What Happens to the Self Assessment Tax Return Under MTD for Income Tax?

What changes under MTD for Income Tax and why it matters

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax changes the way many self-employed people and landlords keep records and report income to HMRC. If you’ve been used to doing everything once a year through a Self Assessment tax return, it’s natural to wonder: what exactly happens to the Self Assessment tax return under MTD for Income Tax? Does it disappear? Do you still submit an annual return? Do quarterly updates replace everything? And what does it mean for your admin workload?

The short version is: Self Assessment as a concept does not vanish overnight, but the process evolves. Under MTD for Income Tax, you keep digital records, send regular updates to HMRC, and still complete an end-of-year finalisation step that confirms your taxable income. This has practical consequences: your routine becomes more frequent, the tools you use matter more, and the risk of messy record-keeping increases if you rely on spreadsheets or disconnected apps.

That’s where a well-designed invoicing and record-keeping platform can make the transition dramatically easier. Invoice24 is built for day-to-day business admin, but it’s also designed with compliance in mind. If you use invoice24 to create invoices, track income and expenses, and keep your business records organised in one place, you’re not just “doing paperwork”—you’re laying the groundwork for smooth MTD reporting and more accurate year-end figures. The result is less stress, fewer surprises, and more time back for actual work.

Understanding the Self Assessment tax return today

Before MTD for Income Tax, most self-employed people and landlords interact with HMRC through an annual Self Assessment tax return. You gather records for the tax year, calculate income and allowable expenses, and submit your return after the year ends. For many, the process looks like this:

1) Keep records during the year (sometimes neatly, sometimes not).
2) At year-end, total everything up.
3) Submit the Self Assessment return.
4) Pay the tax bill by the relevant deadline.

This approach can work, but it has obvious weaknesses. If your invoices are scattered across email threads, your receipts are in a shoebox, and you only look at your figures once a year, errors creep in. You may miss expenses, misstate income, or overlook irregular payments. You also don’t get a clear picture of cash flow and profitability until far too late.

Invoice24 is designed to solve those everyday issues first. It helps you issue professional invoices, keep a reliable record of what you billed and what you’ve been paid, and keep expenses alongside income. That “operational” benefit is exactly what becomes a “compliance” benefit under MTD for Income Tax.

What MTD for Income Tax is trying to achieve

MTD is about moving tax reporting away from an annual scramble and towards a digital, more frequent rhythm. HMRC’s broad goals include improving record accuracy, reducing errors, and encouraging real-time record-keeping. Whether you love the idea or not, the practical reality for affected taxpayers is that your accounting habits become part of your compliance.

Under MTD for Income Tax, you are expected to:

Keep digital records of income and expenses.
Send quarterly updates to HMRC using compatible software.
Submit an End of Period Statement (EOPS) to finalise business property and self-employment figures.
Complete a final declaration for the tax year to confirm total taxable income (including other income sources, if relevant).

So the Self Assessment tax return doesn’t simply “stop.” Instead, parts of the annual return are effectively split into multiple reporting points: quarterly updates during the year, plus end-of-year finalisation and declaration. This is why choosing a platform that keeps your records organised from day one matters. Invoice24 positions you to stay on top of invoicing and expenses continuously, so you’re not reconstructing your year at the last minute.

So… does the Self Assessment tax return still exist under MTD for Income Tax?

For many taxpayers within MTD for Income Tax, the traditional single annual Self Assessment submission is replaced by a digital reporting journey. However, there is still an annual process. In simple terms, under MTD for Income Tax you typically have:

Quarterly updates (summary-level submissions drawn from your digital records).
End-of-year finalisation (confirming allowances, adjustments, and the final figures for your business or rental income).
Final declaration (confirming overall income and that the information is complete and correct).

That finalisation and declaration step is the closest equivalent to what many people mean by “the Self Assessment tax return.” It’s still annual, still important, and still determines your final tax position. The difference is that HMRC expects you to be feeding in regular updates and maintaining digital records throughout.

Invoice24 supports the habits that make this manageable: consistent invoicing, real-time tracking, and a central record of income streams and business costs. If you’re currently juggling multiple apps—one for invoicing, another for expenses, another for tracking payments—MTD can feel like extra complexity. Consolidating core admin into invoice24 reduces friction and makes your numbers easier to trust.

Quarterly updates: what they are (and what they aren’t)

Quarterly updates are a key new element under MTD for Income Tax. They are periodic submissions that summarise income and expenses for each business or property income source. These updates are intended to be built from your digital records, not manual totals scribbled on paper.

