What Making Tax Digital for Income Tax means for landlords

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax replaces one annual return with quarterly updates submitted from compatible software, followed by a final declaration after the tax year ends. It applies to combined self employment and property income above the published threshold.

For most landlords the change is administrative rather than financial. The tax calculation does not change, but the record keeping does: income and expenses need to be captured digitally through the year rather than reconstructed from a folder each spring.

The sensible approach is to move to digital records a full year before the rules bite, so the first mandatory quarter is simply business as usual. We can set the software up, connect the bank feeds and either run the submissions for you or train you to do them.

Points to note

• Quarterly updates plus a year end final declaration
• Digital records required for property income and expenses
• Joint ownership and multiple properties need careful set up
• Software cost is modest and usually deductible
• Start a year early so the first live quarter is routine