MTD Guide

Our Phase 1 landlord clients began MTD-reporting from 6 April 2026, and the transition went without a hitch.

Landlords with more than £30,000 of combined qualifying income from property and self-employment income will need to comply with MTD from 6 April 2027. Qualifying income includes the combined gross income from all your UK and overseas property sources, together with any self-employed income you may have, before any tax allowance or expenses are deducted. It does not include income from employment (PAYE), a partnership, or dividends received.

Fortunately, compliance is relatively straightforward to achieve provided you plan ahead to ensure you have the right kind of income and expenditure recording system in place from the date you must begin reporting under MTD. Read our MTD made simple guide to learn more about what MTD compliance will mean to you.

We understand landlords will be looking for solutions that minimise the extra costs involved, and reduces the time they must now spend complying with MTD. Unfortunately, we can't sugar-coat the fact that MTD will cost you more in both fees and time one way or the other. The good news is that there are solutions we can recommend that don't require you to adopt MTD software, and avoids the feeling you are using a sledgehammer to crack a nut.

MAAP has developed a free and compliant, spreadsheet-based solution for landlords with relatively straightforward property income. The client completes the spreadsheets each quarter and submits them to us for processing. We then use our HMRC-approved bridging software to prepare and submit the four quarterly reports required during the tax year. We then liaise with client to complete the final, fifth tax return that effectively replaces the SA100 tax return that would normally have been completed and filed before the 31 January deadline. The majority of clients who use, or will use, this system will pay £50 per month for a complete reporting cycle.

Some landlords may decide to use MTD as a good reason to adopt one of the many HMRC-approved accounting systems. We have years of experience in helping clients choose and integrate software such as Sage and Xero into their operations. We don't accept any incentives for the software we recommend, and all our trainers and installers are qualified accountants first, and IT-experts a close second. We have seen the dire consequences of clients who relied upon firms without both areas of expertise. Once the software system is up and running, clients can expect to pay from £100 a month for our services.

The next step

If you have received an HMRC notice that you must begin MTD-reporting from 6 April 2027, now would be a good idea to start making plans as to how you are going to fulfill your new obligations. Reading our full MTD Guide will give you a belt-and-braces introduction to what is involved.

You will be on track to meet your MTD obligations, if by the end of February 2027, you have a tried and tested system ready to start recording your rental income and expenditure from 6 April 2027. Either you, or you adviser should also have registered you for MTD, and set-up the necessary online dot.gov accounts to allow you to file your fist MTD-return by the 7 August 2027.

Leaving it all to the last possible moment is never a wise policy to adopt. Especially when failing to comply means bringing your tax affairs to the attention of HMRC.

Call us on 079 1234 1549 to discuss how we can help you transition and comply with MTD for landlords.