Short answer: yes, your accountant can handle Making Tax Digital for you. But the real question is whether they actually know what they are doing with it.
MTD for Income Tax starts in April 2026. If you are a sole trader or landlord with qualifying income over £50,000, you will need to submit quarterly digital updates to HMRC instead of one annual tax return. That is five submissions a year, using compatible software, with digital records maintained throughout.
Most accountants will tell you they can manage this. Some of them are telling the truth. A lot of them are guessing.
What Your Accountant Actually Needs to Do
Filing your Self Assessment once a year is not the same as managing MTD. The workload is fundamentally different.
Your accountant needs to maintain your digital records in HMRC compatible software, submit quarterly updates within strict deadlines, file an End of Period Statement summarising your annual position, and submit a Final Declaration to confirm your total tax liability. That is four quarterly submissions plus a year end finalisation.
If they miss a deadline, you get penalty points. If they use the wrong software, your submissions are non compliant. If they keep your records on a spreadsheet without a proper digital link, HMRC does not accept it. The accountant who files your annual return in January and you do not hear from them for eleven months is not set up for this.
The Problem With General Practice Accountants
Here is what occurs regularly. A business owner asks their existing accountant about MTD. The accountant says something reassuring like “we will sort it when the time comes” or “do not worry, we are looking into it.”
That is not an answer. That is a delay.
MTD for Income Tax has been announced, postponed, re announced, and is now confirmed for April 2026. The accountants who are ready have already set up their software, tested quarterly submissions with HMRC, and built the processes to manage multiple clients through the new reporting cycle. A general practice accountant handles everything from corporation tax to inheritance planning to audit work. MTD is one item on a very long list. For a specialist MTD accountant, it is the entire focus.
Can My Accountant File MTD Using My Spreadsheets?
Yes, but only if the digital link requirement is met. You cannot email your accountant an Excel file, have them type the numbers into software, and call it compliant. The data must flow digitally from your records to the submission without manual re entry.
We offer an MTD filing service that includes an Excel bridging option specifically for business owners who want to keep their spreadsheets. We connect your existing records to HMRC recognised bridging software so the digital link is maintained and your quarterly updates are filed correctly.
If your current accountant is telling you spreadsheets will not work under MTD, they are either trying to sell you expensive software or they do not understand how bridging tools work. Both are red flags.
What About Software? Do I Need to Buy Something Expensive?
No. Any accountant pushing you towards premium software subscriptions before understanding your actual needs is not putting your interests first.
The right MTD accountant software depends entirely on the complexity of your business. A sole trader with one income source and straightforward expenses does not need the same platform as a landlord with six properties and mixed rental income.
We assess your situation first and recommend the most cost effective solution, whether that is Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, or a simple bridging tool that works with your existing spreadsheet. If you are not sure whether your current setup is MTD ready, our MTD MOT review will tell you exactly where you stand and what needs to change before April 2026.
What If I Am VAT Registered Too?
If your business is VAT registered, you should already be MTD compliant for VAT. That has been mandatory since April 2022 for all VAT registered businesses regardless of turnover.
The good news is that if your accountant has been handling your MTD for VAT submissions properly, the transition to MTD for Income Tax should be smoother because the digital record keeping infrastructure is already in place. The bad news is that many VAT registered businesses are technically non compliant without realising it because their accountant has been submitting returns without a proper digital link from the source records.
If you are a small business owner who is both VAT registered and earning over £50,000 as a sole trader, you will soon face MTD requirements on both fronts. Getting this right with one specialist who understands the full picture is significantly easier than coordinating between a VAT accountant and a separate income tax accountant.
The Bottom Line
Your accountant can do MTD for you. The question is whether they should.
If your accountant has already contacted you about MTD for Income Tax, explained the quarterly deadlines, discussed software options, and has a clear plan for April 2026, you are probably in good hands. If you have heard nothing, or you got a vague reassurance that they will deal with it when the time comes, that is a problem. April 2026 is not far away. The penalty regime is real.
