What Your Accountant Can Do for You Under Making Tax Digital
Last updated: February 2026
One of the most common questions we hear from sole traders and landlords is whether they still need an accountant under Making Tax Digital, or whether the software does everything. The answer is that MTD changes the mechanics of how your tax information reaches HMRC, but it does not change the complexity of tax itself. An accountant’s role under MTD is, if anything, more valuable than before.
What changes under MTD
Under the current Self Assessment system, most people hand their records to their accountant once a year. The accountant prepares the tax return, files it, and tells the client how much tax to pay. Under MTD, that annual cycle becomes a quarterly one. Every three months, a summary of income and expenses must be submitted to HMRC through compatible accounting software for Making Tax Digital. At the end of the year, a Final Declaration replaces the traditional tax return.
This more frequent reporting does not mean you need to become a bookkeeper. It means the work that used to happen once a year now needs to happen four times a year, and your accountant can handle all of it on your behalf.
Registration and setup
Before your first quarterly period begins, there are several setup tasks. Your accountant can manage all of them:
- Registering you for MTD ITSA through HMRC’s Agent Services Account
- Choosing and setting up your MTD-compatible software
- Connecting your bank accounts via automatic bank feeds
- Configuring your income sources (sole trade, property, or both)
- Setting up your quarterly periods (tax year or calendar quarters)
- Establishing the digital link between your records and HMRC
If your accountant already handles your MTD for VAT submissions, much of this infrastructure is already in place. The income tax element adds a new submission type but uses the same software and agent connection.
Quarterly submissions
The core of MTD ITSA is the quarterly update: a summary of your income and expenses for the period, submitted to HMRC through your software. Your accountant can review your transactions, ensure they are categorised correctly, and submit the update on your behalf. In practice, this is what a typical quarterly cycle looks like when your accountant manages it:
Your bank feed pulls transactions into the software automatically. Your accountant reviews them each quarter, asking you about anything unusual. They categorise expenses, check that rental income matches letting agent statements, and prepare the quarterly summary. Once they are satisfied the figures are accurate, they submit the update to HMRC. You receive confirmation that it has been filed.
The whole process requires minimal input from you. In our experience, most clients spend less than 30 minutes per quarter answering questions from their accountant about specific transactions. Compare that with the hours many people spend gathering paperwork for their annual tax return, and the quarterly model can actually be less burdensome overall.
Year-end and the Final Declaration
After four quarterly updates, the tax year closes and a Final Declaration is required by the 31 January deadline. This is where your accountant’s expertise matters most. The Final Declaration is where you claim capital allowances, report non-business income (dividends, interest, PAYE employment), apply loss relief, claim pension tax relief, and finalise your tax position for the year.
Quarterly updates are straightforward summaries of business income and expenses. The Final Declaration is the strategic part, where tax planning decisions are made. Your accountant reviews your full-year position, identifies opportunities to reduce your tax bill, and ensures all reliefs and allowances are claimed. This is the same work that goes into preparing your current Self Assessment return, and it remains firmly within your accountant’s remit.
Tax planning from quarterly visibility
One underappreciated benefit of MTD is that your accountant now has quarterly visibility into your income and expenses, rather than seeing everything 10 months after the tax year ends. This creates opportunities for proactive tax planning that simply did not exist under annual filing.
If your income is tracking higher than expected, your accountant can advise on pension contributions, capital purchases, or other reliefs before the tax year closes. If your property income is lower than usual, they can flag that early. This shift from reactive (looking backwards at a completed year) to proactive (monitoring as the year unfolds) is a genuine improvement for clients who engage with it.
Worked example: quarterly visibility saves money
Sarah is a freelance consultant earning around £65,000 per year. After her Q3 submission in January, her accountant notices that her cumulative income is already £52,000 with one quarter remaining. At this pace, she will breach the higher rate threshold. Her accountant recommends making a £5,000 pension contribution before 5 April, which keeps her within the basic rate band and saves £2,000 in tax. Under annual filing, this conversation would not have happened until the following January, when the opportunity had long passed.
What your accountant cannot do
It is worth being clear about what remains your responsibility. Your accountant can review, correct, and submit your quarterly updates, but the underlying transactions need to exist in your software or spreadsheet. If you use cloud accounting with bank feeds, most of this happens automatically. If you use a spreadsheet, you need to keep it updated with your income and expenses throughout the quarter.
Your accountant also cannot make tax go away. MTD changes the reporting mechanism, not the amount of tax you owe. Quarterly updates do not accelerate tax payments; your payment dates remain the same as under Self Assessment (31 January and 31 July for payments on account).
Typical MTD service tiers
Most accountancy firms offer MTD services in tiers, depending on how much you want them to handle:
| Service level | What is included | Typical cost range |
|---|---|---|
| Filing only | Accountant reviews your records and submits quarterly updates. You do your own bookkeeping. | £75–£125 per quarter |
| Bookkeeping + filing | Accountant categorises transactions, reconciles bank feeds, and submits updates. | £125–£200 per quarter |
| Full service | All of the above plus year-end adjustments, Final Declaration, tax planning, and ad hoc advice. | £200–£350 per quarter |
These ranges are indicative and vary by firm, location, and complexity. A sole trader with one income source and straightforward expenses will be at the lower end. A landlord with multiple properties and a side business will be towards the higher end. Many firms include the Final Declaration within their quarterly package, while others charge it separately as an annual fee.
Do you need an accountant for MTD?
Technically, no. You can register for MTD, keep your own digital records, and submit your own quarterly updates through compatible software. Plenty of confident, organised sole traders will do exactly this, and the software makes the submission process relatively straightforward.
Where an accountant adds value is in the areas the software cannot handle: tax planning, ensuring you claim all available reliefs, catching errors before they become problems, and managing the Final Declaration. If your affairs are simple (one income source, no property, no capital allowances), you may be fine on your own. If your affairs involve property portfolios, multiple income streams, or tax planning considerations, professional support is likely to save you more than it costs.
How Jack Ross can help
Jack Ross Chartered Accountants offers all three service tiers for MTD ITSA clients. We handle registration, software setup, quarterly submissions, and year-end tax planning as a single package. As a Xero Gold Partner, we set up and manage Xero for clients who want cloud accounting with full accountant oversight. Contact us to discuss which level of support suits your needs ahead of 6 April 2026.
