Can my accountant do this for me?

Yes. If you use an accountant or agent, they can usually handle the sign-up and ongoing submissions on your behalf once properly authorised, though the underlying obligation still sits with you.

How long does sign-up take?

The sign-up step itself is usually quick. A bigger time cost is normally getting your existing records into a usable digital format, which is where most of the setup time actually goes.

How to sign up for MTD for Income Tax

Here’s the practical path from “I think I need to do this” to your first submitted quarterly update.

Step 1: Check you’re actually in scope

Before doing anything else, confirm your qualifying income puts you over the threshold for your tax year. Use the free scope checker. It takes your own numbers rather than assuming.

You (or your accountant, if you use one) sign up through HMRC using your Government Gateway ID, the same login you use for Self Assessment. HMRC then confirms which quarterly obligations apply to you.

Step 3: Choose MTD-compliant software

You need software that can send updates to HMRC directly. A plain spreadsheet or manual entry alone doesn’t meet the requirement. This is the point where you’d connect software like Simple MTD to your HMRC account.

Step 4: Get your records into the software

Import a bank statement CSV, upload a spreadsheet you already keep, or start adding income and expenses directly. Most of the setup time in practice goes here, not the sign-up step itself.

Step 5: Categorise your first quarter

Check that everything is sorted into HMRC’s categories correctly. See our guide to expense categories if anything looks unfamiliar.

Step 6: Submit your first quarterly update

Review a plain-English summary of what you’re about to tell HMRC, then submit. You’ll get a confirmation receipt with a reference number, keep this for your records.

Step 7: Repeat each quarter

Use the deadline calculator to get every quarter’s due date in one go, so the rest of the year is just adding records as you go rather than a scramble each time.

We’ll add real product screenshots to this guide once Simple MTD is live. For now, this covers the actual steps in order.