The short answer
It has to carry on the year the old product started, not begin a new one. GOV.UK says you can change the software you use for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax at any time (GOV.UK, “If your circumstances change”, updated 16 October 2026, read 20 October 2026), and nothing already sent is undone. But the new product starts with none of your records, so it has to be able to catch up on the year and carry on from the quarters already sent.
This page is about choosing that product. The full walk-through of a mid-year switch, from exporting the old records to correcting figures after the fourth update, is in the blog guide linked at the end.
When it comes up
Often in the run-up to 7 November, the second deadline of the year. The product picked in the summer to get the 7 August update in turns out not to send the tax return, or its free version has run out, or an accountant sent the first quarter and the landlord now wants to send the rest. For 2026 to 2027, GOV.UK’s “Send quarterly updates” says a late quarterly update earns no penalty point, though every update has to be sent before the tax return, so a switch need not be squeezed into a deadline week.
Why the new software needs the whole year
Each quarterly update covers the tax year from its start to the end of the update period, and HMRC receives totals by category, never the receipts or invoices behind them (GOV.UK, “Send quarterly updates”, updated 16 October 2026). So new software cannot download your year from HMRC. You bring the records in, by importing them or recreating them, and the next update restates the whole year to date. If a figure comes out different from the one the old software sent, the new total takes its place: a correction during the year goes in the next update.
What to check in the new software before you switch
- That it is on HMRC’s list for your income. HMRC’s software finder shows whether a product covers UK property income and whether it sends the tax return as well as the quarterly updates
- That it supports the update periods you already used. Standard periods end on the 5th of July, October, January and April; calendar periods on the last day of June, September, December and March. GOV.UK’s “Get your software ready” says you cannot change your update periods after you have sent a quarterly update
- That it can find out what HMRC already holds. A quarter sent by the old product or by your accountant should show as sent, not as overdue
- How the year to date gets in. Importing the old product’s export, reading bank statements, photographing receipts or typing: the more months since April, the more this matters
- That it shows the year-to-date totals before sending, so you can compare them with what was sent before, and sends only when you press send
- What it covers besides property. GOV.UK allows a different product for a different income source, but only one product can send your property updates
If you used a spreadsheet with bridging software, GOV.UK adds that you must remove the link between the old bridging software and your records.
Your options, compared honestly
- Wait until 5 April. GOV.UK says changing at the end of the tax year may be easier, and records from previous years never need importing. If the product you have works, waiting costs a few more months of its subscription.
- Hand the updates to an accountant. They send them with their own software and set their own fee. You still keep the records, and the accountant needs them each quarter.
- Move to a spreadsheet and bridging software. Allowed, but the spreadsheet has to be digitally linked to the bridging product, and GOV.UK rules out copying, pasting or retyping records between them (GOV.UK, “Create digital records”, updated 16 October 2026).
- Move now to software that runs the rest of the let as well. The catch-up is real work, and it grows with every month since April. A bank statement import does most of it; receipts and odd items take the rest.
How it works in LetCompliance
Connect your HMRC account on the MTD page. LetCompliance then asks HMRC what it already holds for this tax year, whoever sent it. A quarter sent through another product, or by your accountant, shows as filed, and you are not told it is overdue for something already done. If HMRC cannot be reached to check, the page says it could not check rather than guessing.
Under Set up filing, choose the update periods you used in the other software. Standard and calendar periods are both supported. If the dates of an update do not match the periods HMRC holds for you, HMRC refuses it and the page tells you why, including the advice to check the periods you chose elsewhere. It never sends a mismatched update quietly.
Then bring the year in:
- Properties and tenants from one spreadsheet saved as CSV
- This tax year’s bank statements as CSV, each line matched to a rent charge, an existing entry or a new one, with nothing recorded until you confirm it
- Receipts photographed and read into draft expenses for you to check
When the year is in, press send. The update covers the whole year so far, and it goes only when you press the button. HMRC does not take an update more than 10 days before its quarter ends, and if it refuses one for that or any other reason, the page says so in plain words. At the year end the final declaration can be sent from LetCompliance when UK property is the only income you need to add and you have no reliefs or charges to add.
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. No VAT is added. It is not on the free plan or the trial.
What else GOV.UK says, read on 20 October 2026
- A landlord cannot use more than one software product to send quarterly updates of property income or expenses (GOV.UK, “Find software that’s compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax”, updated 13 July 2026)
- Digital records are kept for at least 5 years from the submission deadline for each tax year (“If your circumstances change”)
- Updates are due on 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, the same dates for standard and calendar periods (“Send quarterly updates”)
Common mistakes
- Choosing a product for its price before checking it supports the update periods you already used. HMRC refuses the update, and the periods cannot change for the rest of the year.
- Sending only the latest three months from the new software. The update is cumulative, so April to June would drop out of HMRC’s running total.
- Sending property updates from the old and the new product in the same year after the switch.
Do I have to tell HMRC I have changed software?
GOV.UK’s guidance on changing software, read on 20 October 2026, describes authorising the new product and bringing your records into it, and names no separate form.
Can I switch after the fourth update?
Yes. Once the fourth update is in, the year is closed for quarterly purposes. GOV.UK’s “Send quarterly updates” says that if you need to correct something after it, you resend the fourth update before you make any tax adjustments, so the new product has to hold the full year if it is to do that. Switching at that point is close to the clean year-end switch GOV.UK recommends.
Can my accountant keep sending some updates while I use LetCompliance?
Not for the same property income: one product sends the property updates. Your accountant can still see the figures through a read-only link with no login, which shows the SA105 boxes, the ledger with receipts and which MTD updates were sent.
The honest limits
- Records do not come across from other software. LetCompliance reads bank statements as CSV, not another product’s export file, so the year since 6 April is imported from statements or entered.
- The update periods stay as first chosen for the year, whichever product chose them.
- It covers UK property income only: not self-employment, foreign property or partnership income, and not agents sending updates for clients. GOV.UK allows a different product for a different income source.
- If you are leaving Hammock, Landlord Studio, August, Arthur Online or Alphaletz, each has its own help page with that product’s export steps.
