How to use FreeAgent for MTD for Income Tax if you’re a sole trader with multiple businesses or rental income
This article explains what you need to do for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax if you have more than one sole trade, or you have a self-employed business and also rent out properties.
If you're self-employed and also a landlord, you'll need a sole trader and an unincorporated landlord account in FreeAgent. It's not possible to record property income and expenses using a sole trader account.
You can find out what counts as multiple income streams, as well as tips for managing more than one income stream, in our how to efficiently manage multiple income streams guide.
From 6th April 2026, MTD for Income Tax will become mandatory in phases based on your total annual income from self-employment and/or property, beginning with those whose total income from their business and/or property is above £50,000 per year - you can find out more on our MTD for Income Tax page.
HMRC requires anyone registered for MTD for Income Tax to keep digital records and send four quarterly updates about their business and/or property income and expenses to HMRC. You can enable quarterly updates to be sent to HMRC automatically. They will also have to submit an end-of-year update and final declaration after the end of the tax year.
If you need to sign up multiple sole trader businesses for MTD for Income Tax, we'd recommend ensuring that each business has a different and recognisable trading name so you can tell them apart when connecting FreeAgent to HMRC. You can update your business trading names with HMRC if needed.
How does MTD for Income Tax work in FreeAgent for multiple income streams?
If you have multiple self-employments, you’ll need a separate FreeAgent sole trader account for each sole trader business. Read our fast-track guide for sole traders for MTD for Income Tax.
If you have a self-employed business and also rent out properties, you’ll need a separate FreeAgent account for each income stream. Therefore, you’ll need a sole trader account and an unincorporated landlord account. Please note that you can't use a sole trader account to send quarterly updates about your property income and expenses to HMRC. The property functionality is only available in unincorporated landlord accounts.
If you’re a landlord with multiple properties and owners, you’ll only need one unincorporated landlord account per property portfolio, which can be used by multiple individuals who jointly own properties, as long as they are happy to share individual personal information with their fellow property owner(s). Read our fast-track guide for landlords for MTD for Income Tax.
If you have a business banking account with either NatWest, Royal Bank of Scotland, Ulster Bank or Mettle, you have the option to use one FreeAgent account per business bank account for free for as long as you retain your bank account (optional add-ons may be chargeable). Find out how to set up a Mettle-funded FreeAgent account or transfer to a funded account.
You can also use your referral link in one FreeAgent account to get a 10% discount on the subscription cost of the other FreeAgent account.
When you request data from HMRC or make an MTD for Income Tax submission in one of your FreeAgent accounts, if you then request a tax estimate or tax breakdown in your other FreeAgent account, this will reflect the data or submission from your first account.
Required submissions
If you have multiple self-employments, or you’re a sole trader who who also rents out properties, you’ll be required to make the following submissions for MTD for Income Tax:
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Four quarterly updates for each separate income stream (for example: eight in total for two income streams)
- An end-of-year update for each separate income stream, to finalise the total income and costs and make any annual adjustments (for example: two in total for two income streams)
- One final declaration covering all the income sources and individual information, to finalise your Income Tax position for the whole of the tax year
For landlords with multiple properties and owners, submissions will need to be made per property owner. Each owner will need to file four quarterly updates, an end-of-year update and a final declaration.
FreeAgent supports MTD for Income Tax submissions for both sole traders and UK unincorporated landlords using the cash or accruals accounting basis.
Next steps
You might find the following articles helpful for MTD for Income Tax: