How was your first quarterly update for MTD?

The much-discussed first submission date for Making Tax Digital has been and gone. Here, accountants reflect on their experiences.

There’s been a lot of industry chatter about Making Tax Digital. People worried about client cooperation, workloads and tech issues in the run up to the 7 August 2026 deadline. We followed up with accountants about these concerns and more.

We spoke to Brittany Draper FMAAT, Director, Draper Accountants Limited and Aimee Coller, Accountant, Tax & Business Consultant, Coller Associates Ltd.

How did your clients respond to MTD changes?

It can be hard to persuade clients to meet well-established deadlines like the Self-Assessment Tax Return. So accountants were wary of quarterly reporting – especially given the ‘soft landing’, where late updates don’t result in immediate penalties.

The Government has confirmed a little over half (436,000) of the 864,000 eligible sole traders and landlords met the deadline.

Brittany Draper reports that “Client responses have been mixed but largely negative. Some clients feel using software and sending quarterly submissions helped them organise their paperwork. But most felt this has cost them time and money without much benefit.”

“In the months leading up to the first submission period, I spent a considerable time discussing the new requirements with my clients. While some clients embraced the use of digital software, others were more hesitant,” says Aimee Coller.

“I’ve been repeatedly asked ‘what’s the point, and what are the benefits?’ Even now, I am not sure I can answer that.

“Knowing and understanding the numbers is important to those running a medium sized business. Many smaller business owners simply want to focus on serving their customers. Having to open software and upload receipts is an unwelcome burden for them. However, as familiarity in the system increases, I expect confidence and acceptance to grow.

“A small number of clients failed to provide their records within the required timeframe. With no penalties being issued this year, meeting their first obligation was not a priority for some.

“However, I’ve made it clear that timely record submission is essential going forward. That’s for us to meet our professional standards and for them to meet their compliance obligations. It will be interesting to see how clients respond to the second quarter.”

How was your workload?

From onboarding clients onto compatible systems to submitting data before the deadline, accountants have taken on a significant load in implementing MTD. They’ve also flagged that the window for quarterly submissions is quite tight.

This was an issue for Brittany as she made her submissions:

“The workload was difficult. Therefore we have changed the VAT quarters of some of our Limited company clients to help us smooth out the workload in the future during the year”.

“I have voiced my concerns about the MTD deadlines for some time. Accountants having the same filing deadlines for all clients will severely effect workload at the same time each quarter. Especially in January, which is already an extremely busy month!

“It would be critical if HMRC extends the filing deadlines to two or three months instead, or allows the quarters to be staggered during the year. I also believe reducing the qualifying turnover threshold to below £20k will be too costly and time consuming for those sole-traders and landlords”

For Aimee, timing and workload were less of an issue. “Overall, my workload was manageable. I had anticipated that clients would provide their information at different times, with some submitting records promptly and others taking longer to respond. As a result, I planned in advance, ensuring that I had sufficient time and resources to file the first MTD submissions without too much concern.

“The preparation undertaken in the months leading up to MTD going live proved invaluable. By communicating regularly with clients and allocating dedicated time to MTD-related work, I was able to manage the additional responsibilities without any significant disruption to my existing workload. Last-minute submissions and queries were inevitable and were dealt with within the dedicated time frame as planned.”

Did technology work as intended?

Another worry has been whether or not MTD software providers – and HMRC itself – were ready.

For Brittany, “There were more technical issues than expected, with both software and HMRC. Some software providers stated there was an HMRC service interruption during the last week of filing. This created connection issues which affected some of the MTD for Income Tax submissions.

“The difference in efficiency and systems between different software providers has been vast. During one technical issue I had a webchat open with the software provider to discuss how to resolve, and another webchat with HMRC at the same time, and both parties gave me counter answers to resolve the problem!”

Aimee was a bit luckier with software. “My clients used a range of software solutions for their MTD submissions, and I supported several platforms including Sage, QuickBooks, IRIS and Xero. While I was aware of reports of connectivity issues with QuickBooks during the early stages of implementation, these did not affect any of our clients.

“In general, the various software packages performed broadly as expected, and the submission process was smooth. The absence of significant connectivity issues was a pleasant surprise, as I had anticipated a greater number of technical challenges during the first submission period.

“However, reliability of submission confirmations is a concern. Although some submissions were recorded by the software as successfully filed, there were instances where they had not actually been received by HMRC.

“I found it necessary to verify submission statuses through my Agent Services Account and take corrective action where submissions had not been successfully processed. This is certainly an area that needs to be addressed and rectified before the next MTD cohort goes live.”

What went better than you expected?

Aimee “I had concerns about many of the practical aspects of how Making Tax Digital would work in practice. While the use of accounting software and bank feeds is nothing new for the profession, implementing MTD on such a large scale was a significant change for both agents and clients. There were also concerns that some software providers were still finalising the rental software only weeks before MTD went live, which naturally raised questions about reliability and accuracy of those systems.

“Despite these reservations, the overall experience proved far smoother than I had anticipated. The processes I put in place worked well, clients adapted better than expected, and the technology generally performed reliably. While there were a few issues that required additional checks and monitoring, none of the major challenges I had feared materialised.”

“Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by how successful our first submission period was,” says Aimee.

Do you worry about future submissions?

After her experience, Brittany believes “reducing the qualifying turnover threshold to below £20k from 6 April 2028 would be too costly and time consuming for sole-traders and landlords at this level.”

Aimee says “My main concern is not the technology itself, but the ability of agents to meet the increasing volume of filing obligations within HMRC’s deadlines. I believe the planning and preparation undertaken now will make future submissions more manageable.

“However, I do worry about the pressure placed on firms by the quarterly reporting cycle. For many practices, it could feel like managing a January filing season several times a year. There is a real concern that time and resources, rather than technical ability will be our biggest challenge as MTD expands.

“I personally believe a phased introduction, with six-monthly reporting in the first year before moving to quarterly submissions, would have allowed agents and taxpayers more time to adapt to the new reporting requirements.”

Cat Hall is Content Specialist at AAT.