Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) is the biggest change to personal tax reporting in a generation. If you are a sole trader or landlord with qualifying income above the threshold, you will need to keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC rather than filing a single return each year.
Who is affected and when
The rules are being phased in by income level. The first group brought in are those with higher combined self-employment and property income, with lower thresholds following in later years. If you are unsure which group you fall into, that is exactly the kind of thing a quick conversation with us can settle.
What you will need to do
- Keep your records in MTD-compatible software rather than spreadsheets or paper.
- Send a summary of income and expenses to HMRC every quarter.
- Finalise the year with an end-of-period statement and final declaration.
How to prepare now
The single best thing you can do is move to cloud bookkeeping early, so the quarterly habit is already in place before it becomes mandatory. We handle the software setup, the migration and the filings, so for most clients MTD becomes a non-event. If you would like to get ahead of it, get in touch.