Debbie vs FileThat for Making Tax Digital

Debbie

Debbie's FAQ says it sends MTD quarterly updates, the end of year figures and the final declaration to HMRC once you confirm them, and HMRC's software list shows self-employment income, UK property income, quarterly updates and the tax return as available. Records come from a bank statement you export and upload; the FAQ says a live bank feed is planned but not available yet, so we do not show a bank feed. The landlord pages describe property records, Section 24 relief and your share of a jointly owned property. The pages say a property counts as one business slot without saying whether that means each property or a whole letting business, so each plan is matched only to as many properties as it has slots, and Debbie may suit larger portfolios than shown here. Debbie runs in the phone's browser and is added to the home screen rather than downloaded from an app store, so we do not show iOS or Android apps. The FAQ says sending VAT returns to HMRC is not built yet. A login for an accountant and furnished holiday let handling were not found on the pages we read, so we do not show them; the Tax Return Pack is a download for whoever files for you. We show the full monthly price; the first month is free, and the page advertises a second free month for a limited time.

FileThat

FileThat has no subscription. Keeping digital records is free, and you buy a credit for each new quarterly update or VAT return with figures in it, at £3.99, £4.99 or £5.99 depending on your qualifying income across all your businesses. The first 500 individuals to connect to HMRC keep £3.99 for good, and until FileThat has figures to work out your band you pay the lowest price, so the price you end up paying may be higher than the cheapest one shown. We show each band as a monthly equivalent of four quarterly updates for one business. We leave out the £3.99 band from our prices because people who must use MTD have qualifying income over £50,000 now and over £30,000 from April 2027, so the bands that apply to them start at £4.99. Each trade, your UK property and any foreign property are separate businesses with their own quarterly updates, so a landlord who is also self-employed pays twice, although FileThat caps an individual's spending at £50 in a tax year, with £55 the most charged. The annual submission, final declaration and amendments are free. The 4 free credits on sign-up cover the first year of quarterly updates for one business, and FileThat's pricing page says this is why HMRC's software finder lists it with a free version. After that first year there is no lasting free plan for filing, so we do not count it as a free tier. FileThat says all your UK lets are kept apart under nicknames and filed as one property business, and that it does not split figures between joint owners, so each owner files their own share. It says a UK holiday let is filed as part of the ordinary property business now that the furnished holiday lettings rules have ended. Bank transactions come from a CSV statement you upload, as FileThat deliberately does not use Open Banking, so we do not count that as a bank feed. An accountant can sign up as an agent and file for you, and FileThat also files from a spreadsheet template if you prefer. It is a website that works in a phone's browser, and we did not find mobile apps. None of the pages we read says whether VAT is added to FileThat's own prices. We checked this on 25 October 2026.