Do You Need an Accountant for Making Tax Digital?
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In short: You don't have to use an accountant for HMRC's Making Tax Digital: keeping your own digital records and filing through HMRC-recognised software is a legitimate route for one simple income stream and low transaction volume. Consider an accountant if you have self-employment plus property, multiple income sources, high-volume transactions or capital allowances to judge.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax changes how UK sole traders and landlords keep records and report to HMRC, but it doesn't answer the more personal question of whether you should handle it yourself or bring in an accountant. The honest answer depends on your affairs, not your software. This guide covers what actually changes under quarterly updates, what an accountant does that software can't, the DIY and hybrid routes people are choosing, and how to work out which fits you.
Disclaimer: This article provides general information only and does not constitute tax advice. Consult a qualified accountant or tax adviser about your circumstances.
What Actually Changes Under Making Tax Digital's Quarterly Updates
If your qualifying income was over £50,000 in 2024-25, you've been inside Making Tax Digital for Income Tax since 6 April 2026, with the £30,000 and £20,000 thresholds following in 2027 and 2028. The mechanical change is the same for everyone it applies to: instead of one Self Assessment return a year, you send HMRC four cumulative quarterly updates (each covering the year to date, not just the latest three months), with the exact windows and deadlines in our quarterly update deadlines guide. Updates carry only totals per income and expense category, never your actual receipts or invoices, and a nil update is mandatory even in a quiet quarter. After the fourth one, you still finalise the year with a final declaration by 31 January, much like the old tax return.
That's the part that doesn't move depending on whether you use an accountant: four submissions a year instead of one, cumulative, nil updates included. What changes is who does the work behind each one, and that's where the accountant question actually lives.
What an Accountant Does That Software Doesn't
No amount of receipt-scanning replaces professional judgement. An accountant earns their fee on the parts of MTD that aren't mechanical:
- Judgement calls on what's genuinely an allowable expense, especially in the grey areas software can't weigh up.
- End-of-period adjustments and the final declaration: turning four quarters of category totals into a correctly finalised tax position, with reliefs applied.
- Capital allowances: working out what qualifies, and when claiming it actually benefits you.
- Liaising with HMRC directly if a query comes in, rather than you handling it alone.
- Catching an error before it's filed: an experienced eye across several quarters spots what software just totals up faithfully, mistakes included.
- Complex situations: self-employment and property income together, multiple trades or several income sources all add real complexity that a records app alone doesn't handle. (See how combined income is treated in our sole trader and landlord guide.)
Miss enough of this and errors compound into missed deadlines and, eventually, points under HMRC's points-based penalty system. See MTD penalty points explained for how that works.
What Software Actually Does: Two Different Jobs
"MTD software" is a confusing phrase because it covers two different jobs, and no single product has to do both:
- Keeping digital records: capturing income and expenses as they happen, categorised and ready to summarise.
- Filing with HMRC: submitting the quarterly totals and final declaration through HMRC-recognised software, connected to HMRC's systems.
HMRC is explicit that these can be separate tools, linked digitally rather than bundled into one app. Even a spreadsheet remains legal as the records layer, provided it's digitally linked, with no manual re-typing, to MTD-compatible filing software. That's exactly why "do I need an accountant" and "which software do I need" are different questions with different answers. More on the split in MTD software vs receipt apps.
The DIY Route: Records App + Filing Software
Going it alone means keeping digital records yourself (in a dedicated app, or a properly linked spreadsheet) and submitting through HMRC-recognised filing software, with no accountant involved. It suits straightforward affairs: one income stream, manageable transaction volume, genuine comfort with numbers and software, and time for quarterly admin four times a year instead of once. It's a legitimate route, and HMRC's whole model assumes plenty of people will take it, but every judgement call above sits with you, and a wrong or missed update is yours to fix.
The Hybrid Route: Records App + Accountant
The other common pattern is a records app running quietly all year, with an accountant handling the quarterly updates and final declaration from that data. It's the model HMRC itself describes: dedicated record-keeping software feeding an agent or filing software through a digital link. Our MTD client onboarding checklist for accountants shows how practices are preparing clients for the 2027 and 2028 waves.
This is where Taxr's free accountant portal can fit, for practices that use it (access is by request). Clients scan receipts in the Taxr app as they happen: the AI reads the vendor, date, total and VAT off the photo and suggests a tax-aligned category, which the client confirms. The accountant then reviews that clean, categorised data through the portal at portal.taxr.io instead of chasing a shoebox in January. To be precise about what Taxr actually is: it keeps digital expense records and exports them as Excel or PDF for you or your accountant. It doesn't submit anything to HMRC itself, and if you file through your own MTD software, check whether that software can import the Excel file.
What It Costs, in General Terms
Accountant fees vary widely by complexity and location, so get a few quotes rather than assume a figure; a straightforward sole trader return costs a lot less to prepare than one with property income, several trades, and VAT on top. Filing software has its own subscription cost, which also varies by provider; gov.uk keeps the current list of HMRC-recognised options.
Our own pricing is simpler. Taxr, on iOS and Android, is free for the first 10 scans; after that, Taxr Pro gives you unlimited scanning. In the UK it costs £2.99/month or £29.99/year on the App Store, and £2.89/month or £28.99/year on Google Play. VAT handling and Excel or PDF exports come with the app either way. That cost is the same whichever route you choose: the records habit doesn't change based on who ends up filing.
Do You Need an Accountant for Making Tax Digital? Here's How to Decide
If you're feeling behind, you're not alone. HMRC said on 23 July 2026 that more than 864,000 sole traders and landlords were in scope from April 2026, and on 12 August it reported that more than 436,000 had sent their first quarterly update. Before the rollout, a Sage and IPSE survey of 1,000 sole traders (September 2025) found only 30% had heard of MTD and understood what it requires, and only one in ten used cloud accounting software. If you're in that gap, the table below is a quick way to decide.
| DIY might suit you if | Consider an accountant if |
|---|---|
| You have one simple income stream | You have multiple income sources, or self-employment plus property |
| You're comfortable with numbers and software | You'd prefer someone else to own the numbers |
| Your transaction volume is low | Your transactions are high-volume or complex |
| You have time for admin four times a year | You're time-poor, or admin already causes errors |
| You're confident applying expense rules yourself | You want capital allowances and claims judged professionally |
Neither choice is permanent. Plenty of people start DIY and bring in an accountant once affairs get more complex, or the reverse, once records are clean enough that filing becomes routine either way. For the full picture on thresholds, deadlines and penalties, see our complete Making Tax Digital guide.
Start the Records Habit Either Way
Whichever route you land on, Making Tax Digital assumes the same underlying habit: expenses captured digitally as they happen, not reconstructed every January. That's what Taxr does: point your phone at a receipt and the AI reads the vendor, date, total and VAT and suggests a category, ready to export as Excel or PDF for you or your accountant.