For many landlords, bookkeeping has worked the same way for years: paper receipts, folders, spreadsheets and one big push to get everything together before Self Assessment.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is changing that.
From April 2026, some landlords are required to keep digital records and send regular updates to HMRC using compatible software. If you are still relying on paper records, now is a good time to make the move — and it does not need to be complicated.
Making Tax Digital for landlords applies based on your total qualifying income from property and self-employment.
The rollout is happening in stages:
If MTD applies to you, you need to use compatible software to keep digital records of your property income and expenses, send quarterly updates to HMRC and submit your tax return through compatible software.
You can also see our guide to the key MTD deadlines and reporting dates if you want a clearer overview of when updates are due.
The idea of changing an accounting system can sound much more complicated than the reality.
For most landlords, the important thing is finding software that makes daily record keeping simple. Instead of storing receipts until the end of the year, you can record income and expenses as they happen and keep everything organised in one place.
That was the experience of landlord Keith Hore, who recently moved from paper-based bookkeeping to Kletta.
“I used Kletta due to support available before committing to any software. The personal tutorial was absolutely invaluable due to the easy to understand/step by step instructions.
It has moved me from paper based to digital bookkeeping in line with MTD.
I do not consider myself to be hugely tec. confident but it took me about 15 minutes to understand what I needed to do and support has been I readily available in human form (not chatbot).
I could not recommend Kletta more highly for a landlord. It has so many invaluable features such as automatic submission of quarterly accounts and the ability to submit my yearly assessment.
I would consider myself confident in using it and use it almost daily to keep my books organised. It has given me a great insight into my business and saved me approximately £200 so far this year (I have been using it for approximately 2 weeks).
I cannot recommend Kletta highly enough - it is an absolutely outstanding product.”
Keith Hore
MTD might be the reason you finally move away from paper records, but digital bookkeeping can make everyday property management easier too.
Having rental income, expenses and receipts organised throughout the year gives you a much clearer picture of your finances. It also means less time trying to reconstruct months of transactions when a deadline arrives.
Kletta is designed to make this process simple. You can keep records digitally, capture receipts and manage your finances from one place. You can explore the features on our accounting app for UK sole traders page.
And if doing everything yourself still feels like a big step, you do not necessarily have to choose between software and an accountant. Kletta Duo includes property income and expenses together with support from a UK-based bookkeeper, while Care provides a higher level of bookkeeping support. You can compare Kletta's UK plans here.
Moving from paper bookkeeping to digital records is not really about becoming more “techy”. It is about making sure the information you already deal with as a landlord is easier to record, find and use.
With MTD now rolling out, getting the right system in place early can save a lot of unnecessary admin later.
If you also want to understand how digital bookkeeping fits into your year-end reporting, read our guide to Self Assessment software and bookkeeping.
Or, if you are ready to make the switch, try Kletta for free and start keeping your landlord bookkeeping organised digitally.