MTD and Joint property owners: who has to report?

If you own a rental property with someone else, you might assume that only one person needs to deal with Making Tax Digital (MTD). However, each owner must meet their own MTD obligations if they individually fall within the rules. You do not submit one joint quarterly update simply because you share ownership of a property.

For example, if two people own a rental property equally, each reports their own 50% share of the rental income and relevant expenses. Whether they need to use MTD depends on their individual qualifying income from property and self-employment, as well as the applicable threshold and start date.

There is a useful simplification for jointly owned properties: you can choose to report your share of rental income in quarterly updates without including expenses each time. Those expenses must then be reported after the end of the tax year, before submitting your final tax return. This option applies to jointly owned properties only; expenses for properties you own solely must still be included in quarterly updates.

Сo-owners do not automatically have the same reporting obligations. One person may need to use MTD while the other continues with standard Self Assessment. Check your own qualifying income and keep records of your share of the rent and expenses to make sure you report the correct figures to HMRC.