Making Tax Digital for Income Tax: Sole Trader & Landlord Money Kit (guide + records spreadsheet)

HMRC has started signing people up whether they asked or not. If your takings from self-employment plus rent were over £50,000 on your 2024/25 return, you are in for this tax year. Over £30,000 next April. Over £20,000 the April after. That is law, not a proposal.

This kit tells you what that actually means, in plain English, from HMRC's own guidance, with worked examples, analogies and your options laid out like an infographic.

The guide (37 pages, PDF)

• Are you in, and from when: the thresholds, what counts and what does not, HMRC's own worked example and two more
• The exemptions, including the ones HMRC has said it will refuse
• The calendar: 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May, and the Self Assessment dates that have not changed
• The four jobs: digital records, quarterly updates, the return through software, compatible software
• The spreadsheet question, settled: what HMRC says about spreadsheets and bridging software, and three ways to meet the software rule compared
• Penalties at a glance: the points system, the late-payment rates, a worked example, and the 2026/27 amnesty on quarterly updates
• Expenses, simplified expenses (the mileage rate changed on 6 April 2026), cash basis, the £1,000 allowances
• Rates and thresholds for 2025/26 and 2026/27
• Landlords: one property business, joint ownership, Form 17, the finance-cost reduction
• Opportunities: what the four updates give you, if you let them
• Printable quarterly and year-end checklists, and every source listed so you can check us

The Records Spreadsheet (Excel; works in Google Sheets and LibreOffice)

• Income and Expenses ledgers with HMRC's categories as drop-downs and the quarter filled in from the date
• Separate Property Income and Property Expenses ledgers with your ownership share applied and finance costs kept out of the expense total
• Quarterly Totals: cumulative figures by category, exactly what bridging software reads
• Simplified Expenses calculator with the right mileage rate for the tax year
• Payments on Account calculator with the under-£1,000 rule
• Checklist with the deadlines for the year you set

Who it is for

Sole traders, side-hustlers and private landlords in the UK who file Self Assessment and want to understand Making Tax Digital before it bites, not after.

We make no claims

Plain Terms presents the official rules in plain English, with examples, analogies and suggested options, so that anyone can understand them. Nothing here is legal, tax or HR advice. Before you act on anything in this kit, confirm it on gov.uk (the sources are listed at the back) and, where it matters to you, with your own accountant. The official sources and your adviser decide; we help you understand and ask the right questions. The spreadsheet is a record-keeping template to use with the HMRC-recognised bridging product of your choice; it does not submit anything itself.

Version 1.0, law and rates as at 9 September 2026. Buyers receive updated versions by email when the rules change.

Our promise: not clearer within 14 days, full refund. No form, no fuss.