The short answer, in plain words
Yes. HMRC accepts a spreadsheet as the place you keep your digital records. What a spreadsheet cannot do is talk to HMRC, so you also need bridging software: a product on HMRC’s list that reads the figures from your spreadsheet and sends your quarterly updates, and with some products the tax return as well.
The catch is the link between the two. The figures have to travel from the spreadsheet to the bridging software digitally, through linked cells or an imported file, and never by retyping or copying them across by hand.
The other route is to stop using the spreadsheet and keep the records in software that sends the updates itself. GOV.UK says that if you use a single product to do everything, you do not need to link it to anything.
When it comes up
A landlord who has kept one tab per property for ten years hears that Making Tax Digital is starting and assumes the spreadsheet has to go. It does not, but the way it is used changes. Every line becomes a digital record, and the formulas that worked out last year’s figures now feed a submission to HMRC four times a year instead of once.
When it starts depends on your qualifying income: qualifying income over £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year brings you in from 6 April 2026, over £30,000 in 2025 to 2026 from 6 April 2027, and over £20,000 in 2026 to 2027 from 6 April 2028. GOV.UK’s “Work out your qualifying income” (read 20 October 2026) says this is the amount before expenses, so it is your gross rent plus any self-employment turnover, not your profit.
How to make a spreadsheet work for Making Tax Digital, step by step
- Check which year you start, using the thresholds above
- Keep one row for each payment in and out, with the date, the amount and the category. GOV.UK says each digital record must include those three things
- Use categories that match HMRC’s property expense categories, so the totals drop straight into the right boxes. If your UK property income before expenses is under £90,000, GOV.UK allows less detail: each record marked as income or expense, with any residential finance cost flagged
- Keep all your UK properties as one property business. GOV.UK says you do not need separate digital records for each UK property, though foreign property is handled separately
- Choose bridging software from HMRC’s list of compatible software and check it supports UK property income and the parts of the year you need, from quarterly updates to the tax return
- Link the spreadsheet to it digitally, for example by having the bridging software read the file or by linked cells, and test the link before your first deadline
- When you find a mistake, correct it in the spreadsheet and let the corrected figures flow through the link again
- Send each update by its deadline: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May for the standard periods
Your options, compared honestly
Spreadsheet plus bridging software. You keep the sheet you know, and some bridging products are free for simple tax affairs. You now run two products, the formulas are entirely your responsibility, and the spreadsheet still does nothing for the rent or the tenancy.
An accountant using your spreadsheet. Send the spreadsheet to an accountant who is authorised as your agent with HMRC, and they send the updates. You pay for their time each quarter, and the spreadsheet still has to be kept up to date by you.
General accounting software. Xero describes all its UK plans as ready for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, from £18 a month plus VAT after an introductory offer (Xero’s UK pricing page, read 20 October 2026). It replaces the spreadsheet with accounting software built for businesses of every kind.
Landlord software that keeps the records and sends the updates. The records come from running the let, and the same product sends the updates, so there is no link to maintain. This is how LetCompliance works.
How it works in LetCompliance
It replaces the spreadsheet. Rent you mark paid, or collect by Direct Debit, is recorded as income against the property. Costs come from a photographed receipt, a bank statement CSV or a quick entry. Every entry carries the category that maps to the SA105 box and the matching HMRC field.
The quarterly update. The MTD page totals the year so far, in the cumulative shape HMRC expects, and shows what will be sent. It goes to HMRC only when you press send. The final declaration can be sent from here too, when UK property is the only income you need to add and you have no reliefs or charges to add.
Recognised by HMRC. LetCompliance is on HMRC’s list of software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, for UK property income.
Moving from a spreadsheet part-way through a year. There is no screen for importing past income and costs from a spreadsheet. The earlier months come in from your bank statement as a CSV file, matched line by line, so the year to date is complete before the next update.
What it costs. Making Tax Digital is on every paid plan, priced by the number of properties: Single at £7.99 a month for one property, Solo at £14.99 for up to 3, Portfolio at £19 for up to 10, Portfolio Plus at £29 for up to 20 and Professional at £49 for any number. It is not part of the trial or the free plan.
What GOV.UK says
GOV.UK’s “Create digital records” (updated 16 October 2026, read 20 October 2026) gives linked cells in spreadsheets as an example of a digital link. On corrections, it says that if you keep records in a separate spreadsheet you should make the correction there and then digitally link your records to your bridging software. It also says that once a record has been sent in a quarterly update you must not move it by hand, giving cut and paste or copy and paste as examples.
GOV.UK’s “Find software that’s compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax” (updated 13 July 2026, read 20 October 2026) describes bridging software as software that connects to the records you already keep, such as spreadsheets, and makes your submissions. It says free products are available for those with simple tax affairs, though they may limit use, for example by capping the number of transactions.
GOV.UK’s “Send quarterly updates” (updated 16 October 2026, read 20 October 2026) says each update shows your total income and expenses for the tax year so far.
Common mistakes
- Typing the quarter’s totals into the bridging software by hand instead of linking them
- Keeping one monthly total for a property you let on your own. The summarising GOV.UK allows on that page is for jointly let property
- Recording the net rent an agent paid you instead of the full rent and the fee
- Breaking a formula when adding a new property, so one property’s costs quietly drop out of the total
- Choosing bridging software that sends quarterly updates but not the tax return, then finding out in January
Is there free bridging software for Making Tax Digital?
GOV.UK says some free products exist for simple tax affairs, often with limits such as a cap on transactions. Check HMRC’s list of compatible software for what each one covers.
Can my accountant send my updates from my spreadsheet?
Yes, if they are authorised as your agent with HMRC. GOV.UK’s “Choose agents for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax” explains that a main agent can do almost everything you can, and that you authorise them when they ask through their agent services account.
Can I switch from a spreadsheet to LetCompliance in the middle of a tax year?
Yes. Because each update covers the year so far, the earlier months need to be in LetCompliance before you send. Bring them in from a bank statement CSV, check the totals against your spreadsheet, then send the next update from LetCompliance.
What LetCompliance does not do here
- If you want to keep your spreadsheet, you need bridging software, not LetCompliance. It does not read a spreadsheet and send it
- There is no import of past income and costs from a spreadsheet, only from a bank statement CSV
- It covers UK property income only, not self-employment, foreign property or partnership income, and it is not software for accountants filing for clients
- Making Tax Digital is not available on the trial or the free plan
