MTD if you have an accountant

Having an accountant doesn’t exempt you from MTD, but it does change what your part looks like. The common pattern emerging: you keep the digital records and file the quarterly updates (they’re summaries, not returns), and your accountant handles the year-end final declaration where the real tax decisions live.

One thing an accountant genuinely can take off your hands is the sign-up itself. Being registered for Self Assessment is not the same as being signed up for MTD for Income Tax, and an agent can do that sign-up for you: see signing up for MTD with HMRC for how to check which of you has done it.

Why accountants often don’t want the quarterly bit

Four extra filing events per client per year is a lot of low-value work: many practices price it accordingly, or ask clients to use software and do it themselves. A £12.50-a-quarter tool you drive yourself is a different order of cost from four quarterly invoices.

How to split it cleanly

• You: import statements, confirm categories and file each quarter. It’s built to take about ten minutes, four times a year.
• Your accountant: reviews the year, handles adjustments, allowances and the final declaration.
• Both: your records export from QuarterFile as CSV any time, so nothing is locked in.

Talk to your accountant before your first quarter: agree who files what, and you’ll never duplicate work. There is no separate agent login in QuarterFile today, so if your accountant wants your figures, your records export as CSV whenever they ask. If direct agent access would make a difference to you, tell us and we’ll email you if it ships.