Quarter 1 was due 4 days ago

You've filed. It isn't final.

A quarterly update is a summary, not a final figure. If you rushed 6 Apr 2026 to 5 Jul 2026 and coded three months of transactions in one evening, the deductions you missed can still be corrected before your final declaration. Nothing is lost yet.

No account, no card. Your statement is read in your browser and never stored.

Forensix is not the software you file with.

It is not HMRC-recognised and it cannot submit a quarterly update. Keep whatever you already use for that. Forensix does the other half of the job: working out what you are allowed to claim in the first place, which no filing tool is judged on and most barely attempt.

The rules

What Making Tax Digital actually asks of you

Keep digital records

Income and expenses recorded digitally as you go. A shoebox of receipts and one evening in January is no longer compliant, even if the final numbers are right.

Send four updates a year

A summary of income and expenses each quarter, through HMRC-recognised software. These are not final and can be corrected later.

File a final declaration

At year end you pull it together, add anything outside your trade, and settle up. This is the one that decides your tax.

This tax year's quarters

Q1 6 Apr 2026 to 5 Jul 2026due 7 Aug 2026 · passed
Q2 6 Jul 2026 to 5 Oct 2026due 7 Nov 2026 · in 88 days
Q3 6 Oct 2026 to 5 Jan 2027due 7 Feb 2027 · in 180 days
Q4 6 Jan 2027 to 5 Apr 2027due 7 May 2027 · in 269 days

HMRC is not issuing quarterly-update penalty points during 2026/27, but all four updates still have to be in before you can file the annual return.

Who is in, and when

April 2026over £50,000Sole traders and landlords over £50,000. About 864,000 people.
April 2027over £30,000The threshold drops to £30,000.
April 2028over £20,000Planned drop to £20,000.

The threshold is on qualifying income, meaning gross trading and property income before expenses. People are caught by this who are nowhere near that in actual profit.

Why this matters

Filing and finding are different jobs

HMRC recognition is a plumbing test. It confirms software can submit correctly. It says nothing about whether the software is any good at working out what you can claim.

Your MTD software

Keeps digital records

Submits your four updates

Files the final declaration

Sends HMRC whatever you told it

Will not tell you the subscription you coded as personal was deductible

Forensix

Reads every line of your statement against the deduction rules

Tells you what you are not claiming, and why it qualifies

Under-claims where a rule is a judgement call, on purpose

Gives you a figure you can hand to your filing tool or accountant

Cannot submit to HMRC. Not trying to.

Check the quarter you just filed in about ten seconds

Drop in the bank CSV covering 6 Apr 2026 to 5 Jul 2026. You get the total you are not claiming and the biggest items, free, without an account. Nothing is stored.

Scan my statement free

General information, not tax advice. Confirm your own position on GOV.UK or with an accountant.