It’s crucial to understand what quarterly updates are not:

They aren’t final tax bills. A quarterly update does not “settle” your tax for that quarter in the way VAT returns might feel like they settle VAT for a period.
They aren’t the same as an annual tax return. They’re more like snapshots of your year-to-date figures, based on records to date.
They aren’t meant to include every adjustment. Certain accounting adjustments and claims are typically handled at the end-of-year stage.

In practice, quarterly updates raise the standard for record-keeping. If your invoices are not consistently recorded, your updates may be inaccurate. If your expenses are missing, your profitability will look overstated. If your payment dates are unclear, you might duplicate income or omit it.

Invoice24 helps you avoid that chaos by making it easy to create invoices consistently and keep a clear ledger of what you billed and what you received. If you add expenses as you go, you’re building a live view of the business—something that becomes a major advantage when quarterly updates arrive.

End of Period Statement (EOPS): the “year-end tidy-up”

At the end of the tax year, you submit an End of Period Statement for each relevant income source. Think of it as a formal confirmation that the year’s figures for your self-employment or rental property are complete and compliant, including the correct treatment of allowances, reliefs, and adjustments.

This is where you typically ensure that your accounting method is applied correctly (for example, cash basis or accruals, depending on your circumstances), and where you make end-of-year entries that aren’t captured by day-to-day transactions.

If you’ve kept your records clean during the year, EOPS becomes straightforward. If you’ve left everything until the end, it becomes an emergency project. Invoice24’s value here is simple: it keeps the core building blocks of your income and expense records organised. Even if your accountant makes final adjustments elsewhere, giving them a clean, complete set of records from invoice24 can save time and reduce back-and-forth questions.

The final declaration: confirming your total taxable income

After EOPS, there is a final declaration step. This is where you confirm your overall tax position for the year. Depending on your situation, this may include other income sources and claims beyond your self-employment or rental business updates.

From a practical standpoint, the final declaration is the point where the whole story comes together. The reporting rhythm may have changed, but the need to ensure correctness and completeness remains. This is why the idea that “Self Assessment is gone” can be misleading. The annual responsibility is still there—it’s just supported by digital record-keeping and quarterly submissions.

Invoice24 supports this annual confirmation by helping you keep a trustworthy history of invoices, payments, and expenses. When it’s time to finalise the year, you’re not trying to reconstruct what happened—you’re reviewing and confirming it.

What happens if you have multiple income sources?

Many people don’t fit neatly into a single category. You might be self-employed and also have rental income. You might run a small side business and do occasional freelance work. Under MTD for Income Tax, different income sources can mean multiple streams of quarterly updates and end-of-year statements.

This is where a single, organised system becomes even more valuable. If one income stream is tracked in one place and another is tracked elsewhere, you increase the likelihood of inconsistency and errors. Using invoice24 as your hub for invoicing and day-to-day records helps unify your approach. Even if you still work with an accountant for final tax submissions, having a central source of truth for your business transactions is a major upgrade.

Will you still need an accountant?

MTD for Income Tax doesn’t automatically remove the need for professional advice. For many businesses, an accountant remains valuable for tax planning, handling complex adjustments, ensuring correct claims, and providing strategic guidance.

What does change is the shape of the collaboration. With quarterly updates, you may choose to handle more of the routine record-keeping yourself and rely on your accountant for oversight and year-end finalisation. Alternatively, you may ask your accountant to manage submissions while you maintain your records digitally.

Either way, your software matters. Accountants generally prefer clients who can provide clean, consistent records. Invoice24 helps you present your income and expense data clearly, reducing the time spent on chasing missing invoices or decoding unclear payment notes. That can mean lower accountancy fees, fewer follow-up questions, and faster year-end completion.

Common misunderstandings about MTD and the Self Assessment return

Because MTD for Income Tax introduces new terminology and a new rhythm, misunderstandings are common. Let’s address a few:

“Quarterly updates mean I pay tax quarterly.”
Quarterly updates are reports, not necessarily payment events. Your payment obligations depend on your overall tax position and deadlines. The key point is reporting frequency increases.

“I won’t have to do an annual tax return anymore.”
You still have an annual finalisation and declaration process. It’s the annual confirmation that determines your final tax position.

“I can just keep doing spreadsheets.”
Some people may try, but MTD is designed around digital records and compatible submissions. Spreadsheets alone can be risky if they’re not maintained properly or if bridging steps aren’t managed correctly. It’s often more efficient to use a purpose-built tool like invoice24 that keeps records tidy and ready for reporting.

