Five overlooked MTD software checks
Plenty of MTD tools look impressive on the surface but fewer hold up once you run a real practice and clients through them. The market for MTD recognised software has grown sharply since Making Tax Digital for Income Tax was mandated this year. There are now more than 100 products vying for attention, and more arriving as new providers complete testing. That is good news for choice, but it makes selection harder.
Here are five things worth weighing before you commit:
Look past the quarterly submission to the annual schedules
A robust quarterly submission process is the obvious thing to test, and most products handle it well. The harder question is whether the software supports all of the annual schedules your clients actually need. This is where returns quietly fall over. If a schedule your client relies on is not covered, you may be forced to find another software to complete your end-of-year submission. Map the full schedule coverage against your client base before you buy, not after.
Look for features that let you take on a wider range of clients
The right feature set decides how far up market you can take the software. A handful of capabilities are worth checking specifically.
Three line accounting and calendar elections determine whether you can handle larger or more complex clients rather than only the most straightforward ones.
Support for third party submissions matters when a client’s quarterly updates have been filed through other software. The better products let you see what has already been submitted elsewhere and pull that information in, so nothing is missed.
An in-house tax calculation engine is more valuable than it first appears. It lets you review estimated figures before you submit anything to HMRC, rather than filing blind and correcting after the fact.
Agent flexibility is the next thing to test. Check whether the software lets you act as both a main agent and a supporting agent, which matters as soon as you are working alongside other advisers on the same client.
Finally, one that looks obvious but catches people out: confirm the software supports foreign property. It is easy to assume every product does, yet a fair few do not.
One view across your MTD and Self Assessment clients
Phased mandation means most practices now run a split book. Some clients are in MTD, others remain in Self Assessment, and that mix will persist for years. The last thing your team needs is to toggle between two systems to work out where each return stands. Make sure you can see the status of every return, MTD and SA alike, in a single place.
The software should fit your workflow, not force you to change it
It is tempting to reshape your processes around a new tool. Resist it. The better test is whether the software fits the workflow your staff already know. Anything that demands minimal retraining gets adopted faster and produces more, sooner. Software that bends to your practice beats software that asks your practice to bend to it.
Can it keep up as the rules keep changing?
MTD is not finished. Scope and reporting requirements continue to evolve, with the threshold dropping to £30,000 from April 2027 and further groups and income types being brought into scope over the following years. The software you choose today needs a provider with the subject matter expertise and the development capacity to absorb those changes without disruption to you. Don’t just ask what the software does today; ask who’s behind it, and how well they’ve kept pace with change in the past.
Choosing MTD software isn’t about who has the longest feature list. It’s about depth and reliability. Find a partner that’s proven it can evolve alongside the rules, and the annual scramble starts to feel more manageable.
Learn more
Our Thomson Reuters Digita tax calculation engine has been refined and trusted across decades of filing seasons, backed by subject matter experts who live and breathe UK tax. That experience matters here, because the goal is not software that simply works on day one. It is software that keeps working as the tax landscape keeps shifting. Our MTD for Income Tax software is cloud based that launches right from your existing SA platform, so you won’t have to migrate any client data, and you can keep an eye on both SA and MTD returns without switching between systems. Ready to explore how Thomson Reuters can support your MTD transition? Contact our UK tax specialists today for a comprehensive consultation and demonstration.
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Aleena Agarwal leads the UK Digita Tax Portfolio and has worked closely with accounting firms participating in the HMRC MTD for Income Tax pilot. |
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