Making Tax Digital: get your records ready
Making Tax Digital means keeping digital records and sending updates to HMRC from compatible software. Billfetch does the record-keeping groundwork and hands it to the software or accountant that submits — it does not submit to HMRC itself.
Last reviewed 17 October 2026
What Billfetch does — and doesn’t do
- Collects receipts and invoices from your inbox, uploads, Telegram, banks, payment providers and marketplaces, and keeps the original documents
- Records each income and expense with its date, amount and category, and matches it to the payment
- Lets you pick a UK tax quarter (6 April to 5 July, and so on) as the period for your package
- Exports import files for Xero, QuickBooks and FreeAgent, or pushes records straight into FreeAgent or QuickBooks
- Billfetch is not MTD-compatible software and does not send quarterly updates, VAT returns or tax returns to HMRC.
- Your submissions are made by your MTD software or your accountant, using the records Billfetch prepares.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: who and when
Sole traders and landlords registered for Self Assessment must use MTD for Income Tax when their qualifying income from self-employment and property is over:
- £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year — from 6 April 2026
- £30,000 in the 2025 to 2026 tax year — from 6 April 2027
- £20,000 in the 2026 to 2027 tax year — from 6 April 2028
Limited companies are not in MTD for Income Tax; their VAT is in MTD for VAT.
Quarterly update deadlines
With the standard update periods, quarterly updates are due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May. HMRC says it will not give penalty points for late quarterly updates during the 2026 to 2027 tax year; late tax returns still get points.
Digital records and digital links
Each digital record needs the amount, the date and a category. If you use more than one product — for example Billfetch for records and other software for submissions — HMRC requires the data to move between them by a digital link, such as an import file or an API connection, not by retyping or copy and paste.
Making Tax Digital for VAT
VAT-registered businesses already keep VAT records and file VAT returns through MTD-compatible software. Billfetch’s exports feed that software; the return itself is filed from there.
Sources
- Check if you need to use MTD for Income Tax (GOV.UK) (accessed 17 October 2026)
- MTD for Income Tax: send quarterly updates (GOV.UK) (accessed 17 October 2026)
- MTD for Income Tax: create digital records (GOV.UK) (accessed 17 October 2026)
- Find software compatible with MTD for Income Tax (GOV.UK) (accessed 17 October 2026)
- Making Tax Digital for VAT (GOV.UK) (accessed 17 October 2026)
This page is general information, not tax or legal advice.
Keep the records; let your software submit
Collect, match and export each quarter’s records to the software or accountant that files them.