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Making Tax Digital for accountants and bookkeepers

Making Tax Digital
A plan for every client

Get ahead of HMRC-led sign-ups and take control of your MTD client base. With our HMRC-recognised software you can streamline workflows, save time, and support every client. Ready to future-proof your client portfolio? Book your MTD readiness review today.

With 40+ years of experience, Sage is trusted by 1000s of sole traders

What Making Tax Digital means for accountants and bookkeepers

Is your practice ready for the next phase of Making Tax Digital? 

From September 2026, HMRC will start signing up taxpayers it believes should already be using MTD. Now’s the time to review your client base and identify who may be impacted. Not sure what this means for your practice? We can help.

What accountants need to do

  • Identify in-scope clients - Confirm who is affected by MTD and when, based on income thresholds. 
  • Choose and connect MTD-compatible software - Make sure your systems support digital records, quarterly updates, and the MTD Tax Return, with agent services correctly linked to HMRC. 
  • Define and test your MTD workflow - Set out how records, updates, reviews, and submissions will run, then test the process with a small group of clients. 
  • Communicate with clients - Explain to clients what they need to do, the MTD-compatible software they need to use and how to get started. 

What clients need to do

  • Keep digital records - Record income and expenses digitally using compatible software. 
  • Stay up to date during the year - Keep records current to support quarterly updates. 
  • Check quarterly updates - Review figures before they’re submitted to HMRC. 
  • Submit the final MTD Tax Return - Review and confirm the year-end return. 
 

What is the Sage MTD Agent?

The Sage MTD Agent is free for Sage Accountants. It automates compliance tasks and reduces admin work by 50%, so you can spend more time on your clients and advisory work.

  • Use the Sage MTD Agent to segment your clients, build task lists, send reminders, and chase documents.
  • Spot filing issues before they become problems, so you can stay ahead and deliver a seamless client experience.
  • Remain firmly in control with HMRC-recognised tools that support your workflow and keep you compliant.

MTD plans for every client

Sage Copilot included

Find the right accounting and bookkeeping plan for you and your clients with Sage Accounting, and get Making Tax Digital ready. To select your accounting plan, just sign up to Sage for Accountants. It's easy to customise and add features.

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Get started with Sage for Accountants

Need plans for your clients?

Sign up to Sage for Accountants for free. Choose the right accounting subscriptions for your clients, and add features and extra documents as needed. Build your plan your way. 
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Customise your product by adding features and subscriptions for your practice and clients.
Add-on automated documents as and when you need them.
Only pay for what you need. This will be billed monthly. 
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Sage for Accountants

A customisable accounting solutions for your practice and clients. Only pay for what you need, add more features in-product. Available to verified accountants and accounting service providers. 

Free

We take your billing information at checkout to enable future payments for custom features.

Tools for your practice:

  • Sage Copilot
  • Sage Accounting
  • Sage Payroll
  • Centralised client management
  • Payroll Bureau Dashboard
  • Final accounts and tax submission tools
  • Cashflow forecasting
  • Member benefits and client discounts

Add-on features:

  • Automated pricing and proposals
  • KYC / Risk Assessments
  • Engagement letters
  • Automated data entry
  • Client cashflow forecasting

See full pricing for add-on features, subscriptions, and document allowances.

MTD for accountants FAQs

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is a new way of reporting income and expenses which will replace the Self Assessment returns for sole traders and landlords.

Taxpayers or their agents will need to:

  • Use software that is compatible with Making Tax Digital for ITSA
  • Keep digital records of business transactions
  • Send quarterly updates to HMRC which summarise those business transactions. Separate quarterly updates will be required for UK property, foreign property and each of your self employments.
  • Provide details of any tax and accounting adjustments and reliefs to finalise your taxable income from property and self-employment.
  • Provide details of other income sources and other information such as tax allowances and reliefs you wish to utilise that would have previously been included on your self assessment tax return.
  • Confirm the information you have provided is ‘complete’ by making a ‘Final Declaration’ by 31 January the following year.

MTD already applies to VAT-registered sole traders and small businesses. 

The next MTD deadlines are for Income Tax and will apply in phases to all self-employed individuals and landlords with qualifying income above the below thresholds. Accountants with clients who meet these criteria will need to support them in compliance. 

  • 6 April 2026 - incomes over £50,000
  • 6 April 2027 - incomes over £30,000
  • 6 April 2028 - incomes over £20,000

Clients will need to get started now to ensure their digital records are in place for the 2024/2025 income tax year currently underway. As an accountant or practice, you will also need to start preparing today. This ensures that when they come to submit the required quarterly updates from 2026 onwards, and year-end Self Assessment, you and your clients have everything you need. Skip the rush and get your clients MTD ready today.

HMRC have launched a ‘private beta’ for tax year 2024/25 and are currently encouraging agents to sign up, however it is also possible for taxpayers to sign up directly.

To be eligible for private beta, you (or your client) must:

  • Have a tax year that runs from 6 April to 5 April (or 1 April to 31 March if your software can support this)
  • Ensure personal details are up-to-date with HMRC
  • Be a UK resident
  • Have a National Insurance number
  • Have submitted at least one Self Assessment tax return
  • Be up-to-date with tax records and payments

Read more information on those that cannot sign up voluntarily, and things to consider. 

First you’ll need to identify which clients are impacted by Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and discuss these changes with every client. 

If you think a client qualifies for MTD in the 2024/25 financial year, make sure to step them through the process and explain the implications of using a compliant, MTD-ready accounting software.

Once you’ve talked them through they will need to sign up to Sage Accounting through your practice. You can benefit from rewards as you unlock points for getting clients to sign up. 

All agents need an Agent Services Account (ASA) to be able to access MTD services and make submissions on behalf of their clients. Think of this as similar to the Government Gateway login.

You will only need one ASA for your firm. Once you have one you can set up your staff with administrator or assistant logins to use the account.

Your firm may already have signed up for an ASA when you registered to submit MTD for VAT returns or Trust Registration Service returns.

The next step is to ensure you have compatible accounting software to be able to submit quarterly updates on behalf of your clients.

Sage Accounting MTD is currently one of the few products on the HMRC list of approved providers that is ready to use right now if you wish to sign up clients for beta testing.

https://www.sage.com/en-gb/making-tax-digital/mtd-vat-software/ 

Once you have MTD compatible software you can sign up eligible clients for MTD for Income Tax. Here is the information you’ll need for the sign-up process:

  • Client’s full name
  • Date of birth
  • National Insurance number
  • Business start date or the date your client started receiving income
  • Accounting method (cash or accrual basis)
  • The tax year your client would like to start using MTD for Income Tax

Once completed you’ll need to provide the client’s authorisation.

You can do this either by signing in to the Agent Services Account and following the steps, or you can copy over the client’s existing authorisation for self assessment from your HMRC online services for agents account to the ASA.

The Sage MTD is built into Sage Accounting. No complex downloads or sign-ups, and no extra charges to pay, so you can handle everything from bookkeeping to MTD using a single solution with complete peace of mind. 

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