UK Tax Deadlines 2026/27: The Landlord's Key Dates Calendar

The UK tax deadlines for 2026/27 carry more moving parts for landlords than any year before. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is live from 6 April 2026, the 60-day Capital Gains Tax clock keeps running for anyone who sells, and the enacted April 2027 property income tax rates are now on the horizon. This page is the single-pane calendar: every key date for the year in one place, with links out to the detailed guides for each deadline.

The UK tax year dates for 2026/27 run from 6 April 2026 to 5 April 2027. Everything below is anchored to those two days: the tax year 26/27 dates set when income falls into the year, when allowances expire, and when the filing and payment clocks start. Use the page as a planning map. The dates are grouped first into a chronological table you can scan in seconds, then explained section by section so you know exactly which deadlines apply to you, whether you hold property personally, jointly, or through a company.

2026/27 landlord tax calendar at a glance

The table lists the load-bearing dates for the 2026/27 tax year in date order. Not every date applies to every landlord: the MTD rows only matter if your qualifying income is above the threshold, and the Capital Gains Tax row only applies if you sell. The "Who it applies to" column tells you which is which.

Date	What is due	Who it applies to
6 April 2026	2026/27 tax year begins; MTD for Income Tax goes live	All landlords; MTD start for income above 50,000 pounds
5 July 2026	MTD quarter 1 period ends (covers 6 Apr to 5 Jul)	MTD-mandated landlords
31 July 2026	Second payment on account for 2025/26 (a payment date, not a filing date)	Landlords with a 2024/25 bill over 1,000 pounds
7 August 2026	MTD quarter 1 update deadline	MTD-mandated landlords
5 October 2026	MTD quarter 2 period ends (6 Jul to 5 Oct)	MTD-mandated landlords
5 October 2026	Deadline to register for Self Assessment if newly in scope for 2025/26	First-time landlords with 2025/26 rental income
31 October 2026	Paper 2025/26 Self Assessment filing deadline	Landlords filing on paper (rare)
7 November 2026	MTD quarter 2 update deadline	MTD-mandated landlords
30 December 2026	Deadline to file online if you want tax under 3,000 pounds collected via your PAYE code	Landlords with a PAYE income source
5 January 2027	MTD quarter 3 period ends (6 Oct to 5 Jan)	MTD-mandated landlords
31 January 2027	2025/26 online filing deadline, 2025/26 balancing payment, and first 2026/27 payment on account	All Self Assessment landlords
7 February 2027	MTD quarter 3 update deadline	MTD-mandated landlords
5 April 2027	MTD quarter 4 period ends; 2026/27 tax year ends	All landlords
6 April 2027	New property income tax rates begin (22/42/47 in England, Wales and NI; only Scotland carved out); MTD threshold drops to 30,000 pounds	All landlords; new MTD cohort
7 May 2027	MTD quarter 4 update deadline (for the 2026/27 year)	MTD-mandated landlords
Within 60 days of completion	Report and pay any Capital Gains Tax on a UK residential property disposal	Anyone selling at a taxable gain (every disposal if non-resident)

The rest of this guide breaks the calendar into the parts of the system that drive it: the Self Assessment spine, the MTD overlay, the Capital Gains Tax clock, the company route, and the April 2027 change ahead.

The Self Assessment spine: 31 January and 31 July

For most landlords, the backbone of the year is Self Assessment. Two payment dates and one filing date carry the most weight, and confusing them is one of the most common (and expensive) mistakes.

31 January 2027 is the deadline to file your 2025/26 tax return online and to pay the balancing payment for that year. It is also the date your first 2026/27 payment on account falls due. The balancing-payment due date is set by section 59B of the Taxes Management Act 1970. Miss the filing deadline and an automatic 100 pound penalty applies even if you owe nothing, followed by daily penalties after three months and tax-geared penalties at six and twelve months.

31 July 2026 is the second payment on account for 2025/26. This is the date most often misread as a filing deadline. It is not. Nothing is filed on 31 July. It is purely a payment towards the bill you will finalise the following January. You make payments on account if your previous Self Assessment bill (after tax already deducted at source) was more than 1,000 pounds, and each instalment is normally 50% of that bill, due on 31 January and 31 July.

Other Self Assessment dates worth pinning:

• 5 October 2026: the deadline to tell HMRC you need to file for 2025/26 if you have not registered before (for example, a first-time landlord who let a property during 2025/26).
• 31 October 2026: the paper filing deadline for the 2025/26 return. Most landlords file online and this date does not apply to them.
• 30 December 2026: the online filing deadline if you want HMRC to collect a balance of under 3,000 pounds through your PAYE tax code rather than as a lump sum, where you have an employment or pension income source.

