I wanted to ask other OpenRent landlords about this because the deadline is getting close and I think many of us have not really thought about it yet.
What is happening:
From April 2026, landlords with gross property income over £50,000 must keep digital records and submit quarterly updates to HMRC. From April 2027, the threshold drops to £30,000. This is called Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD ITSA). You will need HMRC recognised software to do this.
HMRC estimates that 864,000+ landlords and self employed people will be affected in the first wave.
What it means for us:
Instead of submitting one Self Assessment return at the end of the tax year, you will need to send HMRC a summary of your rental income and expenses every quarter. The data itself is quite simple for most landlords (rent received, mortgage interest, insurance, repairs, agent fees). But you will need compatible software to submit it.
My questions:
1. Are you aware of MTD and have you started thinking about how to comply?
2. If you use an accountant, have they mentioned MTD to you? Are they planning to handle the quarterly submissions or do they expect you to use software yourself?
3. If you do your own Self Assessment, have you looked at any of the MTD software options? I have seen prices from £12 to £30 per month, which feels quite a lot for what is basically four submissions a year.
4. Does anyone think this will actually be delayed again? It has been postponed several times already but April 2026 seems to be the final date now.
I have a small portfolio myself and I am trying to figure out the most cost effective way to deal with this. Would be great to hear what other landlords here are planning.
@Vladislav1 if you search ‘making tax digital’ you’ll find multiple past threads about this including views on different software. I counted nine such threads
It’s not a proposal for future it’s already may 2026 so in place so don’t expect it to be ‘delayed’
@David240 thanks for that, I did search and found the threads. There is a lot of useful information scattered across them. I actually added my own summary in the “Software options” thread after reading through the different suggestions.
@tatemono that is probably the most stress free approach. I was thinking about it too, but for two or three properties it feels like the accountant fees would eat into the margins quite a bit. Especially with the mortgage interest relief changes already squeezing things. Do you mind sharing roughly what you are paying? I have seen quotes ranging from 300 to 800 per year depending on the complexity.
For those of us who want to do it ourselves, the main question seems to be whether to go with a simple landlord focused tool or a full accounting package. I have been comparing a few options and the prices vary a lot.
Not at all. £600+VAT for both me and the wife per year.
Do you pay £500 tax a year on your rentals? If so, you might as well pay it to the accountant as the tax man. It’ll make no difference to your margin at all either way, but a ton of difference to the amount of work you have to do.
@tatemono that is very helpful, thank you. £600+VAT for two people is actually quite reasonable, I was expecting more.
Your point about the tax comparison is a good one. I suppose if the accountant fee is close to what you pay in tax anyway, the maths works out. In my case the rental income is more substantial so the tax bill is higher, which means the accountant route starts making more sense.
For now I am leaning towards doing it myself for the first year just to understand the process properly. Once you hand it to an accountant it is hard to know what is actually happening with your own finances. But I can see why most people eventually just delegate it.
@tatemono what I mean is the day to day visibility. When you manage your own records, you see each transaction, each expense category, each deduction. You develop a sense for where your money comes and goes. For me that is useful not just for tax but for making decisions, for example whether a repair is worth doing now or later, or whether a property is actually profitable after all costs.
When an accountant handles it, they hold all that detail and summarise it for you at the end of the year. Efficient, and the tax outcome is the same. But the understanding of your own finances sits with them rather than with you.
I am not saying one approach is better. For a smaller portfolio, doing it yourself for a couple of years builds useful knowledge. Once the numbers grow or the situation becomes more complex, handing over to a professional is clearly the right move.
This is hardly inevitable. It’s entirely dependent on the relationship that you set up with your accountant. I want all the detail. After all, the accountant will rely on figures I’ll be providing. If they attempt to hold the detail to my deteriment, well, there are other accountants.
Yeah, my mistake. What I meant to write was it wipes £500 off my profit, not my overall tax bill. But hey, for me that’s worth it.
Our financial position has become way more complex in the last five years what with multiple income streams and investments in the UK and offshore all to offset the risks inherent in property. And as we shift out of property over the next decade, tax advice is going to become even more worth paying for.
I don’t get this theory. maybe I’m misunderstanding;
Adding an Accountancy fee of £500 per annum to your rental expenditure, will not reduce your tax bill by £500. Unless you drop below a tax threshold, your tax bill will reduce by alot less than £500, so you’ll still be paying out more overall.
I was mistaken… kind of. Our income is pretty minimal compared to our outgoings. We’re effectively retired with no pensions. When all’s said and done our tax bill is negligible. So, for me and the wife, this strategy works out because it reduces our tax bill to just above our allowances. For most people it won’t.
The post above yours explains another reason for making the shift to an accountant.