What software do landlords need for Making Tax Digital?

The software question produces more worry than the tax itself, mostly because the market is noisy and every product claims to be the one. The requirement underneath is small: digital records, kept in something HMRC recognises, that can send a quarterly update and the year-end final declaration. Everything else is preference.

The two types, and who each suits

Record-keeping software is the full version: you connect a bank account or enter income and costs, it holds the records, and it files the updates. This suits a landlord starting fresh or one whose current system is a folder of statements.

Bridging software is the lighter route: your records stay in a spreadsheet, kept to a digital standard, and the bridging tool links it to HMRC for the submissions. This suits the landlord with a spreadsheet that already works. The one habit that has to die is retyping, because figures must flow from record to submission without manual re-entry.

HMRC’s own list is the place to choose from, on the find compatible software page. Everything on it has been through HMRC’s recognition process, and the list moves as products join and leave. Free products exist for simple affairs, normally capped on transactions or features; a one-property landlord can start free and see whether the limits ever matter.

What to check before you commit

Three practical tests sort the field quickly. It must cover all your income sources, so a landlord with self-employment alongside needs a product that handles both in one place. It must file everything, quarterly updates and the final declaration, or you will end up paying for a second product in January. And if property is jointly owned, check how it handles shares, since each owner files their own updates.

Your accountant’s preference outranks all of this. Plenty of accountants run a standard stack and will set you up inside it; asking them first can save a subscription and a migration.

The software is only as good as what you feed it

Every product, free or paid, still needs twelve months of income and expenses arriving in usable form. That is the actual work of Making Tax Digital, and it is the part a managed landlord already has: our owner statements itemise rent received, our fee, and maintenance at contractor cost, monthly from the portal, ready for whichever product you or your accountant picked. The deadlines the software has to hit are in the Making Tax Digital deadlines guide, and the whole regime is in does Making Tax Digital apply to landlords.

We are not accountants, this is not tax advice, and we do not sell or take commission on any software. Check the current position on GOV.UK before buying anything.