For the full mechanics of the filing deadline and the penalties that follow it, see our guide to the landlord tax return deadline for 2026. For payment-on-account planning, the same 31 January and 31 July dates carry through into 2027/28.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: the quarterly overlay

From 6 April 2026, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA) is live. If your qualifying income (gross rental income plus any self-employment turnover, before expenses) was above 50,000 pounds on your 2024/25 return, you are in scope from the start of the 2026/27 tax year. The threshold then drops to 30,000 pounds from 6 April 2027 and 20,000 pounds from 6 April 2028. Joint owners test the threshold against their own share of the gross rent, not the property total. Limited companies are outside MTD for ITSA altogether and continue to file annual corporation tax returns.

Being in scope means keeping digital records and submitting four quarterly updates a year through HMRC-recognised compatible software, then a Final Declaration to wrap up the year. The single most-confused point on every calendar is the submission deadline. The quarter period ends on the 5th, but the update is not due until the 7th of the second month after the quarter ends.

Quarter	Period covered	Submission deadline
Quarter 1	6 April to 5 July 2026	7 August 2026
Quarter 2	6 July to 5 October 2026	7 November 2026
Quarter 3	6 October 2026 to 5 January 2027	7 February 2027
Quarter 4	6 January to 5 April 2027	7 May 2027
Final Declaration	Whole 2026/27 year	31 January 2028

These are the rent quarter dates for 2026 and into 2027 that an in-scope landlord works to: the period ends on the 5th and the update follows on the 7th of the second month. You can elect to use calendar quarters instead (ending 30 June, 30 September, 31 December and 31 March), which many landlords find tidier for accounting, but the 5th-of-month tax-year quarters above are the default. The Final Declaration replaces the old annual tax return for in-scope landlords and is still due by the following 31 January.

For the full quarter-by-quarter mechanics, software choices and the digital-records rules, see our detailed guide to the MTD quarterly deadlines for 2026/27. The wider scope rules and the case for getting ready early are covered in our Making Tax Digital for landlords guide.

MTD penalties and late-payment charges

The old assumption that a missed quarterly filing brings an immediate fixed fine is wrong, and the often-quoted 200/400/800 pound escalating ladder does not exist. MTD late-submission penalties are points-based:

• You receive one point for each quarterly update filed late.
• A 200 pound penalty applies only once you reach the 4-point threshold within a rolling 24-month window, then for each further late submission while you remain at the threshold.
• Points reset to zero after 24 months of full compliance.

HMRC has confirmed a lighter-touch first year for 2026/27, easing enforcement where failures are genuine rather than deliberate. That easing applies to the quarterly updates only. It does not extend to the Final Declaration and it does not cover late payment of tax.

Late-payment charges are separate from filing penalties. From 6 April 2026, landlords inside MTD for ITSA face an accelerated schedule: 3% of the unpaid tax at 15 days late, a further 3% at 30 days, then 10% per annum from day 31. This is steeper and faster than the legacy non-MTD schedule, so the 31 January payment date matters more than ever for in-scope landlords. On top of the penalties, HMRC charges interest. That interest rate is variable and tracks the Bank of England base rate, so do not rely on any fixed headline figure. Check the live rate on the gov.uk HMRC interest rates page.

Capital Gains Tax: the 60-day clock

Selling a rental property triggers a deadline that has nothing to do with the Self Assessment or MTD cycles. If you are UK resident and dispose of UK residential property at a gain on which Capital Gains Tax is actually due, you must file a CGT on UK property return and pay the estimated tax within 60 days of completion.

The qualifier matters. Where the gain is fully covered by Private Residence Relief, capital losses, or the annual exempt amount, no 60-day return is required for a UK resident. Non-UK residents are treated differently: they must report every UK land disposal within 60 days, whether or not any tax is due. HMRC's own guidance confirms the UK-resident rule applies where you "have tax on gains to pay" (see the gov.uk report and pay CGT page).

For 2026/27, residential property gains are taxed at 18% within your remaining basic-rate band and 24% above it, with an annual exempt amount of 3,000 pounds per individual. These rates have applied since 30 October 2024. The 60-day payment is an estimate: the final position is reconciled on your Self Assessment return for the year, so any adjustment feeds into the following 31 January.

The full reporting mechanics, including how the 60-day figure interacts with your annual return and what happens if you have multiple disposals, are set out in our guide to CGT payment deadlines on property sales.

Corporation tax: the company landlord cycle

If you hold property through a limited company, none of the Self Assessment or MTD dates above apply to the company. Companies are outside MTD for ITSA and run their own corporation tax cycle, keyed to the company's accounting period rather than the 5 April tax year:

• Pay corporation tax within 9 months and 1 day of the accounting period end. For a 31 March year-end, that is 1 January.
• File the CT600 corporation tax return within 12 months of the accounting period end. For a 31 March year-end, that is 31 March the following year.
• Note the order: payment is due before the return. Companies with augmented profits above 1.5 million pounds pay by quarterly instalments instead of in a single sum.

