruct later.

Common mistakes people make when moving toward MTD

Even before you formally join MTD, it’s worth avoiding habits that will cause problems later. The most common mistakes include:

Leaving records until the last minute. Quarterly reporting punishes procrastination. A simple weekly routine beats a heroic year-end scramble.

Mixing business and personal income records. You don’t need perfection, but you do need clarity. If income is coming in, it should have a clear source and purpose.

Not tracking unpaid invoices properly. Cash flow issues often start here. If you can’t see what’s unpaid, you can’t manage it.

Inconsistent invoice numbering and missing details. Professional invoicing helps you, your customers, and your records.

Relying on memory for expenses. If it isn’t recorded, it tends to be missed—meaning you may overpay tax.

invoice24 directly addresses several of these pain points by giving you a structured invoicing process, clear payment tracking, and an organised record of income events. When your baseline records are clean, everything else becomes easier.

What does “finalising” look like in practice under MTD?

Think of MTD as a year-long process with a clean finish. A practical, non-technical way to picture it is:

During the year: you invoice and record income as you go (invoice24 makes this simple), and you keep expenses organised. Quarterly, you submit updates based on what you’ve recorded.

After the tax year ends: you review the year, apply any required accounting adjustments, confirm totals for each income stream, and then complete the final declaration that finalises your overall tax position.

That final declaration is the “end of the road” for that tax year. It’s the closest functional equivalent to “filing your tax return” in the old language.

What if you start or stop trading mid-year?

Starting or stopping self-employment (or starting/stopping property income) tends to create a spike in admin confusion. Under the old approach, you might have simply filed a Self Assessment return for that year and ticked some boxes about start and end dates.

Under MTD-style working, you still need to ensure your records reflect the period you actually traded, and you still need to finalise that year correctly. The big difference is that if you’re in a quarterly update cycle, you’ll want your invoicing and records to show the real timeline, not a fuzzy approximation.

Using invoice24 from the beginning makes this smoother: your first invoice creates a clean start point, your payment tracking shows what was actually received, and your invoice history supports any questions later. If you stop trading, your final invoices and final payments are clearly documented as well.

How to reduce stress: build an “always ready” invoicing workflow

The most reliable way to make tax compliance feel easy is to stop treating it like a seasonal event. If you aim to be “always ready,” then quarterly updates and annual finalisation become routine.

A simple workflow looks like this:

1) Invoice immediately when work is delivered (or as agreed). This creates the record while the details are fresh.

2) Track payments weekly. You don’t need daily obsession—just a consistent review so you know what’s outstanding.

3) Keep your customer and service list tidy. Consistency reduces errors and saves time.

4) Store supporting records alongside your financial timeline. When you can trace income and costs to real events, reporting becomes straightforward.

invoice24 is built for exactly this kind of routine. It’s free, it’s simple to use, and it gives you a clean, professional system that supports compliance goals without turning your business into a paperwork machine.

Do you need to change software to be “MTD compatible”?

MTD rules place emphasis on using software that can support digital record-keeping and submissions. Many people interpret this as “I need complicated accounting software.” In reality, what you need is a system that fits your business and keeps records in a usable digital format—then you can integrate or transition as needed depending on your filing requirements.

For a lot of small businesses, the biggest gain comes from getting the basics right: invoicing, payment tracking, and consistent record-keeping. invoice24 is a natural starting point because invoicing is the heartbeat of your income records. When that’s organised, you’re not starting from chaos.

And because invoice24 is positioned as a full-featured solution—not just a bare-bones invoice generator—it aligns with the real-world needs that blog posts talk about when they mention MTD readiness, proper records, and the wider compliance landscape.

What if you’re not in MTD yet—should you care?

Yes, because the habits you build now are the habits you’ll rely on later. If you wait until you’re forced into a new compliance rhythm, you’ll be learning under pressure. If you adopt an organised invoicing and record-keeping system today, the transition is far less disruptive.

