MTD ITSA for UK landlords: we don’t file — here’s what we do instead
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax lands from April 2026. LetCompliance is not an HMRC-recognised filing tool, and we will never pretend to be one. What we dois the job an MTD product can’t: a 0-100 compliance score, Section 8 readiness, RRA 2026 workflows and a court-ready evidence pack per property. This page lays out the split clearly so you can build the right stack.
First wave: quarterly updates plus a final declaration replacing the current Self Assessment tax return.
Second wave. Same digital record-keeping and quarterly cadence as the first wave.
Third wave. Pulls the majority of UK landlords into MTD ITSA.
Always verify your own dates and thresholds on GOV.UK before relying on them. Figures above reflect the published HMRC phase-in as of 2026.
What LetCompliance owns
Every deadline, every certificate, every tribunal-relevant artefact. This is the lane that used to sit in a spreadsheet — it now sits in a scoreable, auditable, court-ready system.
- 0-100 compliance score per property with a live breakdown
- Gas Safety, EICR, EPC, PAT, licensing, smoke/CO alarm logs
- Deposit protection deadline tracker + Prescribed Information PDF
- Right to Rent wizard (share-code flow) and retention dates
- Section 8 drafter, Form 6A generator, Ground 8 auto-calculator
- Awaab’s Law SLA engine (emergency, urgent, significant, routine)
- Pet-request 28-day timer with statutory 7-day extension handling
- Tamper-evident document vault + court-ready PDF evidence pack
What MTD filing tools own
The HMRC-facing side: digital records of income and expenses, quarterly updates every 3 months, and the final declaration that replaces your Self Assessment tax return.
- HMRC-recognised MTD ITSA software (see GOV.UK’s list)
- Open Banking bank feeds to capture rent and expenses
- Allowable-expense categorisation for UK landlords
- Quarterly updates submitted digitally to HMRC
- Final declaration replacing the annual SA return
- Section 24 finance-cost restriction handling
- Joint ownership / income splits between owners
- Accountant access with client-level permissions
The MTD-ready record-keeping we ship today
LetCompliance does not submit to HMRC, but we do keep records in the shape an accountant or MTD tool needs. You can hand the following to your filing partner without rework.
- Date, amount, category and counterparty on every transaction
- Per-property tagging so joint owners can split cleanly
- Document vault with PDF receipts and expiry tracking
- Finance CSV export (income, expenses, balance)
- Per-property compliance snapshot for year-end files
- Court-ready PDF pack if HMRC queries a deduction
The landlord stack that works
Most landlords we talk to run two tools from April 2026: one for HMRC, one for tribunal. Here is how they split up in practice.
| Job to be done | LetCompliance | MTD filing tool / accountant |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly update to HMRC | — | Primary |
| Final declaration (replaces SA return) | — | Primary |
| Open Banking bank feeds | — | Primary |
| Allowable expense categorisation | Basic tags | Primary |
| Compliance score per property (0-100) | Primary | — |
| Gas / EICR / EPC / deposit reminders | Primary | — |
| Section 8 drafter + Ground 8 auto-calculator | Primary | — |
| Form 6A (Section 21) generator | Primary | — |
| Right to Rent wizard + share-code handling | Primary | — |
| RRA 2026 Information Sheet workflow | Primary | — |
| Awaab’s Law SLA engine | Primary | — |
| Pet-request 28-day timer | Primary | — |
| Court-ready PDF evidence pack | Primary | — |
Frequently asked questions
Does LetCompliance file MTD ITSA quarterly updates to HMRC?
No — direct filing to HMRC is reserved for HMRC-recognised products and accountants. What LetCompliance does cover is the 95% of work around filing: compliance score, certificate reminders, Section 8 and RRA 2026 tooling, court-ready evidence pack, plus a full landlord tax toolkit (SA105-shaped Tax Pack export, Section 24 calculator, MTD quarterly summary on the right HMRC dates, and a mileage log at the 45p / 25p rates). Paste the totals into Hammock, Landlord Vision, FreeAgent, QuickBooks or hand the pack to your accountant — filing itself takes minutes.
When does MTD ITSA start and who is in scope?
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment phases in from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000, from April 2027 for above £30,000 and (subject to HMRC confirmation) from April 2028 for above £20,000. Qualifying income is gross rental plus self-employment income before expenses. Check your own position on GOV.UK.
If you do not file MTD, why use LetCompliance at all?
Two reasons. (1) Compliance and court-readiness: MTD filing answers HMRC; compliance evidence answers a tribunal or court when you want to evict, protect a deposit or defend against an RRA / Awaab’s Law claim. LetCompliance is purpose-built for the latter: 0-100 score per property, Form 6A generator, Section 8 drafter, Ground 8 auto-calculator, Prescribed Information PDF, Right to Rent wizard, pet-request 28-day tracker, Awaab SLA engine and a court-ready PDF evidence pack. (2) Tax prep: our Tax & HMRC toolkit produces SA105-ready buckets, MTD-dated quarterly summaries, a Section 24 personal-vs-Ltd calculator and a mileage log — so by the time you or your accountant file, the numbers are already in the right shape.
How do LetCompliance and an MTD tool fit together?
Use LetCompliance for compliance and court-readiness. Use an MTD-recognised tool (or your accountant) for quarterly HMRC updates and the final declaration. Most landlords log rent and expenses in their MTD tool and keep LetCompliance focused on certificates, deadlines, Section 8 readiness and RRA 2026 duties. You can export property and finance data from LetCompliance as CSV for any accountant or MTD product.
Is LetCompliance “MTD ready”?
Our documents, deadlines and ledger-style records are structured so an accountant can plug them straight into an MTD filing workflow. We ship finance CSV export, per-property transaction tagging and category support. What we do not do is submit quarterly updates directly to HMRC — that sits with your filing tool or accountant.
Will LetCompliance ever add MTD filing?
We will only add MTD ITSA filing if we can be HMRC-recognised and do it as well as dedicated filing tools. For now our focus is compliance and court-readiness, where the landlord pain is immediate: a single missed EICR is £30,000 and one broken Section 8 claim is a year of lost possession. We track HMRC’s recognition list and will revisit integrations when they make sense for landlords.
Which MTD ITSA tools do landlords commonly pair with LetCompliance?
Hammock and Landlord Vision are the two most common UK-focused options (both are HMRC-recognised for MTD ITSA). Generalist tools such as FreeAgent, QuickBooks Self-Employed, Xero (via bridging) and TaxCalc also appear in accountant stacks. Your accountant’s preference often decides this.
Build the right stack, don’t buy one tool that does both badly
LetCompliance covers the compliance and court-ready lane from £14.99/month with a 14-day free trial and no card required. Pair it with an MTD ITSA tool (Hammock, Landlord Vision, or your accountant’s choice) from April 2026.