MTD software for landlords: what you need and the free options

The short answers are yes you need recognised software, prices range from free at the simple end to a few hundred pounds a year, and yes free MTD software does exist. The longer answer, the one that decides whether your year runs smoothly or turns into a scramble, is about which software is built for the way landlords are actually taxed, because free and generic tools tend to miss the property-specific parts.

This page covers what HMRC will and won't accept, what "recognised" means, where the free options sit, and the things property software has to handle that general sole-trader tools quietly skip. If you're still working out whether MTD applies to you at all, start with the bigger picture in Making Tax Digital for landlords.

Do you need special software for MTD?

Yes. Once you're in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you can't keep your records in a notebook and type the totals into a tax return the way you might have done for years. HMRC will not accept that any more for anyone in scope.

Two things change. First, you have to keep digital records of your property income and expenses, which means the figures live in software, not in your head or on a paper ledger. Second, you send a summary of those figures to HMRC every quarter, four times a year, through software that connects to HMRC directly. The old route of filling in a Self Assessment return by hand once a year is closed for the property income that falls under MTD.

So the choice isn't whether to use software. It's which software, and that's where landlords have more to weigh up than a plumber or a freelancer does.

What "HMRC-recognised" or "compatible" software actually means

You'll see the phrases "HMRC-recognised", "MTD-compatible" and "recognised software" used loosely, and they point at the same thing: software HMRC has checked can talk to its systems correctly and meet the rules for digital records and quarterly updates.

HMRC keeps the official list. Every product on it has been through HMRC's recognition process, and you can search it on the GOV.UK page, Choose the right software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. There's a software finder tool that asks a few questions and returns products that fit your situation. Provestor is on the recognised list.

Worth knowing: HMRC checks that a product works, not that it's right for you. The list doesn't rank anything, and it doesn't flag which tools were built for landlords versus which were built for general self-employment and happen to accept property income. That distinction is the whole game, and we come back to it below.

A note on spreadsheets. You'll read about "bridging software" that connects a spreadsheet to HMRC. It exists and it's recognised, but for most landlords it's a way to keep an old habit alive rather than a good answer. You still need recognised bridging software on top of the spreadsheet, you still carry the risk of a broken formula feeding HMRC the wrong number, and you get none of the property-specific help that purpose-built software gives you.

Is there free MTD software?

Yes, free MTD software does exist. HMRC's own recognised list includes some free products, so if you have read an older guide that said none existed, that is out of date. The honest follow-up question, though, is whether free is the right fit for a landlord, and for most landlords the answer is no. To be clear up front: Provestor is not free and has no free tier. We are the purpose-built paid option, and we recommend against free tools for most landlords. Here is why.

Free usually means limited, and generic. HMRC's own guidance says free products tend to suit people with simple tax affairs and may cap things like the number of transactions you can record. Most free tools are also built for general self-employment rather than property, so they skip the things that keep a landlord's figures right: automatic apportionment for joint ownership, AI extraction from letting-agent statements, the correct treatment of Section 24 residential finance costs, and prompts to tell capital apart from revenue. Miss any of those and a free tool quietly feeds HMRC the wrong number.

So free can be a false economy. For a genuinely straightforward case, one mortgage-free property and a handful of expenses a year, a free tool might be all you need. But the moment you add a mortgage, joint ownership, a small portfolio or Section 24, you tend to outgrow a bare free tool fast, and the errors are the kind you don't spot until HMRC does. For most landlords the value isn't in saving a subscription, it's in software that is built for property in the first place.

Free software is also not the same as free help. A free tool gives you the means to keep records and send updates. It does not check your figures, tell you when a cost isn't allowable, or step in when you're unsure. For some landlords that's fine. For others, the value isn't the software at all, it's having someone who knows property tax standing behind it. Either way, it helps to see the recognised landlord tools next to each other before you commit.

What landlords need that generic software misses

Here's the part most "best MTD software" roundups skim over: they compare tools built for sole traders, with property treated as an afterthought. A landlord's tax life has features a freelancer's doesn't, and software that ignores them creates work or, worse, errors you don't spot until HMRC does.

Take Priya, who owns two flats outright and a third with her husband. A generic tool would have her lumping everything into one pot. Her actual return needs four things that property-aware software handles and general software fumbles:

Joint ownership splits. That third flat is owned jointly. HMRC normally treats the income from a married couple's jointly owned property as split 50/50, regardless of who collects the rent, unless they've made a formal election to change it. Priya only declares her share, and only her share counts toward her own MTD threshold. Generic software has no concept of this. It assumes one owner, one set of figures. Get the split wrong and the whole return is wrong.

Letting-agent statements. Priya's third flat is managed by an agent, so the rent arrives net of fees and her records have to reconstruct the gross rent and the agent's commission separately. Property software is built to read those statements. A general tool leaves her doing it by hand every month.

Property-by-property records. HMRC pools your UK rental profits into one figure, but you still need to see each property clearly, what it earns, what it costs, whether one is quietly losing money. Software that treats your whole let as a single blur hides exactly the thing you bought property to control.

Section 24. If a property has a mortgage, you can't deduct the interest from your rent the way you used to. It's handled as a basic-rate tax reduction instead, and for higher-rate taxpayers it changes the maths considerably. Property tax software knows this. A tool built for sole traders, where business loan interest is a normal deduction, can lead you straight into overpaying or misreporting.

None of this shows up in a feature-comparison table that counts who has the prettiest dashboard. It shows up in whether your numbers are right.

The honest comparison: DIY, assisted, or done for you

When landlords compare MTD software, they're usually comparing the wrong axis. The real question isn't which app has the most buttons. It's how much of the work you want to do yourself, and how much you want someone else to carry.

There are broadly three ways to handle MTD as a landlord, and they sit on a ladder:

Do it yourself. You keep the records and send the quarterly updates using recognised software. This suits landlords who are confident with their own figures and want the tools without the hand-holding. It's the cheapest route, and for a straightforward let it can be all you need.

Assisted. You still do the day-to-day record keeping, but an accountant checks your quarterly updates before you send them and prepares and submits your final declaration. This is the middle ground for landlords who'd rather not send a number to HMRC without a second pair of eyes on it.

Done for you. You send your documents and someone else does the rest, the records, the quarterly updates, the final declaration. This suits landlords who'd rather hand the whole thing over and get their time back.

Pure software, the kind the "top MTD software" lists compare, only ever offers the first rung. It can't check your work, because there's no one there to check it. The thing landlords most often want, software with an accountant behind it, is exactly what a SaaS tool can't be. That's the real choice, and it's worth making on purpose rather than defaulting to whatever ranked first in a roundup.

One honest caveat. If your MTD threshold is being driven by self-employment income rather than property, Provestor covers your property side properly but doesn't file a full self-employment return. You'd run dedicated software alongside it for the self-employment part. If your income is property, Provestor handles the lot.

What it costs

Cost follows the ladder above. The do-it-yourself route is the cheapest, the assisted route sits in the middle, and done-for-you costs the most because someone else is doing the work. Where exactly each lands, and what's included at each rung, is set out on the plans, so you can match the price to how much you want to take on yourself. Most landlords fall into one of two camps: hand it over, or keep control and have it checked.

Get set up

Once you've chosen your software, the next steps are signing up for MTD with HMRC, getting your records in order, and knowing your quarterly deadlines (7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May). We've put the whole sequence in one place: how to get ready for MTD.

And if you're not yet sure whether any of this applies to you, the Am I in? calculator checks your income against the threshold in a couple of minutes before you spend a penny on software. Once you know you're in, choosing recognised software built for landlords is the next move.