https://tradeyoke.net/blog/tag/tax Making Tax Digital for VAT and Income Tax, in plain English. en-gb https://tradeyoke.net/blog/making-tax-digital-for-vat-plain-english https://tradeyoke.net/blog/making-tax-digital-for-vat-plain-english Fri, 03 Jul 2026 09:15:11 GMT What MTD for VAT actually asks of a VAT-registered trade business: digital records, the nine boxes, obligations, and a guided filing that talks to HMRC for you. ⚠️ TradeYoke files the return you confirm. It does not decide what is VATable, which scheme you are on, or whether an expense is reclaimable. Those are questions for your accountant, and the wizard is built so an accountant can review the numbers before you press submit. ### Fraud-prevention headers, and why HMRC insists on them Every submission to HMRC's MTD API must carry a set of fraud-prevention headers: technical details about the device, connection and software that made the request. HMRC uses them to detect submissions that are not what they claim to be. They are mandatory, and a submission without them is rejected. You never see them. TradeYoke gathers what HMRC requires from the app and the browser and sends it with the return. The reason it is worth mentioning is that "HMRC-recognised software" means exactly this: software that talks to HMRC the way HMRC specifies, including the parts nobody enjoys. ### After you file: liabilities and payments Once the return is in, the same connection shows what you owe HMRC and what you have paid, straight from HMRC's records. It closes the loop: the who-owes-me report tells you what customers owe you, and the liabilities view tells you what you owe the taxman. Both come from the same ledger. HMRC VAT filing is part of TradeYoke Premium at £39 a month, alongside the bookkeeping sync and online payments; the pricing page has the split. It works the same across every trade on the platform, from electricians to window cleaners who have crossed the threshold. ### Questions people ask **Do I have to use Making Tax Digital for VAT?** If you are VAT-registered, yes. All VAT-registered businesses have been required to keep digital records and submit through software since April 2022, regardless of turnover. If you are not VAT-registered, MTD for VAT does not apply to you. **Can I still type my return into the Government Gateway?** No. Under MTD the return must be submitted by recognised software through HMRC's API. TradeYoke connects to HMRC with your Government Gateway login and submits from the guided wizard. **What are the nine boxes?** Boxes 1 to 5 are VAT amounts: VAT on sales, VAT on EU acquisitions (Northern Ireland only), the total, VAT reclaimed on purchases, and the net to pay or reclaim. Boxes 6 to 9 are the underlying values of sales, purchases and EU goods. Software fills them from your records. **Does TradeYoke do MTD for Income Tax as well?** Not today. TradeYoke files VAT returns; MTD for Income Tax quarterly updates are something to plan with your accountant, and TradeYoke's records, reports and accountant CSVs feed that. We wrote a separate post on MTD for Income Tax and who it affects from April 2026. Related: MTD for Income Tax from April 2026 and the trades TradeYoke supports. ### File VAT from the same place the invoices live Connect HMRC on the free trial and see your obligations before you decide anything. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> Carl Randall Tax Accounting https://tradeyoke.net/blog/mtd-for-income-tax-2026-sole-traders https://tradeyoke.net/blog/mtd-for-income-tax-2026-sole-traders Sun, 28 Jun 2026 11:15:11 GMT The thresholds, the dates, the quarterly updates and the first-year soft landing on penalties, in one page a self-employed tradesperson can act on. ⚠️ Thresholds and dates come from HMRC and can change at a Budget. The figures here are correct as we publish; check gov.uk and your accountant before you plan around them. ### What to do this year The businesses that find MTD easy are the ones whose records were already digital. If every invoice, payment and receipt is in an app, a quarterly update is a report your accountant runs. If they are in a diary and a shoebox, the quarter is a bad week. So the preparation is mostly about the records. Send invoices from software rather than a pad. Record cash on the phone. Photograph receipts on the day, which receipts in the van walks through. Pick an accounting package that HMRC recognises for MTD for Income Tax, or agree with your accountant that they will file the updates from your records; Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent helps with the choice. [Image: The How am I doing reports show earned, collected, expenses and profit for any period or tax year, and export the two accountant CSVs.] ### Where TradeYoke fits, and where it does not TradeYoke does not send MTD for Income Tax quarterly updates to HMRC today. What it does is keep the records those updates are built from: numbered invoices, payments settled against them, expenses with receipt images and VAT, mileage from the day's stops, and profit by period. Two accountant CSVs, one for income and payments and one for expenses, cover a quarter in one export. If you use the bookkeeping sync, invoices and payments push to Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent with read-back verification, and those packages are where the quarterly update is filed from. The platform overview shows how the ledger, reports and sync fit together, and the pricing page shows which plan includes the sync. > Quarterly updates are not a new job. They are the old job done every three months instead of once in January. — TradeYoke ### Before April 2026 - ✓ Check your 2024 to 2025 gross income — Self-employment plus property. Over £50,000 means April 2026. - ✓ Get every invoice into software — Sent from the app, numbered, with the payment recorded against it. - ✓ Photograph receipts on the day — Supplier, total and VAT read for you; attached to a job or vehicle. - ✓ Agree who files the updates — Your accountant, or an MTD-recognised accounting package fed by the sync. - ✓ Run a practice quarter — Export the accountant CSVs for one quarter and see how long it takes. ### Questions people ask **When does MTD for Income Tax start for sole traders?** 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, then 6 April 2027 for over £30,000 and 6 April 2028 for over £20,000. Qualifying income is gross self-employment and property income combined, based on the tax return from two years earlier. **What is a quarterly update?** A summary of your business income and expenses for the quarter, sent to HMRC from software. Quarters follow the tax year and each update is due a month and a week after the quarter ends. It is not a tax calculation and no payment is due with it; the tax is worked out in the final declaration after the year ends. **Will I be fined if I miss a quarterly update in the first year?** HMRC has said the April 2026 cohort will not receive late-submission penalty points for quarterly updates during their first 12 months. The final declaration and the tax payment deadlines still apply as normal. **Does TradeYoke file MTD for Income Tax updates?** No. TradeYoke keeps the digital records and exports the accountant CSVs, and its bookkeeping sync pushes invoices and payments to Xero, QuickBooks or FreeAgent. The quarterly update is filed from your accounting package or by your accountant. TradeYoke does file MTD for VAT returns. Every trade on the platform keeps the same records, whether you run a plumbing and gas business or one of the other supported trades. ### Get the records digital before the quarter arrives Start the free trial, import your customers, and run a practice quarter's export. [Start your free trial](https://app.tradeyoke.net/signup) ]]> Carl Randall Tax