MAAP Accountants of Christchurch, Bournemouth, Poole, and the New Forest

Looking for a professional firm of accountants and tax advisers in the New Forest, Christchurch, Bournemouth, or Poole regions? Learn more about the client services MAAP Accountants offers.

MAAP provides a one-stop financial accounting, tax, and invaluable business support services to individual taxpayers, the self-employed, partnerships and SME companies. This naturally includes financial reporting, VAT, CIS, payroll, corporate and personal tax planning services. It also includes helping sole-traders and landlords meet their new Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliance obligations.

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MTD compliance made simple

We always welcome inquiries from individuals or businesses looking for a new professional accounting or tax adviser. Call us on 01202 474545 to discuss how we can service your requirements.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for sole-traders and landlords began on 6 April 2026

MAAP has successfully worked with the first group of sole-traders and landlords to comply with their obligations under the MTD regime. Through good planning, making the first return in August 2026 proved to be straightforward and passed without complications.

If you are a sole-trader or landlord with a qualifying annual income between £50,000 and £30,000, you will be in the Phase 2 group who will need to begin MTD reporting from April 2027 and make your first return by 7 August 2027. Compliance requires the in-scope taxpayer to digitally record their separate sources of income and expenditure for every self-employed business they run, and/or both their UK combined property income and their overseas combined property income if applicable.

If you are a sole-trader or landlord with a qualifying annual income between £30,000 and £20,000, you will be in the Phase 3 group of taxpayers who must begin MTD reporting from April 2028. You share the same MTD reporting obligations as the Phase 2 group.

If you are a sole-trader or landlord with a qualifying annual income of less than £20,000, you are currently exempt from complying with MTD. You will follow the traditional process of preparing and filing a Self Assessment tax return before the following 31 January after the relevant tax year has ended on 5 April.

If you register with the HMRC as a new sole-trader or landlord, the decision of whether you must comply with MTD will depend upon your estimated qualifying annual income. Taxpayers can choose to voluntarily adopt MTD if they so wish.

Complying with MTD is not difficult, but it does require taxpayers to begin organising, recording and reporting their taxable income and allowable expenditure from the start of the tax year instead of months after it has ended.

Let us bust one myth. MTD TAXPAYERS DO NOT HAVE TO USE HMRC APPROVED SOFTWARE TO COMPLY WITH MTD . We work with many clients who continue to use spreadsheets. MAAP collects in those spreadsheets and using our approved bridging software, submits MTD returns on behalf of our clients.

Although we believe many taxpayers would significantly benefit from adopting accounting software, don't believe the marketing hype it is the solution to all your problems. It takes significantly more time and effort to responsibly operate accounting software like Sage or Xero … but the benefits far outweigh the disadvantages. MAAP has 30 years' experience of designing, training, and operating accounting software for clients of all types and sizes.

There are only two mistakes to be made concerning MTD compliance. The first is to underestimate the impact MTD will have on rooting out tax evasion and avoidance. The second is failing to start planning how to meet your new MTD obligations early enough to make the transition a smooth and stress-free exercise. You could ignore MTD until the last minute, but it will cost you more and cause you unnecessary grief to catch up.

If you still feel concerned about MTD, call us on 01202 474545 and let us put your mind at rest.