Do I Need an Accountant for Making Tax Digital?
If you’re a sole trader or landlord affected by Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you may be wondering whether you now need an accountant.
The short answer is:
No — you don’t have to appoint an accountant just because you’re required to meet the new Making Tax Digital (MTD) rules.
You can manage MTD yourself if you’re comfortable keeping digital records, using compatible software and dealing with the required submissions to HMRC.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll want to.
What do I actually need to do?
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is being introduced gradually for sole traders and landlords.
You’ll need to comply if your qualifying income from self-employment and/or property was:
More than £50,000 in 2024/25 — MTD applies from 6 April 2026
More than £30,000 in 2025/26 — MTD applies from 6 April 2027
More than £20,000 in 2026/27 — MTD applies from 6 April 2028
Qualifying income means your gross income before expenses and tax from self-employment and property.
Under MTD, you’ll need compatible software to:
keep digital records of your business or property income and expenses
send quarterly updates to HMRC
complete and submit your year-end tax return through compatible software
The quarterly updates are summaries of your digital records — they are not four additional tax returns.
Can I do Making Tax Digital myself?
Absolutely.
If your bookkeeping is already organised and you’re confident using accounting software, you may only need a little help getting set up and then the submissions should be straight forward for you.
When might an accountant be useful?
An accountant may be particularly helpful if:
you’re unsure whether MTD applies to you
you don’t currently use bookkeeping software
your records are mainly spreadsheets, paper or bank statements (or absent!)
you’re not confident deciding which expenses are allowable
you have both self-employment and property income
you have more than one business
your bookkeeping tends to get left until the end of the year
you want someone else to keep track of deadlines
you’d simply rather spend your time running your business than dealing with HMRC
One of the biggest changes with MTD is that your bookkeeping can no longer be something you think about only once a year.
Digital records need to be maintained throughout the year, with quarterly information sent to HMRC.
For some people that will encourage better bookkeeping.
For others, it will simply create another regular job they don’t particularly want.
Do I need an accountant every quarter?
Not necessarily.
There are different ways an accountant can support you with MTD.
At Freedom Financials, I offer different levels of support depending on how much you want to do yourself.
Check & Submit
If you’re confident doing your own bookkeeping, you can maintain your records yourself. I can review them for obvious issues and take care of the required MTD submissions.
This can work well for confident DIY bookkeepers, landlords and CIS subcontractors.
Reconcile & Submit
You continue doing the day-to-day bookkeeping, but I carry out more detailed reconciliation and checking before submitting your quarterly information.
This gives you a little more reassurance without paying someone to do all of the bookkeeping from scratch.
Full Bookkeeping
If you’d rather hand the whole job over, I can maintain your bookkeeping records throughout the year and deal with the quarterly MTD requirements for you.
The important point is that MTD doesn’t have to mean paying for a full bookkeeping service if you don’t need one.
Will I still need to do a tax return?
Yes.
Making Tax Digital does not remove the year-end tax return.
After the end of the tax year, your accounts still need to be finalised. Adjustments, allowances, other income and relevant tax information need to be considered before your final tax return is submitted.
So although you’ll send information to HMRC during the year, the year-end process is still important.
What if I use a spreadsheet?
Using a spreadsheet does not automatically mean you have to abandon it.
Depending on your circumstances, spreadsheet records may be used alongside compatible bridging software that connects the information to HMRC.
However, MTD has digital record-keeping requirements, so it’s worth making sure your existing system will comply before relying on it.
Sometimes moving to bookkeeping software actually makes life easier once bank feeds and automated transactions are set up properly.
Which MTD software should I use?
There isn’t one piece of software that is right for everybody.
I work with the main bookkeeping platforms including Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks, Sage and ClearBooks.
The right choice will depend on things such as the size of your business, whether you’re VAT registered, how many transactions you have, whether you employ anyone and how much bookkeeping you want to do yourself.
If your existing software works well for you and is compatible with MTD, there may be absolutely no reason to change it.
Need help with Making Tax Digital?
Freedom Financials provides straightforward Making Tax Digital support for sole traders and landlords.
Whether you need help getting set up, someone to check and submit your quarterly updates, or a complete bookkeeping and MTD service, I can tailor the support around what you actually need.
Not sure where to start? Get in touch for a no-obligation chat and I’ll help you work out the simplest way forward.
Drop me a message at Esther@freedom-financials.co.uk
I look forward to connecting with you,
Esther
🌿 Automating the boring, so you can live the beautiful.
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