Accountants are best placed to offer ongoing Making Tax Digital support
By Craig Reid, Partner
Alongside record-breaking temperatures, this summer will see the first official deadline for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, as a quarterly update is due on 7 August 2026.
Across the board, registration is still troublingly low and the group least likely to be registered is those unrepresented by accountants.
If you are thinking about facing MTD without expert support, the risk of noncompliance and inefficiency should highlight that it is time to think again.
Can you handle Making Tax Digital without an accountant?
Many of the people impacted by MTD this year will have been handling their own accounts for many years.
Right now, self-employed individuals and landlords with a qualifying income over £50,000 need to follow the new rules, but this will impact those earning more than £30,000 in 2027 and £20,000 in 2028.
As the scope expands, accountant support is going to be more beneficial.
MTD necessitates quarterly updates alongside the annual filing and must be managed through MTD-compliant software that connects your digital records with HMRC’s system.
If you have learned the old way of managing tax, this approach will no longer be sufficient and you could find yourself making costly mistakes that have serious long-term implications.
An estimated 111,840 unrepresented landlords and self-employed individuals are still left to register despite this being mandatory from April 2026 and it seems that a lack of confidence could be holding them back.
Is it worth using an accountant for Making Tax Digital?
It is not an exaggeration to proclaim MTD as the most significant change to tax for a generation.
Accountants have spent years (MTD was announced in 2015, after all) understanding the new obligations and determining which digital solutions would be best suited for each affected demographic.
Our team, in particular, has been working with clients to get them confident and comfortable with the new way of operating and would like to improve MTD compliance across the board.
One of the big sticking points that is holding people back is a lack of awareness of when the obligations kick in.
Rather than being directly linked to your current income, MTD obligations for 2026 were determined by your qualifying income in the 2024/25 tax year.
Only those who remain below the threshold for three years become exempt from MTD once they have been pulled into scope.
If you are now realising that MTD affects you or is coming your way, we can help you get set up and ready.
Time is short before the 7 August quarterly update deadline, but it is vital to be registered and confident with MTD-compliant software before this point.
While the penalties for missing deadlines do not kick in until next year, letting this pass by unaddressed will cause complications in the future, especially when the time comes to file your annual tax return.
Our team can get you set up and provide ongoing support for your MTD obligations so that the new rules do not take all your time and energy away from your business.
Get in touch if you want to face your Making Tax Digital obligations with confidence.