How to set up an MTD spreadsheet for rental income

You can keep your Making Tax Digital records in a spreadsheet, as long as bridging software reads them and sends your updates. This guide covers how to lay the spreadsheet out so it meets HMRC’s record-keeping rules and gives you the right totals each quarter.

General information, not tax advice. Rules checked against GOV.UK on 20 October 2026. A spreadsheet is not MTD-compatible software on its own.

Step 1: one row per transaction

GOV.UK says each digital record must include the amount, the date and the category. A simple transactions sheet works well:

Step 2: use HMRC’s update categories

The quarterly update direction lists these UK property categories:

• Income: Total rent; Other income from property; Premiums for the grant of a lease; Reverse premiums and inducements.
• Expenses: Rent, rates, insurance and ground rents; Property repairs and maintenance; Non-residential property finance costs; Residential property finance costs; Residential finance costs brought forward; Legal, management and other professional fees; Costs of services provided, including wages; Travel expenses; Other allowable property expenses.

If your UK property turnover is under £90,000 you can use simpler categorisation: just “income” and “expense”. Residential landlords still need a separate category for restricted finance costs such as mortgage interest. If turnover goes over £90,000 during the year, you must recategorise everything back to 6 April. Full categories cost nothing extra to keep and avoid that work. Not sure what goes where? See landlord allowable expenses.

Step 3: cumulative totals for each update

Each quarterly update covers the tax year so far, not just the latest three months. A summary sheet with one column per update makes this simple:

In Excel or Google Sheets, a SUMIFS formula gives each cumulative total. For example, “Total rent” for update 2 on standard periods:

=SUMIFS(Amount, Category, "Total rent", Date, ">="&DATE(2026,4,6), Date, "<="&DATE(2026,10,5))

Keep the start date fixed at the start of the year and move only the end date. Because these are formulas linked to your transactions, they count as a digital link inside the spreadsheet. If your accounting period runs 1 April to 31 March, GOV.UK says to use calendar periods. You must pick them in your software before the first update, and can’t switch back that tax year. In your first MTD year calendar periods start on 1 April, as in the table. The one exception, set out in the regulations, is when you change period type in a later year. After a year on standard periods, your first calendar year’s updates start on 6 April. After a year on calendar periods, your first standard year’s updates start on 1 April. (One example on GOV.UK’s quarterly updates page says “6 April to 31 December” for calendar periods. That only fits the switching case.)

Step 4: letting agent statements

• Enter the gross rent as income, then the agent’s commission and any repairs or fees they paid as separate expense rows. Don’t enter just the net payment you received.
• If you only know the net figure, GOV.UK says to ask the agent for the gross amount.
• Pick one date rule for agent receipts (for example, the date on the statement) and stick to it. If timing around a period end matters to you, ask an adviser.

Step 5: joint property

If you own a let jointly, record your share. You don’t need to link your spreadsheet to your co-owner’s, and GOV.UK allows less detail for jointly let property. During the year you can send income only for those lets and add the expenses when you resend update four before your tax return. See MTD for joint owners.

Step 6: link it to bridging software, and don’t retype

• Your bridging software reads the totals or transactions from your file, for example by importing the spreadsheet or a CSV. That is an accepted digital link.
• Don’t copy-and-paste or retype figures between the spreadsheet and the bridging tool. That breaks the digital link rules.
• Fix mistakes in the spreadsheet, then let the next update pick up the corrected cumulative figures.
• Records must be created by the update deadline, or by the day you send the update if that’s earlier. If you join MTD partway through a year, catch up your records from the start of that tax year.
• Keep the records for at least 5 years after the 31 January filing deadline.

Step 7: year end

After update four you make any year-end adjustments, such as replacement of domestic items relief, capital allowances, or accruals if you don’t use the cash basis. You add your other income and submit the tax return by 31 January using compatible software. Not every bridging product does the tax return, so check before choosing one. See our deadlines guide.

Build your own or use a template

Everything above can be built in a free spreadsheet. If you’d rather not, our MTD Landlord Record Keeper (£12) has the transactions sheet, drop-downs with HMRC’s MTD categories, and cumulative update columns already set up. It is a record-keeping aid, not MTD-compatible software: you still need bridging software to send updates. First, check whether and when MTD applies to you with the free MTD checker.

Sources (last checked 20 October 2026)

• GOV.UK: MTD create digital records (amount, date, category; digital links; simpler categorisation; joint lets; net income; timing; retention; updated 16 October 2026)
• GOV.UK: Send quarterly updates (periods, deadlines, calendar periods, joint lets; updated 16 October 2026)
• HMRC: MTD quarterly update direction (UK property categories)
• The Income Tax (Digital Obligations) Regulations 2026 (regulations 5, 11 to 13: calendar quarters election and update period start dates)
• GOV.UK: Adjust your self-employment and property income (year-end adjustments; cash basis default)
• GOV.UK: Choose the right software for MTD for Income Tax