Google searches for Making Tax Digital hit record high
1 month ago | 8 comments
Landlords slow to sign up for Making Tax Digital as deadline nears
8:31 AM, 10th March 2026, 1 month ago
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With less than a month to go until Making Tax Digital comes into force, only 5% of taxpayers, including landlords, have signed up, according to a story in The Telegraph.
Under the controversial scheme, from April 2026 landlords earning more than £50,000 will be required to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HM Revenue & Customs using authorised MTD-compliant software.
Landlords earning between £30,000 and £50,000 will be brought into the scheme in April 2027.
People do not understand MTD
Despite HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) ramping up its campaign to promote Making Tax Digital, sources told The Telegraph that only around 50,000 people, just more than 5% of the estimated 864,000 taxpayers who need to register this year, have signed up so far.
Over the next three years, nearly three million taxpayers are expected to join the scheme.
Rachael Griffin, tax and financial planning expert at Quilter, told The Telegraph that many taxpayers, including landlords, still do not understand how Making Tax Digital will work.
She said: “The low sign‑up figures show that many people still do not understand what quarterly reporting will mean for them, and that gap in understanding risks becoming a pinch-point as we approach implementation.
“The risk is a late scramble among those with mixed income sources who realise too late that the new reporting cycle is not optional.”
No real benefit
As previously reported by Property118, despite the government claiming Making Tax Digital will help landlords, an accountant says this is not the case.
Simon Misiewicz previously told Property118: “There’s no real benefit beyond maybe streamlining some of the work you already do, does it help with tax returns and submissions? The truth is, I can’t see how.
“There’s no advantage for the individual in submitting quarterly returns, because HMRC doesn’t do anything with them until the end of the year. You don’t pay your taxes any earlier, and there is no real cash-flow benefit for the government”.
The government admitted in the Making Tax Digital impact assessment that landlords earning £50,000 could incur an average transitional cost of £285 and an average annual additional cost of £115.
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Member Since June 2022 - Comments: 6
10:10 AM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
My husband and I have 5 properties and we share the income 50/50.
I dont have to sign up until 2027 but I’d like to start early, so that I know what im doing. My problem is, I dont know which app to use. I only want to input our finances once and have the app devide our income for me. Im already fretting!!
Member Since June 2015 - Comments: 333
10:11 AM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Do they mean very few people have opted to do trial submissions?
Some of us are waiting for the final touches to be put to the software we are using. I’m currently running 2 different ones to see if the results are near enough the same. One of them is much nicer to use but I know there is an error in it. The other one is harder work and more difficult to decipher the reports but I suspect may be more accurate. I won’t know until the end of the tax year. One of them is doing a webinar this afternoon to show us how their system will do the quarterly submissions. Is it any surprise we haven’t done the trial submissions yet if not all software providers have had the capability to do so?
Anyone who thinks the costs will be around the figures quoted in the article clearly hasn’t looked at the real life cost of software. Someone with one or two properties may be able to get free software but anyone with a portfolio will need to pay. For useful software that does more than just MTD it’s often around £100 per month.
Member Since June 2015 - Comments: 333
10:17 AM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Reply to the comment left by Carole Stanton at 10/03/2026 – 10:10
Most of the landlord specific software does that perfectly, especially if you are just a straightforward 50/50 split. Most can cope with multiple owner, unequal splits just as easily.
When you set it up you enter the property address and the property owners with whatever split you each own it in. The software then divides all income and expenses accordingly and allows each owner to do their own MTD submissions.
Member Since October 2013 - Comments: 48
10:25 AM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Has anyone managed to find bridging software to take figures out of a spreadsheet for MTD?
I have looked but can’t find a simple cost effective option.
Member Since June 2022 - Comments: 6
10:31 AM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 10/03/2026 – 10:11
Can you tell me which software you are using please.
Member Since October 2017 - Comments: 105
10:49 AM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Reply to the comment left by Jo Westlake at 10/03/2026 – 10:17
But then we need to add in our separate self employed income. Certainly Quickbooks doesn’t seem able to handle this at all.
Member Since June 2015 - Comments: 333
4:06 PM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Reply to the comment left by Carole Stanton at 10/03/2026 – 10:31
I’m using both Landlord Vision and Hammock.
Hammock is cheaper and relatively easy to set up. It relies on AI to reconcile transactions, which sometimes gives unexpected results.
Landlord Vision has more useful features. It has a choice of how automated you want the reconciliation to be. I prefer the choice of clicking “OK” on the match it suggests or asking it to find a different option when it gets it wrong. It also has the ability to send rent invoices to tenants.
Member Since January 2020 - Comments: 93
8:38 PM, 10th March 2026, About 1 month ago
Reply to the comment left by Carole Stanton at 10/03/2026 – 10:10
HMRC Search Tool. – Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
https://www.gov.uk/guidance/find-software-that-works-with-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax
We are using PaTMa which meets all of our needs for managing rentals
Member Since January 2025 - Comments: 13
7:35 AM, 14th March 2026, About 1 month ago
I have an accountant who I pay to do my accounts. I have been asking for guidance since MTD was first mentioned. I have had no guidance so far. I don’t want to do it myself as I want to focus on making money or on living my life; doing accounts is the accountant’s job. With no guidance, it’s difficult to ‘be ready’.