FileThat vs untied for Making Tax Digital

We checked these prices on 25 October 2026.

By the selector's own rules, FileThat and untied both work for landlords and sole traders, including people with both kinds of income, so the choice comes down to the six points where they differ. untied offers support for jointly owned property, bank feeds and phone apps, which FileThat does not. untied does not offer handling for holiday lets or MTD for VAT returns, which FileThat does. 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 £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month (Pro including MTD) for untied.

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. untied suits people with mixed income (property + self-employment or PAYE), sole traders who want a phone-only workflow and non-resident and joint-owner landlords with complex returns.

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.

Where FileThat and untied differ
Point	FileThat	untied
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))	£129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month (Pro including MTD)
Jointly owned property	No	Yes
Holiday lets and former FHL	Yes	No
Bank feeds	No	Yes
Phone apps	No	Yes (iOS and Android)
MTD for VAT returns	Yes, from the Pay per submission (qualifying income £30,000 to £50,000) plan	No

On the other points we compare (free plan, more than one property, 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.

If you are registered for VAT, the guide to one product for MTD for VAT and Income Tax explains what GOV.UK asks you to check and which of the products we compare say they handle both.

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.

What HMRC’s software list says about FileThat and untied
Feature	FileThat	untied
Your tax return and other income
Sending your tax return	Available	Available
Foreign property	Available	Available
Construction Industry Scheme (CIS)	Available	Available
Employment (PAYE)	Available	Available
UK dividends	Available	Available
UK interest	Available	Available
Capital gains	Availablesince 2 October 2026	Available
How it works
Bridging software that connects to your records	Available	Available
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 untied 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 untied.

Does HMRC’s software list show a free version of FileThat or untied?

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 untied.

How many features does HMRC’s software list mark as available for FileThat and untied?

HMRC’s software list as it stood on 30 October 2026 covers 15 features, and it marks 14 “Available” for FileThat and 9 “Available” for untied. For FileThat, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 1. For untied, it marks 0 “Intended” and gives no answer on 6.

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.

untied

For landlords: £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month
For sole traders: £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month
For people with rental and self-employment income: £129.99 a year including VAT, about £10.83 a month
Cheapest plan over 12 months: £129.99 including VAT

We checked untied’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.

untied

untied is often listed as free in roundups, but the free version is a 30-day trial and filing requires a paid plan. Plans are priced per tax year with VAT included, which is unusual for this market, so compare like-for-like against ex-VAT monthly prices carefully. untied also sells a cheaper Lite plan, but its pricing page shows Making Tax Digital and property income as not included on Lite, so we do not list it.

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

Check which fits your situation

Other comparisons with FileThat or untied

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