Making Tax Digital for corporation tax: where things stand

 

I checked GOV.UK's current position on Making Tax Digital for Corporation Tax today, 20 October 2026. The GOV.UK page on the topic is a concluded consultation — published 12 November 2020 and last updated 30 November 2021 — setting out the potential design of an MTD system for incorporated businesses. It names no mandatory start date. To be exact: there is currently no mandated start date for MTD for Corporation Tax.

 

That picture is confirmed by HMRC's technical note on modernising the tax system (published 26 March 2025), which sets MTD milestones only for VAT — mandatory for all VAT-registered businesses since April 2022 — and for Income Tax — starting April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000, extending to income over £20,000 from April 2028. MTD for Corporation Tax gets no mandated date there either.

 

So where does that leave companies? MTD for Corporation Tax is not currently mandatory, and no go-live date has been announced. What companies should do now is straightforward: keep proper digital records, use MTD-compatible software where it already applies, and keep an eye on GOV.UK and HMRC announcements — the direction of travel is clearly digital, so being ready early will pay off.