MTD spreadsheet template for Income Tax records

If you are looking for an MTD spreadsheet template, you want to keep Making Tax Digital records in a file you already understand. You do not have to move to a full accounts package unless you choose to. HMRC allows spreadsheet software for those digital records. You still send your updates with compatible bridging software.

This page is a buying guide. It covers what the template has to do, what to check before you pay, and where a ready kit fits. If you already know you want a kit rather than a blank workbook, start at the MTD-Ready Spreadsheet Kit.

Everything here is information, not tax advice. For your own situation, check your HMRC online account or speak to an accountant.

What Making Tax Digital actually requires

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) is HMRC’s rules for how some sole traders and landlords keep records and report. You keep digital records of income and expenses. You then send quarterly updates and a final declaration using software that can talk to HMRC. A quarterly update is a summary of income and expenses for three months. A final declaration is your end-of-year figures, sent through the same kind of software.

HMRC sets this out in Using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (checked 9 October 2026). You must use software that works with Making Tax Digital. You can keep the records in a spreadsheet. You still need bridging software to send the figures.

You need MTD if you are a sole trader or landlord and your qualifying income is over the threshold for your start year, unless an exemption applies. Qualifying income is self-employment turnover plus property rents, before expenses. The published thresholds are:

• over £50,000, from 6 April 2026
• over £30,000, from 6 April 2027
• over £20,000, from 6 April 2028

Pay from a job, a pension, savings, dividends or a partnership share does not, on its own, bring you into Income Tax MTD. HMRC’s own records and notices decide what you must do.

How an MTD spreadsheet and bridging software fit together

An MTD spreadsheet, an MTD Excel spreadsheet, and MTD spreadsheet bridging software are related, but they are not one product.

The spreadsheet is where you record income and expenses. Excel is fine if that is what you already use. That file can be your digital record.

Bridging software is separate. It reads totals from your spreadsheet and sends your quarterly updates and final declaration to HMRC. HMRC lists compatible products, including bridging software, at Find software that is compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (checked 9 October 2026).

No spreadsheet template files those updates on its own. MTD Match is not HMRC, is not a tax adviser, and is not filing software. Its kit does not send anything to HMRC. You pair the spreadsheet with bridging software you choose from HMRC’s list.

If you want that split explained in one place, read the bridging software guide.

What to look for before you buy

Use this as a filter.

1. It is for Income Tax MTD, not VAT MTD. VAT Making Tax Digital is a different scheme with different software rules. A VAT spreadsheet will not meet Income Tax MTD. HMRC’s VAT guidance is Using Making Tax Digital for VAT (checked 9 October 2026).
2. You can get quarterly totals out of it. You send summary income and expenses for each quarter, not every receipt. Standard quarters run 6 April to 5 July, then to 5 October, 5 January and 5 April. Some people use calendar quarters. Your records, your bridging software and your HMRC sign-up need to match.
3. Income and expenses are easy to tell apart. Qualifying income (the figure that decides when you join) is before expenses. Quarterly updates include both. If a template mixes them into one running total, you will spend the quarter untangling it.
4. Self-employment and property can be kept separate. If you have both, they are separate for MTD. One muddled list makes bridging harder.
5. It opens in the spreadsheet tool you already use. An MTD Excel spreadsheet should not force a new tool on you unless you want one.
6. The seller does not claim the file is HMRC-recognised filing software. Spreadsheets are not. Bridging software, or full MTD software, is what HMRC lists as compatible for sending updates.
7. You can keep using it after year one. MTD continues each tax year. A layout you have to rebuild every April costs more than it saves.
8. It does not replace advice. A template records numbers. It does not decide your tax.

It is calmer to have the template in use from 6 April of your start year, so the first quarter lives in it from the start rather than being rebuilt later.

Options compared

Route	Fits if	Watch for
Build your own spreadsheet	You already keep tidy books	You still need bridging software, and you must match what HMRC expects
An MTD-ready spreadsheet kit	You want a spreadsheet, not a full package	The kit is not filing software. Add bridging software
Full MTD software	You want records and filing in one product	Often a subscription, and a new way of working
An accountant does it	You do not want to run the software	Practices set their own fees. Ask what is included

MTD Match sits in two of those rows. It offers an MTD-ready spreadsheet kit for people who want to keep records in a spreadsheet. It can also introduce you to one local accountant, only with your say-so, if you would rather a person handled MTD. You never pay for that introduction.

Cost, once

Treat a template as a one-off file unless you have chosen full software with a subscription. The MTD-Ready Spreadsheet Kit from MTD Match is £19, or Kit + Walkthrough is £49, both one-off, on the kit page. Bridging software is sold separately by other firms. Accountants set their own fees. You sign up for MTD on GOV.UK with your Self Assessment details, as Using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax explains (checked 9 October 2026).

Mistakes that cost time

Buying the wrong MTD. VAT and Income Tax are different digital schemes. Check the label before you pay.

Paying for filing that a spreadsheet cannot do. If you need to send updates, budget for bridging software as well.

Starting the sheet after the quarter is already running. Setting it up before 6 April of your start year is quieter than building it in a hurry.

Putting personal spending in the business columns. Digital records are for the trade or the property.

Treating any kit, including this one, as tax advice or as HMRC-recognised filing software. It is neither.

Choose, then take the next step

If what you wanted was an MTD spreadsheet template you can keep using with bridging software, MTD Match is set up for that. The kit is for sole traders and landlords who would rather stay in a spreadsheet. It is not HMRC-recognised software and it does not send updates.

If you would like a person instead, you can ask for an introduction to one local accountant. There is no obligation.

When you are ready to order the kit, go to the MTD-Ready Spreadsheet Kit.