Quick answer: The Final Declaration is the single year-end submission under MTD for Income Tax, due 31 January after the tax year ends, that confirms your quarterly figures, adds any other income and reliefs, and finalises your tax position. It replaces the traditional Self Assessment return. An earlier design included a separate step called the End of Period Statement (EOPS); that step has since been removed and folded into the Final Declaration, though older guidance sometimes still references it.
If you’ve read more than one guide to MTD for Income Tax, you may have noticed some describe a three-step year-end process, quarterly updates, an End of Period Statement, then a Final Declaration, while others only mention two steps. That’s not inconsistent advice; it reflects a genuine change to how the system was designed.
What the Final Declaration covers
- Confirming the income and expense figures from your four quarterly updates.
- Adding income not covered by quarterly updates, such as employment income, dividends, savings interest, or capital gains.
- Claiming personal allowances, reliefs, and deductions, such as pension contributions or Gift Aid.
- Finalising your total tax liability for the year, the point at which quarterly updates stop being provisional.
Why you might still see ‘EOPS’ mentioned
When MTD for Income Tax was first designed, the process included a separate End of Period Statement (EOPS) for each income source, submitted before the Final Declaration, essentially a sign-off confirming each business’s figures were complete. HMRC later simplified this, removing EOPS as a distinct step and folding its function into the Final Declaration. Some blog posts, and even some older software documentation, haven’t been updated to reflect that, which is why you’ll still see references to a three-step process. Under the current rules, it’s quarterly updates followed directly by the Final Declaration.
The deadline
The Final Declaration is due by 31 January following the end of the tax year, the same date the annual Self Assessment deadline has always fallen on. For the 2026/27 tax year, that’s 31 January 2028.
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