Making Tax Digital for landlords: the letting agent’s records handover

For a landlord using Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax, the letting agency should hand over gross rental receipts, separately identified costs and supporting documents in the format agreed with the landlord or their tax agent. Confirm who will combine the records and send the update through compatible software. A monthly statement showing only the landlord’s net payment leaves gaps.

The next quarterly update deadline is 7 November 2026. Propertymark’s reminder of 25 September 2026 makes this a useful time to test the handover. The recommendations here concern the agency’s records. Filing responsibility needs a separate agreement with the landlord.

HMRC’s eligibility guidance requires individuals within scope whose qualifying income exceeded £50,000 in 2024/25 to use MTD for Income Tax from 6 April 2026. Qualifying income generally combines self-employment and property turnover before expenses; PAYE employment income does not count. Your branch’s managed properties may cover only part of the landlord’s income. Ask the landlord or their tax adviser to confirm eligibility, including any exemption or joint-ownership issue.

Record the confirmed start year, the person receiving the pack and their responsibilities. Keep a preparation list for clients joining from 6 April 2027 because qualifying income exceeded £30,000 in 2025/26. This guide concerns individual landlords within MTD for Income Tax across the United Kingdom. Companies and partnerships need their own tax advice.

The November update covers the year to date. Confirm the client’s existing period choice: it cannot be changed for a tax year after an update has been sent. See HMRC’s update periods and deadlines.

Monthly statements can remain useful working records. Give the recipient a clearly labelled year-to-date export, with a separate view of new transactions and corrections if that helps them reconcile it. State whether the file replaces an earlier export or adds to it. Importing a fresh six-month file after a three-month file can count the same rent twice.

Use a sample from one property to agree the export with the recipient. The following fields make an agency handover easier to reconcile; they are suggested controls, not an HMRC-prescribed pack format.

HMRC’s digital-record guidance requires amount, date and category information. Agree the category mapping against the property income and expense categories. Mark uncertain items for review. Let the tax adviser decide their treatment.

A London agency may hold the records for two flats in a landlord’s wider portfolio. Label the pack’s coverage and ask who supplies the other properties and expenses paid directly by the landlord. A complete agency export can still leave the recipient with missing property-business records.

In a hypothetical month, an agency collects £1,800 rent, retains a £180 management fee and pays a £120 contractor invoice. It remits £1,500 to the landlord. Send the £1,800 receipt and the two separate costs, with their evidence, alongside the £1,500 payment for reconciliation. Sending only the bank receipt hides £300 of activity. The tax adviser must still decide the expense treatment and applicable dates.

HMRC’s instructions for net income say to obtain the full income before deductions and record income and expenses separately. Review how fees appear in the rent ledger and landlord statement before relying on the landlord’s bank feed alone. Keep deposit movements clearly identified for the reviewer; every client-account credit should not automatically enter a rent total. Our rent collection article covers the earlier collection stage.

HMRC treats all UK property income as one business for this purpose, with foreign property income as a separate business. Where several tax agents help with the same business, they must arrange one combined update for each period. HMRC’s guidance on main and supporting agents explains their roles. Send your agency’s file to an agreed coordinator who knows which other records remain outstanding.

A property-management appointment does not establish MTD tax-agent authority. If the agency offers a filing service, confirm the agreed service and the required HMRC authorisation. Main and supporting tax agents have different permissions. Tell the landlord whether your agency supplies records or also submits updates, so they know what still needs doing.

For joint owners, label whose share the figures represent and get confirmation of the allocation. HMRC provides specific options for jointly let property records and quarterly expenses. Agree the chosen approach with each owner’s tax adviser before sending figures into their records.

Agree where the MTD digital records are created and how they move into the submission software. HMRC accepts digital links such as CSV export and import, linked spreadsheet cells and automated transfers. Once a digital record has been included in a quarterly update, HMRC prohibits moving it manually within or between record-keeping products, including copying and pasting.

A PDF statement can support the figures. Its appearance does not prove that the digital record and transfer requirements are met. Test a small import, compare totals and ask the recipient to confirm that amounts, dates and categories arrived correctly. Use HMRC’s software guidance to check filing capability separately from your property-management system. Our software comparison addresses the wider buying decision.

Save the agreed field mapping, export version and reconciliation totals. Use a transfer route restricted to the authorised recipient. Tie corrections to the original transaction and tell the recipient which file supersedes an earlier version.

For this November deadline, an agency could release the first pack on 14 October, resolve questions by 23 October and complete its review by 30 October 2026. These are suggested internal dates, not statutory deadlines. Agree them with the recipient and assign cover for the person preparing the pack.

Before release, check the agreed period and properties, reconcile gross receipts, and explain corrections. Costs need supporting references; missing landlord-paid expenses need someone to chase them. Get an acknowledgement from the recipient. If your agency does not file, record the status as records delivered and obtain submission confirmation from the landlord or tax agent separately.

HMRC will not apply penalty points for late quarterly updates in 2026/27, but the updates are still needed before the tax return can be submitted. Late tax returns remain subject to penalty points. Build the handover into the ordinary landlord reporting cycle.

NRLS withholding is a separate agency process with different deadlines. Use the NRLS workflow for that question. The Section 24 check offers a separate finance-cost planning estimate; it does not prepare MTD records or file updates.

Explore Tekniti’s agency operations offering when discussing the reporting workflow. Ask separately for evidence of any claimed MTD-compatible filing connection. This article does not establish that Tekniti submits updates to HMRC. For a specific landlord’s position, take tax advice.