Set up the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax connection in FreeAgent
This article provides a simple guide on how to register your business for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax and link your FreeAgent account with HMRC.
Please note:
- FreeAgent’s MTD for Income Tax functionality is currently in pilot. Therefore, you’ll only have access to the functionality if your business is eligible for HMRC’s pilot scheme and meets FreeAgent’s eligibility criteria.
- This functionality is not currently available for unincorporated landlord FreeAgent accounts. However, we plan to support this shortly and will let you know once it is available.
- If you have a FreeAgent Practice Dashboard, you’ll need to set up your practice for MTD for Income Tax and sign up your clients instead of following the steps below.
Signing up for MTD for Income Tax is currently voluntary, and will help us and HMRC test and develop the service ahead of its launch. From 6th April 2026, it will become mandatory in phases based on your total annual income from self-employment or property, beginning with those whose joint income from their business/property is above £50,000 per year.
HMRC has published detailed guidance for sole traders, landlords, and accountants who want to volunteer to use and test MTD for Income Tax for the 2024/25 and 2025/26 tax years. After you’ve signed up to test MTD for Income Tax, you’ll get access to a dedicated support team at HMRC. You’ll also be able to review and update your details through HMRC Online Services.
1. Check that you are eligible to use FreeAgent to file MTD for Income Tax for the 2025/26 pilot year
You’ll be able to use FreeAgent to file MTD for Income Tax for the 2025/26 pilot year if your tax reporting needs are covered by the list below. If you have reporting needs that are not covered by the supported sections listed below, you shouldn’t sign up for the 2025/26 MTD pilot.
HMRC currently hasn’t implemented a solution for an equivalent of the SA302 form. Therefore if you require documents equivalent to the SA302 form for, for instance, a mortgage application, we wouldn’t recommend signing up for the 2025/26 MTD pilot for now.
During the 2025/26 tax year pilot, we’ll be expanding the Individual Information section to support additional reporting needs beyond Self-employment and UK Property business reporting.
For the 2026/27 tax year, we’ll support all available reporting requirements needed to file MTD for Income Tax to HMRC.
Supported reporting for 2025/26
Main Return (SA100)
- All sections supported
Additional Information (SA101)
- Interest from gilt-edged and other UK securities, deeply discounted securities, and accrued income profits
- Stock dividends, bonus issues of securities, and redeemable shares
- Share schemes, employment lump sums, compensation, deductions, post-employment income, and patent royalty payments
- Other tax reliefs
- Tax avoidance schemes
Employment (SA102)
- All sections supported
Self-employment (SA103F & SA103S)
- All sections supported
UK Property (SA105)
- All sections supported
Foreign Income (SA106)
- Foreign Tax Credit Relief
- Income from overseas sources - interest and other
- Income from overseas sources - dividends
- Dividend income received by a person abroad
2. Sign up for MTD for Income Tax with HMRC
If you’re eligible to use FreeAgent to file MTD for Income Tax for the 2025/26 pilot year, first visit HMRC’s MTD for Income Tax sign-up page to check their restrictions on who can sign up early for MTD for Income Tax, and sign your business up.
If you have more than one business, you’ll need to sign up each business for MTD for Income Tax. You’ll also need separate FreeAgent accounts for each business and another separate account if you’re a landlord. For example, if you’re a landlord and a builder, you’ll need two FreeAgent accounts (one for your business and one for the property) and will need to submit quarterly updates for each separately. Find out how to access your FreeAgent referral link.
When you sign up through HMRC’s web portal, they’ll ask you some questions and carry out some checks to ensure you can sign up, and confirm this with you. Once you receive confirmation, you’ll be able to connect your FreeAgent account(s) with HMRC for MTD for Income Tax.
3. Contact the FreeAgent support team
Once you’ve received confirmation from HMRC that you’ve signed up to MTD for Income Tax, contact the FreeAgent support team using the blue Help button at the bottom of the screen and ask them to switch on MTD for Income Tax filing on your account.
When contacting the support team, please ensure that support access is enabled on your account and provide a support code.
4. Connect FreeAgent to HMRC
Once MTD for Income Tax filing has been switched on for you, make sure that you’ve entered your National Insurance number in your user profile in FreeAgent.
Next, select 'Connections & Add-ons' from the drop-down menu below your business name.
Select ‘Get started’ in the ‘HMRC connections’ section. Please note that only users with full (level 8) access will be able to see the ‘HMRC connections’ section. If you’re an accountant or bookkeeper with a FreeAgent Practice Dashboard, you’ll need to set up your dashboard for MTD for Income Tax and sign up your clients that way.
Select ‘Connect FreeAgent to HMRC for Income Tax’. Please note that the screen you’ll see will depend on whether or not you’re VAT-registered and have set up the MTD for VAT connection.
You'll be redirected to the HMRC website to complete the connection process. Select ‘Continue’ and fill in your Government Gateway credentials.
When the connection is completed successfully, you’ll see the following screen.
If you’ve registered more than one business for MTD for Income Tax, you’ll be asked which business you want to link to your FreeAgent account when connecting FreeAgent to HMRC. Please note that you won’t be able to change this after you have made a submission to HMRC, so please ensure you select the correct business for each FreeAgent account.
You’ll now be able to send quarterly updates to HMRC via MTD for Income Tax using FreeAgent. Find out how to view or update your MTD for Income Tax settings.
HMRC requires you to update your MTD connection every 18 months.
To learn more about the government's Making Tax Digital initiative, check out our MTD guides and resources and HMRC’s guides.
Problems connecting to HMRC
If there is a problem during the connection process, you’ll see the following error message.
This error message could be due to a number of reasons:
- You haven’t completed the sign-up for MTD for Income Tax. Please try logging in to your HMRC business tax account and check that you can access MTD for Income Tax services. If you can't, you'll need to complete the sign-up for MTD for Income Tax.
- You are an accountant or bookkeeper trying to connect an Agent Services Account. If you are an accountant or bookkeeper with a FreeAgent Practice Dashboard, you’ll need to set up your dashboard for MTD for Income Tax and sign up your clients that way.
- You’ve entered your National Insurance number incorrectly. Please double-check that the National Insurance number in your FreeAgent account matches the National Insurance number in your HMRC business tax account.
- If the National Insurance numbers in your FreeAgent account and HMRC business tax account do match, please try again manually entering the same credentials you used to sign in to your business tax account. Be sure your browser does not auto-complete these for you. If it does, you’ll need to manually overtype them.
- Ensure you are not logged into a different HMRC account on the web browser you are using. This can result in HMRC trying to connect to the account you are currently logged in as.