Making Tax Digital for Landlords: The Complete Guide

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is changing how UK landlords report rental income and expenses to HMRC - replacing the old once-a-year Self Assessment with digital records and quarterly updates. This guide pulls together everything we've written on MTD and landlord tax returns into one place, organised by topic, so you can find the article you need without hunting through the blog.

What is Making Tax Digital?

Start here if you're new to MTD: what it actually requires, who it applies to and when, and how the rules affect landlords specifically.

• The Pros And Cons Of Making Tax Digital For Landlords
• Making Tax Digital for Landlords: What's Changing, Who It Affects, and How to Prepare
• The Final Countdown to Making Tax Digital: A Checklist for Landlords
• Does MTD Require Landlords to Complete Five Tax Returns a Year?
• MTD for Landlords: What HMRC Doesn't Tell You (But You'll Wish You Knew)
• Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Landlords: PaTMa is HMRC-Recognised and Ready

Landlord tax returns: the complete walkthrough

Whether you're filing your first landlord tax return or looking to speed up the one you already do every year, these cover the whole process end to end, including our step-by-step series using PaTMa.

• What is a Landlord Tax Return?
• How To Complete Your Landlord Tax Return
• How To Save Time On Your Landlord Tax Return
• Easier landlord self assessment tax returns with PaTMa (Part 1)
• Creating your properties (Part 2)
• Adding tenancies and adjusting to ignore the past (Part 3)
• Recording rent payments (Part 4)
• Recording mortgage interest (Part 5)
• Recording other expenses (Part 6)
• Generate and check your tax figures (Part 7)

Digital record-keeping & MTD-ready software

MTD requires digital records, not spreadsheets or shoeboxes of receipts. These look at what good digital record-keeping looks like and how property management software fits in.

• How Digital Record Keeping Can Benefit Your Property Business
• Good Habits For Digital Record Keeping
• The Many Benefits Of Combining A Property Management System And MTD

Tax changes & paying less tax

Wider landlord tax changes and practical tips for keeping your tax bill down.

• Buy-to-let tax changes from April 2017 (and ones to remember from 2016)
• Calculate how the April 2017 tax changes will affect your buy-to-let profit
• Tax Return Tips Every Landlord Needs to Know in 2025
• Tips for Paying Less Tax as a Landlord in 2026

Stay MTD-ready with PaTMa

PaTMa Property Manager is recognised by HMRC as MTD-ready, so you can keep digital records of your rental income and expenses and prepare your quarterly updates without a separate bookkeeping system.

New to PaTMa? Try Property Manager free for 14 days — no card required.