Free Making Tax Digital planning tool for UK accountants
Know which clients need your attention before MTD deadlines hit
Use this free planning tool to segment your sole trader and landlord clients by Making Tax Digital deadline, readiness risk and onboarding priority — in under 3 minutes.
No login required · Planning only, not tax advice
What you'll get at the end of the assessment
An MTD deadline checker and action plan for accountants
Answer a few quick questions and get an instant, practical plan for your client base — ready to download and share with your team.
Client priority groups
See how many clients fall into the April 2026, 2027 and 2028 deadline bands.
Recommended actions
A clear, prioritised action list for each segment — act now, prepare next, monitor.
Communication priorities
Know who to brief, educate and chase first, so nothing slips before the deadlines.
Workflow suggestions
Practical next steps to turn your segmentation into repeatable client onboarding.
Plus a downloadable 30/60/90-day plan you can act on straight away.
What is Making Tax Digital for Income Tax?
New to MTD for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA)? Here's what sole trader and landlord MTD obligations actually mean for your clients — and the deadlines that drive everything in this tool.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD for ITSA) is HMRC's requirement for self-employed people and landlords to keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC using compatible software, instead of filing a single annual Self Assessment return.
It is being phased in by qualifying income: from April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £50,000, from April 2027 for those over £30,000, and from April 2028 for those over £20,000.
Qualifying income is a client's combined gross income from self-employment and property, before deducting expenses. It is assessed across all such sources together, so a client with both a trade and rental income adds them up.
Keep digital records, send a quarterly update for each income source through MTD-compatible software, and submit a final declaration after the tax year that replaces the Self Assessment return.
It segments your sole trader and landlord clients by their MTD deadline and readiness, so you know who to onboard first, who needs chasing and who can wait — and gives you a 30/60/90-day action plan.
This tool is for practice planning only and is not tax advice. Always check current HMRC guidance.
MTD is not just a tax software problem. It is a client management problem.
Your first challenge is not choosing tax software. It is knowing which clients need action, which clients need education, and which clients will require the most chasing. With hundreds or thousands of sole traders and landlords, the operational load is identifying, classifying, educating and onboarding affected clients in phases.
Which clients are affected first for Making Tax Digital?
Income bands decide whether a client is mandated from April 2026, 2027 or 2028.
Which MTD clients need chasing?
Late responders and admin-reliant clients will eat your team's time.
Which clients are high risk for MTD?
Paper records, spreadsheets and missing income data create compliance exposure.
Which clients need MTD education?
Clients not yet affected still need early, planned communication.
Which clients need a new MTD workflow?
Authorisations, data collection and reminders must become repeatable.
How do accountants scale MTD onboarding without drowning in email?
Manual chasing across a whole client base does not scale.
MTD Client Segmentation Tool
MTD ITSA client readiness assessment for sole trader & landlord clients
Answer a few questions about your client base. Use approximate numbers — this is for planning.
Firm profile
Roughly how many clients fall into each group?
Qualifying income bands
Approximate client counts per band.
Readiness signals
Approximate number of clients in each situation.
Operational capacity
How equipped is your practice to run an MTD onboarding programme?
You have approximately clients to plan for
Here is how they break down by deadline and risk.
High-friction clients
Likely to need extra communication, reminders or assisted onboarding.
Low-friction clients
Suitable for automated, portal-based onboarding.
Email me the MTD Client Segmentation Plan
Get your detailed report — segmentation table, risk scores, a 30/60/90-day action plan and matching MyDocSafe workflow suggestions.
Thanks — your plan is ready below. Use the button to download a copy for your team.
Suggested segmentation matrix
| Segment | Clients | Recommended action |
|---|---|---|
Your 30 / 60 / 90-day action plan
Recommended MyDocSafe workflows
This tool is for practice planning and client segmentation only. It is not tax advice. Firms should check HMRC guidance and client-specific circumstances before making compliance decisions.
Segment your client base now, before the April deadlines become urgent
Use MyDocSafe to turn your MTD segmentation into repeatable client workflows.
Turn your segmentation into repeatable client workflows
MTD will expose weak client processes. MyDocSafe is the operational layer that helps your firm run the whole client-readiness programme — from first contact to signed authorisation.
Client portals
Secure document exchange and communication with every affected client.
Learn moreWebforms & questionnaires
Collect MTD readiness data and missing income information.
Workflows
Standardise onboarding and authorisation across your client base.
E-signatures
Sign engagement letters, authorisations and declarations.
Learn moreTasks
Track client readiness and internal responsibilities per client.
Learn moreAutomated reminders
Chase clients without manual email threads.
Audit trail
Evidence of communication and completion for every client.
Secure distribution
Send guidance packs and personalised instructions safely.