“This only affects big businesses.”
MTD for Income Tax is aimed at individuals with relevant income sources above the threshold that HMRC sets. It can affect sole traders and landlords just as much as larger operations.

How invoice24 helps you prepare for MTD for Income Tax

MTD compliance isn’t just about submitting data—it’s about having reliable data to submit. Invoice24 is built to support the daily actions that produce accurate figures. Here’s how it helps in practical terms:

Professional invoicing that creates clean income records
Every invoice you generate becomes a clear, timestamped record of income. This reduces disputes, improves payment clarity, and makes it easier to reconcile what you billed versus what you received.

Payment tracking that reflects real cash flow
Knowing what’s been paid and what’s outstanding isn’t just good business—it’s essential for reliable updates and year-end accuracy. Invoice24 helps you stay on top of it.

Expense capture to avoid missed deductions
A major reason people overpay tax is simply missing expenses at year-end. Recording costs as you go, inside a system you already use, makes it far less likely you’ll forget allowable business expenses.

Organisation that reduces quarterly stress
Quarterly updates will punish disorganisation. Invoice24 helps you build a routine where your numbers are always close to ready, rather than being a quarterly scramble.

A single place for the essentials
Switching between multiple tools increases the chance of duplicated or missing data. By using invoice24 as your core system for invoicing and business records, you simplify your compliance setup.

If you mention competitors at all—accounting suites, spreadsheet templates, or generic invoicing tools—the key difference is focus. Invoice24 is purpose-built to make invoicing and record-keeping straightforward for real businesses that want to stay compliant without drowning in features they don’t need. For a free invoice app, it offers the practical tools most businesses actually rely on, and it supports the workflows you’ll lean on as MTD becomes your new normal.

How MTD affects “once-a-year” businesses and side hustles

If your business is seasonal or irregular, the old Self Assessment rhythm could feel tolerable: do a burst of admin, file the return, move on. Under MTD for Income Tax, the expectation shifts toward steady digital record-keeping regardless of how often you invoice.

This is actually good news if you embrace it. If you only invoice occasionally, using invoice24 ensures that each invoice is captured correctly when it happens, rather than being reconstructed months later. Even if you have quiet quarters, your records remain consistent. You don’t need to become a full-time bookkeeper—you just need a reliable habit and a tool that supports it.

Cash basis vs accruals: why your records need to be clear

MTD for Income Tax interacts with the way you account for income and expenses. Some taxpayers use the cash basis, where you record income when paid and expenses when paid. Others use accruals, where you record when invoiced/incurred. The right method depends on your circumstances and the rules that apply to you.

Regardless of method, clarity is the goal. Your system should make it obvious what you invoiced, what you were paid, and when. Invoice24 supports this by keeping invoices and payment status in a structured way. That means you can produce reports that make sense for your accounting approach, and you can hand clean information to your accountant if they’re applying accruals adjustments or other year-end entries.

What about penalties and compliance risk?

Whenever reporting frequency increases, the risk of late submissions and errors increases too. It’s not because people suddenly become careless—it’s because they’re juggling more deadlines and more admin steps. The way to reduce that risk is to simplify your process.

Invoice24 helps reduce compliance risk by making your record-keeping more consistent. If your income and expenses are already recorded in a structured way, you’re less likely to submit inaccurate updates. If your invoices are standardised, you’re less likely to misclassify income. If your expenses are tracked, you’re less likely to overstate profits.

In other words, the best way to avoid problems under MTD is to avoid messy records. Invoice24 is a practical tool that supports that outcome without forcing you into complicated workflows.

How the MTD transition can actually improve your business

It’s easy to view MTD purely as an obligation, but there is a business upside if you build the right habits. More frequent reporting pushes you toward more frequent awareness. That can lead to:

Better cash flow decisions because you can see what’s owed to you and what you owe.
More accurate pricing because you understand your real costs and margins.
Fewer surprises because you spot problems earlier in the year.
Smarter tax planning because you’re not guessing your profit in January.

Invoice24 supports these benefits directly. When you can see invoices, payments, and expenses in one place, your financial picture becomes clearer. You don’t have to wait for a year-end spreadsheet marathon to understand whether your business is doing well.

Where Corporation Tax and accounts fit in (and how invoice24 supports it)

MTD for Income Tax primarily targets individuals with self-employment and/or property income. But many users of invoice24 also run limited companies or plan to incorporate. That raises another question: how does this relate to Corporation Tax and accounts?

