HMRC has expanded its voluntary Making Tax Digital (MTD) income tax pilot to include individual landlords with straightforward tax affairs.

By extending the pilot, self-employed businesses can use software to manage their business records and send quarterly income tax updates to teh Revenue instead of filing a self-assessment tax return.

The pilot was originally made available to sole traders with income from one business, before being expanded to individual landlords on 4 June 2018.

This does not include landlords with income from furnished holiday lets.

Those with income from other sources may still need to report it through self-assessment.

According to the government release, taxpayers can opt in to the pilot if:

  • they're a sole trader with income from one business
  • they rent out UK property (excluding furnished holiday lettings).

MTD will be gradually introduced to businesses and taxpayers in the coming years, with digital reporting for VAT-registered businesses on course to become mandatory from 6 April 2019.

Contact us to discuss digital tax reporting.