Help your clients prepare for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

13 October 2025

How tax agents and advisers can help their clients prepare for the requirement of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax from 6 April 2026.

Sole traders and landlords with a turnover above £50,000 from self-employment or property must transition to Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax from Monday 6 April 2026.

How to help your clients prepare for MTD for Income Tax

Tax agents and advisers play a crucial role in helping their clients adapt to MTD for Income Tax. To support this, HM Revenue & Customs is sharing six key actions to take before MTD for Income Tax is mandatory on 6 April 2026 for those meeting the threshold.

1. Keep your clients up to date

As agents, you'll likely be the first point of contact for many client questions. Get prepared by:

reviewing the agent step-by-step guide
understanding the information your clients may be seeing as part of HMRC's new MTD campaign
aligning your messaging to this by accessing social media assets, draft newsletters, and other materials in the HMRC resource hub

2. Register for tailored HMRC support

You can now get tailored support to prepare for MTD. Simply register your interest for agent support through the simple form using the Government Gateway ID and password linked to your agent service account.

After registering, HMRC will offer support, including:

interactive sessions with MTD specialists
live Q&A to help agents get ready and ask questions in real time

3. Decide how you'll represent clients for MTD

Clients can appoint one main agent and multiple supporting agents, depending on their needs. HMRC allows for flexible roles, including:

main agent – who can handle everything from quarterly updates to finalising the tax return and viewing penalties
supporting agent – who focuses on specific tasks like submitting quarterly updates, but has less access than the main agent

Both main and supporting agents can sign up clients to MTD.

4. Support clients to choose MTD-compatible software

Know your client – are they sole traders, landlords, or both? Their circumstances, transaction volume, and complexity will help guide software choices.
Make sure the software is MTD compatible – HMRC’s software finder tool helps identify approved options that can meet your client’s needs.
Pick the right type – choose between software that creates digital records or software that connects to existing records. Some clients may benefit from using more than one MTD software.
Plan ahead – pick scalable solutions that can grow with your clients’ businesses.

5. Get familiar with MTD software

Once you’ve selected your software, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with its features before mandation. You may want to:

trial using the software in a testing environment using dummy data to mimic real-life scenarios
ensure everyone involved in bookkeeping and submissions are upskilled in using MTD software
join testing and use insights to refine your approach before MTD mandation

6. Sign up clients early for MTD

MTD for Income Tax is currently voluntary, but you can get ahead and ask your client if they want to sign up early:

for 2025 to 2026 testing – if eligible, your client may be able to help HMRC test and develop the service
for 2026 to 2027 – so you and your client are prepared to use the service

If you think your client may be exempt from MTD, you can apply for an exemption online.