FileThat vs QuickFile for Making Tax Digital
By the selector's own rules, FileThat and QuickFile both work for landlords and sole traders, including people with both kinds of income, so the choice comes down to the three points where they differ. QuickFile offers bank feeds and phone apps, which FileThat does not. Their cheapest plans are listed as £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated (Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000)) for FileThat and £60 plus VAT a year, about £5 a month (Power User (includes MTD for Income Tax)) for QuickFile.
FileThat suits sole traders and landlords who would rather pay for each quarterly update than take out a subscription, people with a trade and rental income, or property abroad, who want every income source filed from one place and VAT-registered sole traders who want their VAT returns and income tax updates to come from the same records. QuickFile suits sole traders and landlords who want full bookkeeping for a modest yearly fee, landlords who would like tenants, rent demands and per-property reports kept alongside their accounts and people who also file VAT returns and would rather keep both in one package.
The facts on this page come from each provider’s own pages and from HMRC’s software list, and how we compare products explains how we check them.
If you are thinking of moving from one to the other, the guide to changing your MTD software explains what GOV.UK says about when you can move and what happens to your records.
Where they differ
These are the points where our checks of the two products came out differently. A “No” means we did not find that feature on the provider’s own pages when we last checked them. Where we had nothing to go on for one of the two, we leave the point out here rather than guess.
| Point | FileThat | QuickFile |
|---|---|---|
| Cheapest plan | £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated (Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000)) | £60 plus VAT a year, about £5 a month (Power User (includes MTD for Income Tax)) |
| Bank feeds | No | Yes |
| Phone apps | No | Yes (iOS and Android) |
On the other points we compare (free plan, more than one property, jointly owned property, holiday lets and former FHL, self-employment income, receipt capture and accountant access), they give the same answer, or at least one provider does not say. The full list is under each product’s own page.
Both send MTD for VAT returns, from different plans: FileThat from the Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000) plan and QuickFile from the Power User (includes MTD for Income Tax) plan.
What HMRC’s software list says about both
HMRC’s list marks each feature as available now or intended for later. This is what HMRC’s list says, not something we have tested ourselves. Where HMRC lists a product under more than one name, we show the strongest answer and the listing it comes from.
| Feature | FileThat | QuickFile |
|---|---|---|
| Your tax return and other income | ||
| Sending your tax return | Available | Available |
| Foreign property | Available | Not stated |
| Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) | Available | Availablesince 28 August 2026 |
| Employment (PAYE) | Available | Availablesince 6 March 2026 |
| UK dividends | Available | Availablesince 6 February 2026 |
| UK interest | Available | Availablesince 6 February 2026 |
| Capital gains | Availablesince 2 October 2026 | Availablesince 10 April 2026 |
| How it works | ||
| Bridging software that connects to your records | Available | Not stated |
| Calendar update periods (1 April to 31 March) | Available | Available |
| A free version | Available | Not stated |
| Welsh language | Not stated | Not stated |
| Accessibility | ||
| Blindness or impaired vision | Available | Not stated |
| Deafness or impaired hearing | Available | Not stated |
| Motor or physical difficulties | Available | Not stated |
| Cognitive impairments | Available | Not stated |
This is HMRC’s list as it stood on 30 October 2026, at HMRC’s commit 201b34e. A date beside a feature is when HMRC’s list changed it from intended to available. HMRC’s software finder shows the current answers. How we read HMRC’s list
Does HMRC’s software list show FileThat and QuickFile as available for sending your tax return?
For sending your tax return, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for FileThat and marks it “Available” for QuickFile.
Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of FileThat or QuickFile?
For a free version, HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 marks it “Available” for FileThat and says nothing either way for QuickFile.
How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for FileThat and QuickFile?
HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 14 “Available” for FileThat and 7 “Available” for QuickFile. For FileThat, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 1. For QuickFile, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 8.
The cheapest plan for your situation
A product’s cheapest plan is not always one you can use, because some plans are only for landlords or only for sole traders. These are the lowest prices the selector would show each reader, as each provider states them. Where a price grows with the number of properties, it is shown as a starting price. The figure over 12 months is the same plan at its regular price, worked out the way the software cost calculator does it.
FileThat
- For landlords
- £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated
- For sole traders
- £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated
- For people with rental and self-employment income
- £4.99 for each quarterly update, about £1.66 a month for four updates a year, VAT not stated
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £19.96, VAT not stated
We checked FileThat’s prices on 25 October 2026.
QuickFile
- For landlords
- £60 plus VAT a year, about £5 a month
- For sole traders
- £60 plus VAT a year, about £5 a month
- For people with rental and self-employment income
- £60 plus VAT a year, about £5 a month
- Cheapest plan over 12 months
- £60 plus VAT
We checked QuickFile’s prices on 25 October 2026.
Notes from our checks
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.
QuickFile
QuickFile's pricing page shows the extra small, small and medium account sizes (up to 1,000 "ledger entries") as free, and the large and extra large sizes at £60 plus VAT a year. The "MTD (ITSA) Ready" row is ticked only for the paid sizes, and the page explains that smaller accounts get those features by buying a Power User subscription. That is why we show the Power User subscription as the MTD plan and do not show a free MTD option. QuickFile's landlord page describes filing quarterly summaries and end-of-year tax submissions, a landlord dashboard for tenants and rent demands, income and expenditure reports for each property, and receipt capture through the iOS and Android apps. Automatic bank feeds are a paid add-on at £15 plus VAT a year. Accountants can look after their clients through QuickFile's Affinity platform, so we show accountant access. We did not find mileage tracking, joint ownership splits or anything about furnished holiday lets on QuickFile's pages. MTD for VAT returns are ticked for every account size, so they come with the Power User subscription too. We checked this on 25 October 2026.
Neither product is ranked above the other here: the page sets out what each provider says so you can weigh it against your own situation. How we compare products
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