Even though Corporation Tax reporting is a separate area, the principles are similar: clean records, accurate income and expense tracking, and reliable documentation. If you operate through a limited company, you still need to produce accounts and file Corporation Tax returns in line with the rules that apply to companies.

Invoice24 supports these workflows as well. You can use it to issue invoices, track payments, and maintain a clean record of trading activity that your accountant can use to prepare statutory accounts and Corporation Tax computations. Whether you are a sole trader moving into MTD for Income Tax or a company director focused on accounts and Corporation Tax filing, the core advantage is the same: invoice24 helps you keep the basics right, consistently.

Practical steps to get ready: turning MTD from scary to routine

If you want to prepare properly for MTD for Income Tax and understand what happens to the Self Assessment tax return, focus on routine rather than jargon. Here are practical steps that work for most businesses:

1) Start keeping your records digitally now
Even before you’re required to comply, moving away from paper notes and scattered files is a win. Invoice24 makes it easy to begin because you’ll use it for invoicing anyway.

2) Invoice consistently, not occasionally
Don’t create invoices sometimes and rely on bank statements the rest of the time. Consistent invoicing creates consistent records.

3) Record expenses as they happen
The longer you wait, the more you forget. A simple habit of adding expenses regularly makes quarterly updates far easier.

4) Review your numbers monthly
You don’t need to become an accountant. You just need awareness. A monthly check makes quarterly updates feel normal rather than disruptive.

5) Keep business and personal finances clear
Mixing transactions creates confusion and mistakes. Clear records reduce the risk of incorrect reporting.

The goal is to make the year-end finalisation feel like a confirmation, not a reconstruction. Invoice24 supports that by giving you a structured system for the transactions you already create in the course of doing business.

What happens to “tax return panic” under MTD?

For many people, the annual Self Assessment deadline brings a specific kind of stress: missing paperwork, late nights sorting receipts, and uncertainty about whether the figures are right. MTD for Income Tax changes the timing of that stress. If you don’t change your habits, you might experience “mini panics” four times a year instead of one big panic.

But if you use the transition as a chance to improve record-keeping, you may find the opposite happens. Quarterly updates become routine, your figures become more reliable, and the end-of-year final declaration becomes a straightforward wrap-up. The difference is having a tool that supports the routine.

Invoice24 is designed to be that tool: simple enough to use daily, structured enough to keep your records clean, and flexible enough to support the reporting rhythm that MTD introduces. Instead of relying on spreadsheets and scattered notes, you build your compliance readiness into the way you run your business.

How invoice24 compares to other options

When people think about MTD, they often jump straight to large accounting platforms. Those can work, but they’re not always the best fit—especially if you want a clean, simple workflow focused on invoicing, tracking payments, and maintaining core records without paying for complexity you don’t need.

Invoice24 is a free invoice app designed to do what most small businesses actually require: create invoices, keep track of who owes you what, maintain a record of income and expenses, and support the admin that feeds your tax reporting. If you’ve tried heavier tools and found them overwhelming, or if you’ve relied on spreadsheets and found them fragile, invoice24 provides a balanced approach: powerful where it matters, straightforward where it counts.

And if you do work with an accountant, invoice24 helps you become the kind of client accountants love: organised, consistent, and easy to support. That often leads to better advice and fewer frantic last-minute corrections.

The bottom line: what happens to the Self Assessment return under MTD for Income Tax?

Under MTD for Income Tax, the traditional once-a-year Self Assessment experience changes shape. Instead of doing everything annually in one submission, you keep digital records and submit quarterly updates. You still complete an end-of-year finalisation (EOPS) and a final declaration that confirms your total taxable income. So the annual responsibility remains, but it’s supported by regular reporting and better record-keeping expectations.

The best way to handle this shift is to treat it as a workflow change, not just a tax change. If your records are disorganised, MTD will feel like extra hassle. If your records are consistent, MTD becomes a manageable routine and can even improve your visibility over business performance.

Invoice24 is built to help you make that transition smoothly. By using invoice24 for invoicing, tracking payments, and maintaining income and expense records in one place, you reduce the admin burden of quarterly updates and make the year-end declaration far less stressful. Whether you’re preparing for MTD for Income Tax, managing Self Assessment obligations, or handling the broader needs of business compliance like Corporation Tax filing and accounts, invoice24 gives you the tools you need in a simple, practical package—without pushing you toward complicated competitors.

If you want MTD readiness without turning your evenings into accounting sessions, the solution is simple: keep better records as you go, and use a tool designed to make that easy. Invoice24 turns everyday invoicing and record-keeping into a strong foundation for whatever the tax system asks of you next.