The corporation tax rate is 19% on profits up to 50,000 pounds, with marginal relief between 50,000 and 250,000 pounds, and a main rate of 25% above 250,000 pounds. These thresholds are divided by the number of associated companies, so a landlord running several property companies should check how the bands split. Directors who also draw income personally still have their own Self Assessment dates to keep.

The full corporation tax timetable, including the instalment regime and the penalties for late filing, is covered in our guide to corporation tax deadlines and penalties. If you are weighing up whether to incorporate at all, our buy-to-let limited company guide walks through the trade-offs.

Looking ahead: the April 2027 property income tax rates

The 2026/27 year ends with a significant change on the horizon. From 6 April 2027, property income in England, Wales and Northern Ireland is taxed at separate rates: 22% basic, 42% higher and 47% additional. This is enacted law, not a proposal. It was announced at the Autumn Budget 2025 (26 November 2025) and enacted by sections 6 and 7 of Finance Act 2026, which received Royal Assent on 18 March 2026. Only Scotland is carved out, so Scottish taxpayers pay the Scottish income tax rates on their property income. (Section 8 of the same Act holds a future power for Wales and Scotland to set their own property income rates, but it is not in force for 2027/28.)

• Basic rate: 22% (was 20%)
• Higher rate: 42% (was 40%)
• Additional rate: 47% (was 45%)

A common misreading is that this leaves every landlord worse off, including basic-rate landlords. It does not, and the reason is the Section 24 finance-cost reducer. Finance Act 2026 raises the reducer from 20% to 22% at the same time, so for a basic-rate landlord the reducer (22%) matches the rate on property income (22%). No new wedge opens for them. Higher and additional-rate landlords still face a finance-cost wedge, but it does not widen: the reducer improves from 20% to 22% while their rates rise by the same 2 points, so the gap stays the same as in 2026/27.

Because the 2026/27 year is the last full year before the change, it is the natural window to model your 2027/28 position and to revisit whether incorporation makes sense for your portfolio. The detail, including worked numbers on the reducer, is in our guide to the 2027 property income tax rates for landlords.

What to do before 6 April 2026

The single highest-value action this year is preparing for MTD before the tax year starts, because the first quarter begins on day one. A short pre-year checklist:

• Check your status. Confirm whether your 2024/25 qualifying income was above 50,000 pounds. If it was, you are in MTD from 6 April 2026.
• Choose software. Pick an HMRC-recognised compatible package (or a spreadsheet-plus-bridging setup that is on the list) and have it ready before the year begins.
• Set up digital record-keeping. Quarterly filing demands more consistent bookkeeping than the old annual system; get the routine in place early.
• Use 2025/26 allowances. Make sure any use-it-or-lose-it reliefs and your annual exempt amount are not wasted before 5 April 2026.
• Plan cash flow. Map the 31 January and 31 July payment dates against your rent receipts so the demands do not bunch up.

For a structured pre-year-end run-through, see our end of tax year checklist for landlords. To get the timing of larger expenses right against your tax position, our list of allowable landlord tax deductions shows what counts and when to claim it.

Where the calendar differs across the UK

The Self Assessment, MTD and Capital Gains Tax dates in this calendar are UK-wide, because HMRC administers them for the whole UK. The differences sit elsewhere:

• Transaction taxes on purchase. England and Northern Ireland use Stamp Duty Land Tax with a 5% additional-dwellings surcharge. Scotland uses Land and Buildings Transaction Tax with an 8% Additional Dwelling Supplement, payable to Revenue Scotland. Wales uses Land Transaction Tax with its own higher rates for additional properties, payable to the Welsh Revenue Authority. Each has its own filing and payment deadline tied to completion, not to the income tax calendar.
• The April 2027 property income rates. The 22/42/47 rates apply in England, Wales and Northern Ireland; only Scotland is carved out, so Scottish taxpayers pay the Scottish income tax rates on their property income. Section 8 of Finance Act 2026 holds a future power for Wales and Scotland to set their own property income rates, but it is not in force for 2027/28.

If your portfolio spans more than one UK nation, the income tax calendar is shared but the purchase-tax and 2027 rate positions are not, so it is worth a single review to keep them aligned.

How a property accountant keeps the calendar on track

The 2026/27 year layers a quarterly MTD rhythm on top of the annual Self Assessment spine, with the 60-day CGT clock and the company cycle running independently. The practical risk is not any single date but the way several can collide, most obviously around 31 January. A specialist property accounting team handles the diary, the software, the quarterly filings and the cash-flow modelling so the deadlines stop being something you chase.

If you are choosing who to work with, our guides on how to choose a property accountant and what a property accountant actually does set out what good looks like. To talk through your own 2026/27 timetable, use the enquiry form on this page and a property specialist will be in touch.