Preparing for MTD
What is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is a new way for sole traders and landlords to report their income and expenses to HMRC. From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords must use it if their annual income from self-employment and property is over £50,000.
How to get started
Check with HMRC that you need to take part in MTD for Income Tax. Visit HMRC here.
Although MTD is mandatory for those eligible you are not automatically registered to take part, you must register with HMRC directly and confirm the tax year you will be starting MTD. You can register with HMRC here.
ApariSolo is a HMRC recognised software and is approved for MTD for Income Tax. If you haven't already signed up and subscribed to the software you can do this here.
Once you have registered with HMRC for MTD and have an active software subscription, you will then need to connect the software to HMRC. You cannot make your HMRC connection until the start of the tax year you are registered for, if you are registered for tax year 2026/2027 you can't connect until 6th April 2026. Watch our guide on connecting your account here.
When your connection is made successfully your tax year will update in the software to the MTD view and you are ready to get started with your Record Keeping in preparation for your quarterly submissions.
Preparing for quarterly submissions
Ensure your Record Keeping is up to date for your self-employed and/or UK property businesses.
We advise you to submit any quarterly submissions in advance of the quarterly submission deadlines to give opportunity to amend any errors should the submission not be successfully accepted by HMRC, submissions after the deadline may be subject to HMRC penalties.
Double check the contents of the quarterly submissions and ensure the end date is set to the end of the quarter or any date after the quarter end up to the day you are sending it to ensure the the full quarter period is covered. Watch our how to guide for submitting here
Ensure you complete separate submissions for each self-employed or UK property business you have.
Once your submission/s have been made you can leave the software but you must return later to ensure the submission/s have been accepted. The quarter square will turn green once accepted by HMRC.
View your tax calculations and estimated annual liabilities based on your submissions so far.
If you need any assistance please check out the other articles in our Help Centre for how to get started using your account and if you have any further questions you can contact our support team here.