Which accounting software works for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
Short answer
Any product on HMRC's list of software compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. HMRC does not provide software or recommend a product; every product on its list has passed HMRC's recognition process. HMRC's software finder narrows the list to your income sources.
What the software must do
Per HMRC (GOV.UK), compatible software must let you create, store and correct digital records of self-employment and property income and expenses, send quarterly updates, add your other income and submit your tax return by 31 January. You, or an agent for you, must use it.
Two kinds of product
- Record keeping software. You record income and expenses by linking your bank account, scanning receipts or typing them in. These usually cover everything.
- Bridging software. It reads records you keep elsewhere, such as a spreadsheet, and sends them to HMRC. More on using a spreadsheet.
You can combine products, but only one product per submission: a landlord cannot send property updates from two products.
What to check before you choose
- It supports all your income sources: self-employment, UK property, foreign property.
- It handles your accounting period and your other income.
- If you are VAT registered, it covers MTD for VAT too, or works with what you use.
- HMRC Assist, built into some products, flags errors.
- It lets your agent in, if you have one.
- The price. Free products exist for simple affairs but may cap transactions (GOV.UK).
Where to find the list
Start from HMRC's software finder. It asks a few questions and gives a short list. Check the product's own page for the features you need.
Octobooks keeps the books of UK sole traders and landlords and sorts every entry into the categories of the self-employment pages (SA103F) and the UK property pages (SA105). Its Making Tax Digital for Income Tax connection is built and runs end to end against HMRC's test service (the sandbox). Octobooks is not on HMRC's list of compatible software yet; we are working towards recognition. Until it is listed, send your updates and your return through a product that is on the list.
And AI?
An AI assistant such as Claude is not itself on HMRC's list. It can keep and check the records inside a ledger it is connected to. More on whether AI can do MTD for you.
More questions
- Can AI do Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for me?
- Can Claude or Claude Cowork do Making Tax Digital?
- Can I use a spreadsheet for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?