MTD for Income Tax on mobile in FreeAgent
This article provides an overview of Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax and offers guidance on how to get ready for it using the FreeAgent mobile app.
What is MTD for Income Tax?
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. They will also have to submit an end-of-year update and a final declaration after the end of the tax year, which need to be submitted using the desktop version of FreeAgent. Read more about first year of MTD for Income Tax submissions.
FreeAgent’s MTD for Income Tax functionality is available for sole traders and unincorporated landlords that have signed up for MTD for Income Tax with HMRC and connected FreeAgent to HMRC using the desktop version. If you have more than one income stream, for instance if you're self-employed and also a landlord, you'll need a sole trader and an unincorporated landlord account in FreeAgent. You can find out what counts as multiple income streams, as well as tips for managing more than one income stream, in our guide covering how to efficiently manage multiple income streams.
What’s the difference between quarterly updates, an end-of-year update and a final declaration?
Quarterly updates send the cumulative amount of income and expenses to HMRC for the quarterly period and retrieve a new annual tax estimate in return. Quarterly updates need to be submitted to HMRC every three months for each separate self-employment and property income source. Accounting and tax adjustments don’t need to be made before sending a quarterly update.
The end-of-year update covers all the other adjustments and allowances that need to be reported before you submit the final declaration. The final declaration finalises the Income Tax position for the whole of the tax year.
If you use FreeAgent with your accountant, they may submit your quarterly updates, end-of-year updates and/or final declarations on your behalf and restrict your ability to access and submit these. Please speak to your accountant if you have any questions or want to be able to access these. FreeAgent is unable to change these permissions for you.
What can you do on mobile?
You can use the FreeAgent mobile app to track your submission deadlines, review and submit your quarterly updates and approve quarterly updates if your accountant requires you to do so.
You can also use the FreeAgent mobile app to:
- view and update your accounting dates
- add your properties, record rental income for the properties and allocate costs to them (if you have an unincorporated landlord account)
- enable a bank feed to import your bank transactions into FreeAgent automatically - this does not allow HMRC access to any information you add to your accounting software, they can only access the MTD submissions you choose to send them
- explain your bank transactions once they’re imported into FreeAgent. If you need to, you can split transactions between multiple categories. If you’re using a personal bank account for your business and this option has been selected in FreeAgent, you only have to explain the transactions that relate to your business
- approve bank transaction explanations that have been automatically explained by FreeAgent’s Guess feature
- record your income by creating invoices. If you’re not sending invoices, you can explain the money you receive into your bank account as ‘Type - Sales’ for sole traders or 'Type - Rental Income' for landlords
- record your costs by adding supplier bills, out-of-pocket expenses or explaining bank transactions as 'Type - Payment’ and selecting the relevant cost category. Before entering this data, it’s a good idea to familiarise yourself with the difference between an expense, a bill and a bank payment in FreeAgent
Please note that any changes you make using the FreeAgent mobile app will be reflected in the desktop version of FreeAgent.
What can’t you do on mobile?
You’ll need to use the desktop version of FreeAgent to complete the following tasks:
- connect FreeAgent to HMRC for MTD for Income Tax
- assign the appropriate property ownership if you jointly let out properties and have an unincorporated landlord account
- upload bank statements if your bank feed isn’t supported
- switch to calendar quarterly update periods
- enter adjustments and allowances
- enter individual information
- submit an end-of-year update
- submit a final declaration
- request data from HMRC
MTD for Income Tax on mobile
Track your submission deadlines
You can view when your quarterly updates, end-of-year update and final declaration are due to be submitted.
Tap the '☰’ (mobile app navigation menu) button and select ‘MTD for Income Tax’.
From here you’ll be able to see when each submission is due and its status.
Review and send quarterly updates
To view a quarterly update and send it to HMRC, tap the chevron arrow to the right of the update.
Once you’re happy with the information, select ‘Send update to HMRC’.
Approve quarterly updates
To approve a quarterly update submission for your accountant or bookkeeper, select ‘Approve’.
Additional resources
You might find the following desktop articles useful on MTD for Income Tax: