Can You Use Spreadsheets for MTD? Why Excel Won’t Cut It
Wondering if you can use Excel for Making Tax Digital? Learn how Excel fits MTD requirements and what you need to know.
Ben Luxon
Head of Real Estate Education and Editorial at Landlord Studio
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Many landlords still rely on Excel spreadsheets to track income and expenses. It’s familiar, flexible, and, for years, it was “good enough” for managing your rental accounts.
However, the UK government’s Making Tax Digital (MTD) initiative is changing the rules and if you want to remain compliant and avoid hefty penalties, it’s time to put those trusty spreadsheets aside and digitise.
Under MTD, HMRC will require landlords to maintain digital records and submit quarterly updates along with an end-of-year final statement via an HMRC-recognised software.
While Excel is still useful for budgeting or planning, using it alone for MTD reporting can leave landlords at serious risk of non-compliance.
Simply Put: Excel Doesn’t Meet MTD Rules
Under Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, HMRC mandates that all tax records submitted must have digital links. These are automatic connections between the digital record, calculations, and the MTD submission file. Excel, when used manually, cannot meet this requirement on its own.
Manual Errors Are Risky
Relying on Excel often means manually copying figures from bank statements, invoices, or receipts into cells. Every copy-paste operation is an opportunity for mistakes, and a fundamental reason MTD has been pushed ahead is to increase accounting accuracy and thus reduce HMRC’s costs in chasing and fixing.
Digital Links Required
HMRC guidance states that spreadsheets must be “linked digitally or used in combination with software that creates the digital links.” Without these links, manual Excel entries alone do not comply.
Bridging Software Is a Workaround
Some landlords plan to use bridging software to link their spreadsheets with MTD-compliant platforms. While this can technically meet HMRC rules, it introduces unnecessary complexity. Maintaining separate files, reconciling data, and ensuring all links function correctly can quickly become cumbersome and introduce additional risks of errors and non-compliance, especially with larger portfolios.
Scenarios: When a Spreadsheets Works and When It Doesn’t
Example 1: Small Portfolio
A landlord with a single property earning £12,000 per year might manage with Excel. If rental income is below certain MTD thresholds, minimal data entries may suffice.
Example 2: Larger Portfolio
A landlord managing five properties with £60,000 in rent faces a much more complicated situation.
Multiple bank accounts, receipts, and expenses make manual linking impractical. Attempting to reconcile all these in Excel increases the risk of errors. And, they will need to meet MTD requirements from April 2026. This means digital records, quarterly submissions, and those all-important digital links.
Non-compliance could lead to growing fines.
Excel vs. Dedicated MTD Software
| Feature | Excel | Dedicated MTD Software |
|---|---|---|
| Data Entry | Manual | Automated bank feeds, receipt scanning |
| Storage | Local or cloud spreadsheet | Full digital storage with organised records |
| Compliance | High risk of error | HMRC-ready reports and automated submissions |
| Scalability | Limited | Handles multiple properties seamlessly |
Manual spreadsheets can’t compete with software designed for MTD. They require constant monitoring, manual calculations, and additional bridging tools to stay compliant. In contrast, MTD software reduces errors, saves time, and ensures landlords are compliant today with no complex workarounds.
Landlord Studio vs Spreadsheets Advantage
Landlord Studio is a free MTD software designed for landlords. It offers:
- Track income and expenses per property from granular financial insights
- Bank feeds that automatically pull in income and expenses.
- Receipt scanning for all expenses, keeping digital records linked and compliant.
- Direct HMRC integration for MTD-readiness
- Streamlined MTD quarterly updates for easy tax compliance.
Plus, Landlord Studio also has a range of additional property management features, including tenancy management, compliance reminders, and more, so whether you have one property or dozens, all your data stays organised.
With Landlord Studio, landlords no longer need to worry about the limitations of Excel or the hassle of bridging software.
Can You Use Excel for MTD? Conclusion
Excel has served landlords well for decades, but under MTD rules, relying on spreadsheets both impractical and risky. The sooner you switch to dedicated MTD software, the smoother your tax reporting will be, avoiding last-minute scrambling, errors, and HMRC compliance issues.
Take action now: move beyond Excel and choose a solution like Landlord Studio to streamline your accounting and make MTD compliance effortless.
Create your FREE Landlord Studio account today.
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