It’s me again getting in a state about MTD?

Reply to the comment left by DPT at 10/07/2026 – 12:58
And then, do let us know how you get on.

Hi Denise, and indeed everyone who has wasted countless hours on this malicious, poorly organised waste of time.
I have spent several months wrestling with various types of software, all of which I found incomprehensively difficult and impossible to use. They are designed for trained accountants and not for ordinary people, and they are not suitable for landlords anyway. I tried all those names which you have probably heard recommended. All are unsuitable.
Then I phoned HMRC. After waiting an hour, being transferred to a different department, being cut off, trying again for another hour, I was eventually able to speak to someone who could answer some basic questions. This is what I learned:
You only need to submit 3 numbers each quarter: total rent, total allowable expenses, and total profit, which is the difference between the first two.
If your agent sends you a statement of rent paid minus expenses that they have already deducted, you can submit the net figure. Then under ‘allowable expenses,’ you only have to include any expenses you have paid yourself.
You don’t even have to include finance costs (interest payments). They will go in to your tax return at the end of the year.
Try the software called ‘123Sheets.’ Alone of all the types of software, they are user friendly. All the others are quite astonishingly user hostile. You do NOT have to set up a system which magically makes the figures appear from some other document. You just TYPE the three figures in! They supply a template spreadsheet and you fill in the 3 numbers, go to the submission page and submit the first quarter’s statement.
If you make mistakes, it doesn’t matter because at the end of the second and subsequent quarters, you enter cumulative figures, so you can correct any over or understatement then.
It only costs about 20 pounds a quarter. But the truly unique thing about it, is that the instructions they give – actually work. You follow the steps, and it does what it says. With all the others, when you have wrestled for days, wasted hours on the phone, and eventually solved a problem, you find that another layer of complication appears, so that you never really make any progress.

Denise

We’ve been using PaTMa since 2016 and MTD this quarter took less than 15 mins after checking all transactions . It does have an interface with Xero but I don’t know why you would need it. http://Www.patma.co.uk does it all for us . Really easy to use, and keeps all your documents in one place. The key to new technology is to use frequently for a short period of time. I enter my expenses daily if necessary, but with PaTMa i can set up repeat expenses, so its just about checking the numbers on my bank statements.

My step-son (I have family of all kinds: daughter, son-in-law, step sons, step daughter-in-law, step son-in-law … the list goes on) tells me that, because my 25-26 rental income (to be submitted in January 27) shows a drop in rental gross income to below the £30k, whereas for 24-25 it exceeded the £30k by just £400, I won’t be expected to make MTD submissions in 2027 anyway!!!

I have already composed my letter to HMRC seeking exemption on the grounds of my age and decrepitude.

I’m inclined to send it off anyway, hoping they will exempt me in advance for April 2028, by which time both my husband and I will fall into the property income in excess of £20K band (unless we can get sold up and out of this malarky by then) … so does anyone know how long an exemption, if one is granted, would last?

Reply to the comment left by Denise G at 10/07/2026 – 19:00
Hi Denise
I had the same problem.
I tried to use Freeagent it was so complicated I gave up after two days.
I use a spreadsheet and bridging software Vital tax https://vitaltax.uk/.
As long as you have your totals for the expenses / income etc on a spreadsheet, submitting it is relatively easy. I use Vital tax for submitting my VAT.
I add in all the expenses manually into the various columns on the spreadsheets. It may take longer than a fancy software, but it easy for me!

I don’t qualify this year for the new four yearly digital HMRC submissions, but next year I will be caught in the trap.

Call me old fashioned but I’ve always prepared my accounts on paper. Keeping all paper receipts and printing off digital receipts and saving in a cardboard folder. Preparing my end of year tax submission by adding up total expenditure on paper using a traditional calculator and writing down the rental income on paper taking the figures from my landlord online bank account. Using an old fashioned calculator and paper and then transferring the figures from paper onto the online HMRC annual tax return using the PC each January . For years this method of keeping records for me was an easy method and worked well on each submission, it was very simple.

So basically I’m now stumped on the new HMRC submission regime using new digital software. I’ve never prepared a digital spreadsheet in my life and can’t justify using it for my simple purposes. This is so frustrating and a worry for the extra work that I now have to find and as if my work load wasn’t under a strain already. This new HMRC submission policy is a pointless exercise in time wasting and feels like big brother watching and controlling us more and more.

Hand write a letter to them ( shaky writing) and plead age and computer illiterate. I’m going that.

Yes, at 79 I have the option to opt out, maybe. But my wife is 20 years younger than me, so I can’t get her opted out as well, unfortunately.
We both own our properties 50/50 and run the lettings as a business. Does anyone know the advantage or disadvantage of applying to be registered as a partnership, hence not having to give in to all of this nonsense?

Reply to the comment left by Alexandra at 10/07/2026 – 10:44
I used mytaxdigital really simple and free, absolutely no hassle

Reply to the comment left by Suicide Jockey at 10/07/2026 – 10:07
I successfully applied for exemption on the grounds of age and digital exclusion. The key points were I was old enough not to have had computers when at school and my job had never required the use of computers.