Quick answer: Business partnerships, general partnerships, LLPs and limited partnerships, are not currently part of MTD for Income Tax. HMRC has said partnerships will eventually be brought into the scheme, but no start date has been announced. A partner’s share of partnership profit doesn’t count toward their individual MTD qualifying income; only separate income outside the partnership does.
If you’re a partner in a business and wondering whether MTD for Income Tax affects your partnership, the short answer is: not yet, and not on a confirmed timeline.
The current position
All partnership types, general partnerships, limited liability partnerships (LLPs) and limited partnerships (LPs), are excluded from the current phases of MTD for Income Tax. The £50,000 threshold from April 2026, the £30,000 threshold from April 2027, and the £20,000 threshold from April 2028 apply only to individuals with qualifying income from self-employment or property in their own right. Partnerships continue to file under the existing Self Assessment partnership return rules.
What counts for individual partners
This is the detail that catches people out: your share of partnership profit is excluded from your personal MTD qualifying income calculation, no matter how large it is. What does count is any income you have outside the partnership, a separate sole trade, freelance work, or a personally-owned rental property. A partner earning £100,000 from their partnership share alone has no MTD obligation from that income; the same partner with a £35,000 buy-to-let alongside it would be caught by the threshold once it applies, based purely on the property income.
Why there’s no date yet
Partnerships were originally intended to join alongside the first wave of MTD for Income Tax when the scheme was first designed, but this was delayed as part of the broader postponements announced in December 2022, and HMRC hasn’t since confirmed a replacement date for general partnerships, LLPs, or partnerships with corporate partners.
How to prepare anyway
Even without a mandation date, moving a partnership’s record-keeping onto digital software now removes a significant amount of risk from whenever the eventual deadline does land, and it typically improves day-to-day visibility of the business regardless. If any partner also has separate qualifying income, check their individual position against our qualifying income explainer now rather than waiting.
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