MTD Spreadsheet Rules for Landlords: Can You Still Use Excel in 2026/27?

Are spreadsheets still allowed under MTD for landlords?

Yes. HMRC guidance says software can either create digital records or connect to existing records, such as records held in spreadsheets. That means a spreadsheet can still be part of a compliant MTD process.

The catch is that the spreadsheet must sit inside a wider MTD-compatible setup. You need software that can create, store and correct digital records, send quarterly updates to HMRC and submit your tax return by 31 January after the tax year.

For a landlord, the practical choices are usually: keep Excel and add bridging software, move to full landlord MTD software, or use an accountant’s MTD system. The right answer depends on how many properties you have, whether you use agents, how many expenses you process and how confident you are with spreadsheets.

• Allowed: a properly structured spreadsheet connected to MTD-compatible bridging software.
• Allowed: landlord tax software with spreadsheet import and HMRC submission built in.
• Not enough: a spreadsheet you manually total up before typing numbers into a non-MTD Self Assessment screen.
• Not enough: paper records only, even if you give them to an accountant at year end.

Who has to follow the spreadsheet rules in 2026/27?

For 2026/27, MTD for Income Tax is mandatory from 6 April 2026 if you are an individual landlord or sole trader registered for Self Assessment and your qualifying income was more than £50,000 in 2024/25.

Qualifying income means gross property income plus gross self-employment income, before deducting expenses. For landlords, that means gross rent before letting agent fees, repairs, mortgage interest, insurance or other costs.

The next phases are already set. If qualifying income is more than £30,000 in 2025/26, MTD starts from 6 April 2027. If qualifying income is more than £20,000 in 2026/27, MTD starts from 6 April 2028.

What your landlord spreadsheet must record

Your spreadsheet should hold digital records of your property income and expenses. HMRC says a digital record is a record of income or expense created and stored using software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

At a practical level, each row should be clear enough to support the quarterly totals your software sends to HMRC. Do not keep one annual total for rent and one annual total for expenses. Record the transactions as they happen, or at least regularly enough to meet the quarterly update timetable.

You must still keep normal Self Assessment evidence, such as invoices, receipts, agent statements and bank records. MTD changes how records are kept and submitted; it does not remove the need to prove the numbers if HMRC asks.

• Transaction date.
• Property or income source, especially if you own more than one property.
• Description, such as rent, letting agent fee, repair, insurance or mortgage interest.
• Income or expense category matching the MTD/Self Assessment category.
• Amount received or paid.
• VAT amount if relevant to your records.
• Evidence reference, such as invoice number, receipt file name or agent statement month.

When landlords need bridging software or digital links

If you want to keep using Excel, you will usually need bridging software. HMRC describes this as software that connects to existing records, such as spreadsheets, and makes submissions to HMRC.

The bridge is the missing link between your spreadsheet and HMRC’s MTD system. It should pull or import the figures from your spreadsheet, map them to the correct income and expense categories, connect to HMRC and submit the quarterly update.

This is where many landlord spreadsheets fail. They may be useful personally, but not structured in a way software can read. If your spreadsheet has merged cells, overwritten formulas, mixed personal and rental costs, or one tab per year with no category mapping, clean it before your first MTD submission. Our MTD digital links for landlords guide goes deeper into the workflow.

• Use consistent category names throughout the spreadsheet.
• Separate UK property income from foreign property income.
• Keep personal spending out of the rental records.
• Do not overwrite formulas without checking the totals.
• Keep a locked copy or backup after each quarterly update.
• Check your software is listed as working with MTD for Income Tax, not just MTD for VAT.

How quarterly updates work from a spreadsheet

MTD quarterly updates are summaries, not full tax returns. HMRC receives totals for the income and expense categories used for your property business, not copies of every individual receipt or invoice.

For standard tax-year update periods, the 2026/27 deadlines are 7 August 2026, 7 November 2026, 7 February 2027 and 7 May 2027. Your final tax return for 2026/27 is then due by 31 January 2028.

HMRC guidance says each quarterly update covers from the start of the tax year to the end of the update period, and your software works this out for you to check before sending. That makes spreadsheet accuracy important: an error in April can flow into later cumulative totals unless corrected.

Spreadsheet mistakes that create MTD problems for landlords

The biggest spreadsheet risk is not that Excel is banned. It is that the spreadsheet is too informal for quarterly reporting. MTD rewards tidy, repeatable bookkeeping and exposes messy categories quickly.

A common example is using a letting agent statement. If the tenant pays £1,000 rent and the agent deducts £180 before sending you £820, your gross rental income is £1,000 and the £180 is an expense. Recording only the £820 bank receipt understates both income and expenses.

Another issue is multiple properties. UK property income is normally treated as one UK property business for reporting, but your spreadsheet should still identify each property so you can check profitability, repairs and evidence. Foreign property income needs separate treatment.

• Recording net agent payments instead of gross rent and separate agent fees.
• Mixing capital improvements with repairs.
• Putting mortgage capital repayments into expenses.
• Forgetting council tax, utilities or insurance during void periods.
• Using inconsistent labels such as repairs, maintenance, works and contractor costs for the same category.
• Leaving quarter-end bookkeeping until the day before the submission deadline.

Step by step

1. 1

   Check whether you are in scope

   Look at your gross property income plus gross self-employment income for the relevant income test year. For 2026/27 MTD entry, the key threshold is more than £50,000 based on 2024/25 qualifying income.

2. 2

   Audit your current spreadsheet

   Check whether every rental transaction has a date, amount, category, property reference and evidence trail. Remove personal spending and standardise category names.

3. 3

   Choose your MTD route

   Decide whether to keep the spreadsheet with bridging software, move to landlord MTD software, or ask your accountant to handle submissions using their software.

4. 4

   Map categories before the first quarter end

   Match your spreadsheet categories to the MTD/Self Assessment property income and expense categories so your software can send clean totals to HMRC.

5. 5

   Authorise the software with HMRC

   After choosing compatible software, connect it to HMRC and authorise it before the first submission deadline. Do not leave this until 7 August 2026.

6. 6

   Lock down a quarterly routine

   Reconcile the spreadsheet to bank statements and agent statements each month, then review the quarterly update before submitting it through the software.

A worked example

A landlord uses a letting agent for one property and wants to keep Excel under MTD. In May 2026, the tenant pays rent to the agent, who deducts fees before sending the balance to the landlord.

For MTD, the spreadsheet should show the gross rent and the separate expense, not just the £820 bank receipt. The bridging or landlord software then maps those entries into the quarterly update.

Frequently asked questions