Switching Making Tax Digital software in the middle of the tax year

GOV.UK is clear that you can move: “You can change the software you use for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax at any time”. It adds that you “may find it easier to change your software at the end of the tax year”, because then there is nothing to carry across.

Mid-year is still common: the first product was chosen in a hurry, a free version turned out to be limited, or the software does not send the tax return. This guide covers what moves, what does not, and the one setting you cannot change once an update has gone.

Why the new software needs the whole year

Each quarterly update “covers from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period”. HMRC keeps the totals you sent, but it never receives the records behind them: “HMRC will not receive details of individual digital records, such as a receipt or invoice.”

So your new software cannot pull the year from HMRC. GOV.UK says to “import your digital records into your new software for the current tax year”, or “recreate the records in your new software”. The first update you send from the new product has to include everything since 6 April.

LetCompliance makes that catch-up quick: import your bank statements as CSV and each line is matched to rent or an expense, photograph receipts to have them read, and bring the properties in from a spreadsheet. It is free for one property, or from £7.99 a month with the rest of the let. Get started

The update-period trap

There are two ways to set the quarters: the standard periods (6 April to 5 July and so on) or calendar periods (1 April to 30 June and so on). GOV.UK: “You cannot change the update periods you're using for a tax year after you have sent a quarterly update.”

So check that the new software supports the period type you have already used. HMRC’s finder shows it for each product as the calendar update period line, and not every product has it ready: of the 128 products HMRC lists for UK property income, 19 do not include calendar periods (checked 6 October 2026). LetCompliance supports both.

One product per submission

“You can only use one product for each separate submission that you need to make to HMRC”, and for landlords specifically, “you cannot use more than one software product to send quarterly updates of your property income or expenses”. Do not run the old and the new side by side for sending: pick the moment of the switch, and send everything after it from the new software.

If you used spreadsheets with bridging software, GOV.UK adds: “You must remove the link between your old bridging software and your records.”

Checklist for a mid-year switch

1. 1Export and keep your records from the old software: GOV.UK says you may need to export them “and store them securely”. You must keep digital records for at least 5 years after the 31 January deadline.
2. 2Check the new product on HMRC’s finder: UK property, the update period you already use, and the tax return.
3. 3Authorise the new software with HMRC.
4. 4Bring in the year so far: import or recreate every record since 6 April.
5. 5Check the totals against what you already sent. Differences are fine if they are corrections; know why they are there.
6. 6Send the next update from the new software only.

The next deadline for 2026 to 2027 is 7 November 2026, then 7 February and 7 May 2027.

Corrections travel with you

Because updates are cumulative, “you can correct your records without having to resend previous updates”. A correction made during the year “will be fixed when you send your next quarterly update”. HMRC’s manual says the same: there is “no requirement to resubmit an earlier update”.

After the fourth update, a correction is made by resending the fourth update or adjusting the total, no later than the filing date for the tax return. And a tax return already sent can be amended within 12 months of the submission deadline.

After the year end, it is simpler

Switching between tax years means no import at all: “You do not need to import your digital records from previous tax years into the new software.” Keep the old exports for your 5 years, set up the new product before the first update of the new year, and start clean on 6 April.