What MTD Quarterly Updates Mean for Your Spreadsheet Workflow

27 February 2026

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax starts in April 2026. If you're a sole trader or landlord who tracks income and expenses in a spreadsheet, you'll soon need to submit quarterly summaries to HMRC digitally. But what does that actually mean for your day-to-day workflow?

What Changes Under MTD

Today, most sole traders file a single Self Assessment tax return each year. Under MTD, you'll submit income and expense totals to HMRC four times a year, plus a Final Declaration. The quarterly deadlines fall roughly one month after each quarter ends:

What You're Actually Submitting

Each quarterly update is a summary, not a line-by-line transaction report. HMRC wants totals for your income and expenses for that period. If you already keep a spreadsheet with dated rows of income and expenses, you have everything you need. You just need a way to send those totals to HMRC in the right format.

Your Spreadsheet Still Works

A common misconception is that MTD forces you onto accounting software like Xero or QuickBooks. It doesn't. HMRC explicitly supports "bridging software" - tools that take data from your spreadsheet and submit it digitally. You don't need to change how you record your finances. You just need a bridge between your spreadsheet and HMRC's API.

What the Workflow Looks Like with qwartly

With MTD bridging software like qwartly, the quarterly process is straightforward:

1. Keep your spreadsheet updated as you normally do - log income and expenses with dates throughout the quarter.
2. Upload your spreadsheet to qwartly when the quarter ends. Excel, CSV, and ODS files are all supported.
3. Map your columns once - tell qwartly which columns are income, expenses, and dates. This is saved for next time.
4. Submit - qwartly calculates the quarterly totals and sends them to HMRC. You get a confirmation reference immediately.

The whole process takes a few minutes per quarter. No need to learn new software, re-enter data, or change your habits.

Tips to Prepare Your Spreadsheet

• Use consistent date formatting - pick one format (e.g. DD/MM/YYYY) and stick with it so your dates are parsed correctly.
• Separate income and expenses into distinct columns rather than mixing positive and negative values in one column.
• Keep one row per transaction - avoid merged cells or summary rows mixed in with your data.
• Use header rows - label your columns clearly so mapping is obvious.

Related Guides

• What is MTD bridging software? - understand the difference between bridging software and full accounting packages.
• MTD for sole traders - full guide to deadlines, thresholds, and requirements.
• MTD for landlords - how Making Tax Digital applies to property income.