When it makes sense to hand Making Tax Digital to a professional

Take Priya, a landlord with two flats in Leeds who also works full time. She is comfortable with the idea of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax in principle, but the thought of learning new software, then sending four quarterly updates and a final declaration every year on top of her day job, is what actually puts her off. For someone in her position, paying an accountant to take the filing off her hands can be the simpler route, even though the software itself is not expensive or complicated once it is set up.

When handing MTD to a professional tends to make sense

Some landlords and sole traders enjoy keeping their own books and are happy to learn a new piece of software once a year’s rhythm settles in. Others, like Priya, would rather pay someone else to own the deadlines and the software relationship entirely. Neither choice is wrong. Handing MTD to a professional tends to suit people who already use an accountant for other parts of their tax affairs, who have irregular or complicated income across several properties or a trade, or who simply know that quarterly admin will keep slipping if it depends on their own memory.

It can also suit people who are about to come into scope for the first time. From 6 April 2027, Making Tax Digital for Income Tax extends to qualifying income over £30,000, so more landlords and sole traders will need a plan, and a professional who already understands the rules can be a faster way in than researching them from scratch.

What to ask an accountant about MTD

Not every accountant has settled on the same MTD workflow, so it is worth asking a few direct questions before you commit. Find out which MTD-compatible software they use day to day, since that shapes how you will send them records and how much visibility you keep over your own figures. Ask whether they will send the quarterly updates and the final declaration themselves, or whether those submissions stay your responsibility even though they prepare the numbers. And ask how they charge for the work: some accountants fold quarterly filing into an existing annual fee, while others treat it as a separate, recurring service, so the honest cost of MTD can look quite different from one firm to the next.

The software and record-keeping duty do not disappear

Handing the filing to someone else does not remove Making Tax Digital’s underlying requirements. The software used to send your updates still needs to be HMRC-recognised as MTD-compatible, whether that software sits on your accountant’s desk or yours. You may also still need to keep digital records of your income and expenses as they happen, rather than handing over a shoebox of receipts once a year, depending on how your accountant wants to work with you. Ask early who is responsible for keeping those digital records day to day, so the answer is settled before the first quarterly deadline arrives rather than after it.

Using each body’s own directory

Membership of a professional body is one of the clearer signals that someone has passed recognised exams and is bound by a code of conduct. The five bodies below each run their own public directory for finding a member, and Acrenvo only links to those directories directly. We do not vet or recommend any individual firm listed there, and each directory search, and any relationship you go on to have with a firm, sits entirely between you and that provider.

• Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW): ICAEW represents ICAEW Chartered Accountants, who qualify through the ACA and work in accountancy, tax and business advice.

  ICAEW find a chartered accountant

• Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA): ACCA members are professional accountants trained through ACCA's qualification and regulated throughout their career.

  ACCA find an accountant

• Association of Accounting Technicians (AAT): AAT Licensed Accountants and Bookkeepers are AAT members who meet the AAT's licensing standards to offer accountancy and bookkeeping services.

  AAT find an accountant or bookkeeper

• Association of Taxation Technicians (ATT): ATT members are taxation technicians who have passed the Association's tax examinations and are bound by its professional standards.

  ATT find a tax adviser

• Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT): CIOT members are Chartered Tax Advisers, who have passed the Institute's tax examinations and follow its professional and ethical standards.

  CIOT find a chartered tax adviser

These links go straight to each body’s own search tool. Acrenvo does not collect your details before you follow one, does not receive anything for sending you there, and has no commercial relationship with any of the five bodies or their members.