Our MTD Accounting Software Picks

With Making Tax Digital rolling out to an increasing number of businesses, we’ve reviewed the accounting software providers who can offer compliant record-keeping and MTD submissions to UK businesses. An overview of our favourite five are shown in the comparison tables below.

Does everyone need Making Tax Digital accounting software?

Making Tax Digital (MTD) means UK businesses must keep tax records digitally, and use special software to report information about income and expenses on a quarterly basis. MTD rules apply to all VAT registered businesses, and from April 2026 will extend to MTD Income Tax.

This sees MTD roll out to taxpayers who normally submit Self Assessment tax returns to report self-employment or property income if it’s above the qualifying threshold:

• April 2026 for qualifying income over £50,000
• April 2027: £30,000
• April 2028: £20,000

Focusing on all-in-one MTD software

The wording about digital record keeping is really important because this might affect how you decide to go about meeting the requirements. Yes, you have to keep digital records, but that doesn’t necessarily mean you need to use accounting software to be compliant.

HMRC accept that some businesses will prefer to use spreadsheets to meet the digital record-keeping requirements, and then make their quarterly submissions with bridging software (which literally bridges the gap between your records and the way you send this information).

Which brings us to our next important point! Bridging software can also be used with other accounts software. It means some accounting software providers can claim to be MTD compliant when really, they’re only meeting the criteria for digitisation, and you’ll still need a way to submit data.

We wanted to futureproof our recommendations to make them more useful, so longlisted our top 5 MTD software providers by focusing on those which:

• Are cloud-based
• Cater to both MTD VAT and MTD Income Tax
• Allow you to keep records digitally and use the same software to make submissions

These criteria mean some major players, such as QuickBooks and FreshBooks, were not eligible at the time of writing.

How do we decide how to rank our reviews?

UK businesses have access to a huge range of accounting software solutions, so there’s a lot to think about. Selecting software can be challenging because the availability of features can vary considerably – and so can pricing!

One of our considerations for scoring accounting software factors in whether or not it’s easy to use. We also look at cost versus value for money, so we don’t exclude the more expensive end of the market by default if those providers also offer an excellent range of features and usability. There are other criteria which can affect the overall score too, such as any restrictions on the number of users or transactions.

All that said, we spend a lot of time reviewing accounting software! This gives us a better idea than most as to what your options are, but it doesn’t mean we understand the unique needs of your business. Whilst we take a general approach, it’s well worth making a list of your own particular requirements. Your shortlist might look different to ours!

Software	Features	Overall	Read Review
Pandle Review	Ease of use Speed Features Support Price User Experience		Read Pandle Review
FreeAgent Review	Ease of use Speed Features Support Price User Experience		Read FreeAgent Review
Sage Business Cloud Review	Ease of use Speed Features Support Price User Experience		Read Sage Business Cloud Review
Clear Books Review	Ease of use Speed Features Support Price User Experience		Read Clear Books Review
QuickFile Review	Ease of use Speed Features Support Price User Experience		Read QuickFile Review