Questions to ask an accountant about MTD

acrenvo.com/guides/mtd-questions-for-an-accountant, last reviewed 12 October 2026

Sanjay is fictional, but his situation is a common one. He works as a freelance photographer and lets out the flat he lived in before he married, so Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax covers two kinds of income for him. He has arranged to speak to two accountants next week and wants to go in with a list, so that he can compare their answers side by side afterwards. This guide gathers the questions GOV.UK suggests, and the ones MTD itself raises.

What GOV.UK says to look out for

GOV.UK has its own list for anyone choosing a tax agent, and it makes a good starting point because it covers the practical side as well as qualifications. If you do decide to choose a tax agent, GOV.UK says you should:

• check their website to see what tax services they offer
• read their terms and conditions so you fully understand the fees you will pay, the legal contract you may be agreeing to and the service you are signing up for
• check how much the agent charges and how and when you are expected to make payment
• find out about their reputation and history, for example by searching for online reviews
• make sure they have the right experience to help you, for example with certain trade sectors or business sizes
• check they can provide all the services you need, for example payroll, audit or investment
• ask if they are registered for online access with HMRC so they can do your tax digitally
• confirm they are aware of and meeting HMRC's agent standards
• check if your adviser holds relevant professional qualifications or is a member of an accountancy or tax professional body

Several of these are things Sanjay can check before the meeting, such as the services on a firm’s website and whether the accountant belongs to a professional body. The guide to checking an accountant before you choose one explains where to look. The rest are questions for the meeting itself, especially the ones about the terms, the charges and how payment works, because those differ from firm to firm and only the firm can tell you.

Speaking to more than one firm

Sanjay’s plan to speak to two firms is in line with GOV.UK’s advice. Make sure you contact a few different agents before choosing which one provides the right services for you. You should meet the person who will be dealing with HMRC on your behalf and find out how much they will charge you for their services.

That second point is easy to overlook when a firm has a large team. In a bigger firm the person you meet first may not be the one who sends your updates, so it is reasonable to ask who will.

Questions that MTD itself raises

MTD changes a few things about how an accountant works for you, so it is worth adding some questions of your own to GOV.UK’s list. Each one below comes from a rule GOV.UK sets out for agents.

Will you be my main agent or a supporting agent?

Under MTD an accountant can act for you in one of two roles, and the role decides what they can see and do. You can have only one main agent at a time, but any number of supporting agents, and more than one agent is possible for MTD for Income Tax only. For other tax services, such as Self Assessment, you can only use one agent. You see different consent statements depending on whether the agent is asking to be your main agent or a supporting agent, so you know what details they can see and what tasks they can do for you. If Sanjay already has a bookkeeper, or plans to keep doing his own quarterly updates, the answer tells him how the work would be split. The guide to working with an accountant through the MTD year compares the two roles task by task.

Will you sign me up for MTD, or should I?

Agreeing to work together does not by itself sign you up. Adding an authorisation does not automatically sign you up for MTD for Income Tax, so you or your agent still need to go through the sign-up service. If you use an agent, they can sign you up for MTD for Income Tax instead of you doing it yourself. Asking who will do it, and when, means it does not fall between the two of you.

How will you ask me to authorise you?

The answer should be a link from the accountant’s own account, because of a rule GOV.UK repeats on several pages. You must not give your sign in credentials to your agent or anyone else. The guide to letting an accountant act for you on MTD explains how that approval works.

If more than one person helps me, who puts the figures together?

This matters for anyone who splits the work, such as Sanjay if he keeps a bookkeeper for his photography and hires an accountant for the year end. If more than one agent works on the same business, one combined update must be sent to HMRC for each update period, and one tax return submitted after any adjustments.

The page on choosing an accountant for MTD suggests three more questions, about the software the firm uses, who sends each submission and how the work is charged, and it is worth taking those along too.

What you agree to sign

Whatever the answers, GOV.UK’s rule on checking your own return is the same with every firm.

So if a firm’s way of working would ask Sanjay to approve figures he has not seen, that is worth raising before he signs anything. Acrenvo does not recommend any firm, and GOV.UK’s page on how to choose a tax agent has its list in full.

Questions people ask before hiring an accountant for MTD

You may also find this page useful: Stopping a business or letting: what GOV.UK says to do under MTD.