Making Tax Digital
Making Tax Digital for locum GPs
Most locum GPs are sole traders, which means Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) changes how you report your locum income to HMRC. Here is what it is, when it applies to you, and how to stay organised.
What is Making Tax Digital?
MTD for Income Tax replaces the single annual Self Assessment scramble with digital record-keeping and light-touch quarterly updates sent to HMRC through compatible software. You still file a tax return by 31 January after the tax year ends — but by then, most of the figures are already in the system.
When does it apply to you?
It depends on your total income from self-employment and property (your turnover, before expenses): over £50,000 — from 6 April 2026; over £30,000 — from 6 April 2027; over £20,000 — from 6 April 2028. HMRC works out your start date from your last tax return and writes to you. Only your locum (sole trader) income counts towards the threshold — salaried PAYE work, such as a part-time salaried GP post, does not.
What you actually have to do
Three things: keep your income and expense records digitally, send a quarterly summary update to HMRC through MTD-compatible software (deadlines fall on 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May), and confirm your final figures in your tax return after the year ends. Quarterly updates are summaries, not extra tax returns, and you can correct them later.
The locum-specific wrinkles
Mixed income is normal for locums: PAYE from salaried or out-of-hours work sits outside MTD, while your invoiced locum work sits inside it. NHS pension contributions, mileage and expenses still matter at year end, so keeping them attached to each session — rather than reconstructed in March — makes both the quarterly updates and the final return far easier.
Where Locum Notes fits
To be clear: Locum Notes is not MTD software and does not file anything with HMRC. What it does is keep your sessions, invoices, mileage and expenses organised as you work, and turn them into an MTD quarterly summary: turnover, expenses, simplified mileage and net profit for each update period, with its deadline, and a one-click CSV export for your accountant or MTD bridging software. If direct MTD filing matters to you, our comparison of locum apps notes which ones advertise it.
Getting ready
Check whether your 2025/26 locum turnover puts you in the first wave, choose MTD-compatible software (or confirm your accountant handles it), and start keeping digital records now rather than in April. HMRC's own guidance on GOV.UK has the full detail, and this page is a summary, not tax advice.
Get your records MTD-ready without extra admin
Locum Notes logs sessions, invoices, mileage and expenses as you work, with clean exports whenever your accountant or tax software needs them.
Try Locum Notes free