Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts on 6 April 2026 for self-employed people and landlords with qualifying income above £50,000. The threshold then falls to £30,000 from 6 April 2027. For many landlords, the real issue is not the filing click. It is whether the underlying records are accurate, current, and categorised before quarter-end pressure arrives.
What changes in practice
The move to MTD is operational, not merely administrative. Landlords in scope need digital records, software that can support quarterly updates, and a way to keep transaction categorisation close to real time instead of rebuilding the quarter from a bank statement at the last minute.
ProperSorted is designed around that rhythm: capture early, classify once, and keep the quarter continuously reviewable.
A clean operating rule
One helpful mental model is a readiness ratio:
If the numerator is stale, the filing workflow becomes a rush job. If it stays near 100% throughout the quarter, the filing pack becomes a review exercise.
The three-step workflow
- Capture supplier invoices and expense receipts as they happen.
- Match each item to the right landlord reporting category.
- Review the quarterly pack while the evidence trail is still easy to trace.
What software should really produce
The output should not feel mysterious. A landlord or agent should be able to review a clear, auditable summary before anything is filed.
{
"quarter": "2026-Q2",
"properties": 4,
"transactionsCategorised": 182,
"exceptions": 3,
"filingStatus": "ready-for-review"
}Where landlords still need judgement
Software can streamline capture and categorisation, but it does not replace professional advice on tax treatment, ownership structure, or unusual reliefs. The winning pattern is to automate the repetitive evidence work and keep human attention for the genuinely ambiguous cases.