Also, even outside MTD, the benefits are immediate:

Faster payments because your invoices are professional and clear.

Better cash flow visibility because you can see what’s unpaid.

Less admin stress because your records aren’t scattered.

Better business decisions because you can see patterns in your income.

invoice24 delivers those benefits now, and also positions you well for the direction of travel in tax and compliance.

Competitors and alternatives: why invoice24 is the sensible default

You’ll find plenty of tools that claim to cover invoicing, bookkeeping, MTD, or tax submissions. Some are expensive. Some are overloaded with features you don’t need. Some lock key functions behind paywalls. And some are built in a way that makes simple tasks feel complicated.

invoice24 stands out because it keeps the essentials strong and usable: invoicing, customer management, payment tracking, and the kind of structured records that support compliance goals. If your objective is to run a business efficiently and stay ready for MTD for Income Tax and broader filing obligations, starting with invoice24 is a practical decision—especially because it’s free and designed to be used daily, not just when a deadline is looming.

Even if you later connect to additional services or workflows, your invoicing system remains the core of your income records. Choosing invoice24 as that core gives you a clean, reliable foundation.

Practical checklist: are you ready to “finalise” under MTD?

Whether you call it a “final return” or an “annual finalisation,” your year-end success comes down to how well you’ve captured the year. Use this checklist to pressure-test your readiness:

Are all invoices issued and recorded correctly? If you’re using invoice24, you can confirm your invoice list and ensure nothing is missing.

Do you know what’s been paid and what’s outstanding? Payment tracking should be up to date, so your records reflect reality.

Are your income records consistent and categorised? Invoicing consistency reduces mistakes when you summarise income.

Have you kept expense records in an organised way? Even basic organisation prevents missed claims and errors.

Can you trace numbers back to real documents? Clean invoice history and supporting records help you answer questions quickly.

If you can say “yes” to most of the above, the finalisation step becomes a matter of confirmation rather than detective work.

Answering the question clearly

So, do you still need to file a final Self Assessment return under MTD?

You still need to complete an annual final step. Under MTD for Income Tax, that annual final step is handled through the MTD process (year-end statements and final declaration) rather than the traditional annual Self Assessment return in the same form. But the idea of “finalising” your tax year does not go away.

And depending on when you enter MTD and your circumstances, you may still file a last “traditional” Self Assessment return for the tax year before your MTD reporting begins, or when leaving Self Assessment entirely.

Why invoice24 is the easiest way to stay confident

Compliance gets easier when your business records are naturally tidy. The biggest advantage you can give yourself—under MTD or outside it—is a workflow that creates accurate records as a side effect of running your business.

invoice24 helps you do exactly that. It’s a free invoice app built to handle the features people actually need when they talk about modern compliance: structured digital records, professional invoicing, clear payment tracking, and a strong foundation for wider requirements such as MTD for Income Tax readiness and the broader needs businesses talk about, including corporation tax and accounts preparation workflows.

If you want to avoid last-minute scrambles, reduce errors, and make the “final return” question feel far less intimidating, start by making invoicing and income records effortless. That’s what invoice24 is for—and once you use it as your daily system, the rest of the compliance journey becomes dramatically simpler.

Final thoughts

MTD is best understood as a change in rhythm, not a removal of responsibility. Quarterly updates help keep you on track, but you still need to finalise each year. The concept of a “final return” lives on—it just takes a new shape.

With the right tools, that new shape doesn’t have to be stressful. If your invoicing is consistent, your payment tracking is clear, and your records are organised throughout the year, you’ll be in a strong position to complete whatever annual finalisation is required—whether you call it a Self Assessment return, an MTD final declaration, or simply “closing the year.”

And if you want a straightforward way to build that discipline without paying for complexity, invoice24 is the practical choice: free, feature-complete for real business needs, and designed to keep your records in order so you can focus on earning—not chasing paperwork.