The Notify Gazette
Published by Authority · United Kingdom Edition
OFFICIAL · His Majesty's Revenue & Customs
Notice No.
NTC-GB-003
Date Issued
2026-05-27
Status
In force
Category
Tax & Customs

Making Tax Digital for VAT, Self Assessment and the Government Gateway one-time-passcode dispatch

Making Tax Digital for VAT has been mandatory for all VAT-registered businesses since April 2022; from April 2026 Self Assessment landlords and sole traders above £50,000 turnover joined the regime, and the April 2027 phase will bring the £30,000 threshold cohort. 4notify dispatches quarter-end VAT submission reminders, payment-on-account alerts and Government Gateway second-factor codes through email, SMS and push — with HMRC-compatible templating recognised by the agent's authority chain.

EmailSMSPush
Preamble

Whereas His Majesty's Revenue & Customs requires VAT-registered businesses to file digital records and quarterly returns through Making Tax Digital-compatible software, and whereas Self Assessment payers above the £50,000 income threshold from April 2026 (and £30,000 from April 2027) are required to submit quarterly digital updates, the present Notice records the standing dispatch specification for HMRC-related reminders through 4notify Operations.

Cited Statutes
Finance Act 2017 Schedule 3 (MTD-VAT) and Finance Act 2022 Section 81 (MTD-ITSA)

Statutory basis for Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax Self Assessment.

HMRC Notice 700/22 (Making Tax Digital for VAT)

Quarter-end submission deadlines, digital-record requirements and the soft-landing penalty regime.

Government Gateway Authentication Framework

Two-factor authentication standard for HMRC, Companies House and the wider public-sector login estate.

Implementation
01

HMRC tax-quarter calendar sync

4notify imports each VAT-registered customer's tax quarter (Q1/Q2/Q3/Q4 stagger) from the agent's HMRC API connection.

02

T-30 / T-14 / T-7 / T-1 cadence

Quarter-end reminder cadence: 30, 14, 7 and 1 day before the submission deadline; payment-on-account: 31 January and 31 July anchor dates.

03

Government Gateway OTP

Second-factor delivery within the 60-second OTP window across the four MNOs; fallback to email if SMS not deliverable.

04

Soft-landing penalty awareness

HMRC's soft-landing penalty regime is referenced in the dispatch copy so the customer understands the cost of late submission.

Dispatch Envelope
json
{
  "event": "hmrc.vat.quarter_end_reminder",
  "customer_utr": "1234567890",
  "vat_number": "GB123456789",
  "quarter": "2026-Q2",
  "deadline": "2026-08-07",
  "days_to_deadline": 14,
  "template": "vat_q_end_t14_v2",
  "channels": ["email", "sms"]
}
Sample Dispatch
SMS

HMRC reminder: Your VAT return for Q2 2026 is due in 14 days. File at hmrc.gov.uk/mtd before 7 Aug or a soft-landing penalty applies. Reply STOP to opt out.

Enforcement Checklist
  • MTD-VAT software registered with HMRC API
  • Quarter-stagger calendar synced per customer
  • OTP delivery P50 latency ≤4 seconds across MNOs
  • Companies House Government Gateway integration tested
  • Soft-landing penalty copy approved by the agent's compliance lead
What 4notify does differently

4notify is the only A2P platform that recomputes the HMRC quarter-stagger calendar from the agent's MTD-software connection, dispatches Government Gateway OTPs across all four MNOs with P50 ≤4s, and carries the soft-landing penalty copy approved by every major UK accountancy stack.

Questions on the Order Paper
Do I need an HMRC API key on the 4notify side?

No. 4notify operates on dispatch envelopes from the agent's MTD-compatible software; the HMRC API connection remains on the agent's infrastructure.

What happens to the cadence if a quarter end falls on a bank holiday?

HMRC moves the submission deadline to the next working day; 4notify recomputes the T-1 reminder accordingly.

Can I dispatch to both the agent and the client?

Yes. The dispatch envelope supports a primary recipient (agent) and a CC recipient (client) with separate templates.

Signed at the Cabinet Office
4notify Operations
2026-05-27 · NTC-GB-003

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