Data last verified: 20 October 2026. Figures re-checked against their primary sources under the Whito rolling re-verification programme.
Finding
On 20 October 2026 HMRC’s software finder listed 159 products for MTD for Income Tax, up from 127 on 27 July 2026. 33 had a free version for sole traders, and 9 of those 33 were listed for quarterly updates only, not the tax return.
Source: Whito, whito.co.uk/research/mtd-software-price-tracker, 2026-10-20. Free to quote with a link to this page.
Last Updated on October 20, 2026
Latest reading: 20 October 2026. Previous reading: 27 July 2026. Updated every month until the £20,000 wave starts in April 2028. Every price on this page was read on the vendor’s own UK pricing page on the date shown, and every count was taken from HMRC’s own software finder.
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax reaches sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £30,000 on 6 April 2027. Most guides tell you which software to buy, and few show a dated price. This page keeps every reading, so you can see what changed.
On 20 October 2026 HMRC’s software finder listed 159 products for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, up from 127 on 27 July 2026. 33 had a free version for sole traders, and 9 of those 33 were listed for quarterly updates only, not the tax return.
The short answer
- The cheapest route is £0. Pandle, Zoho Books and Sage all have free plans that file MTD for Income Tax, with limits. FreeAgent is free if you bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle.
- Check the free plan sends the final return. A free plan that only sends quarterly updates leaves you paying for something else at year end.
- The cheapest paid bookkeeping plan at standard price is Sage Sole Trader at £7 a month before VAT, so £84 a year once its offer ends.
- One price went up between readings. Xero Ignite moved from £16 to £18 a month before VAT.
Who has to use it, and when
| Qualifying income | Tax year tested | MTD for Income Tax from |
|---|---|---|
| Over £50,000 | 2024 to 2025 | 6 April 2026 |
| Over £30,000 | 2025 to 2026 | 6 April 2027 |
| Over £20,000 | 2026 to 2027 | 6 April 2028 |
Source: GOV.UK, Find out if and when you need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, last updated 26 March 2026, read 20 October 2026. Qualifying income is gross self-employment and property income before expenses, not profit.
These thresholds are one of the lines on our Autumn Budget 2026 page. If the Budget on 28 October changes them, this page records the change with its date.
What HMRC’s list looked like on each date
| HMRC software finder, MTD for Income Tax | 27 July 2026 | 20 October 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| Products listed | 127 | 159 |
| Listed with a free version | 30 | 37 |
| Free version and covers sole trader income | 26 | 33 |
| Of those, listed for quarterly updates and the tax return | Not recorded | 24 |
| Of those, listed for quarterly updates only | Not recorded | 9 |
The nine free sole-trader products listed for quarterly updates only on 20 October were Starling, Lloyds Bank, Tide Accounting, SumUp Accounting, IQ Books, Acxite, Tax Mouse, Adminsoft Accounts and Aligned.tax MTD for Spreadsheets. Several are bank or card-reader apps. They may suit you for the quarterly updates, but HMRC’s list does not show them sending the final return.
Four products that MTD articles often named were missing from the list in July: Bokio, Easy MTD, Hnry and ANNA. On 20 October, ANNA Self Assessment was listed with a free version. The other three were still not listed by those names.
Prices by month
The cheapest plan that files MTD for Income Tax, at its standard price, with VAT as each vendor states it.
| Product and plan | 27 July 2026 | 20 October 2026 | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pandle Free | £0 | £0 | None |
| Zoho Books Free | £0 | £0 | None |
| Sage Sole Trader and Landlord Free | £0 | £0 | None |
| Sage Sole Trader | £7 a month ex VAT | £7 a month ex VAT | None |
| QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus | £10 a month plus VAT | £10 a month | None |
| Crunch Plus | £10 a month plus VAT | £10 a month plus VAT | None |
| Xero Ignite | £16 a month ex VAT | £18 a month ex VAT | Up £2 a month |
| FreeAgent Sole Trader | £19 a month ex VAT | £19 a month ex VAT | None |
| Coconut MTD filing | £129.99 a year | £129.99 a year | None |
| TaxCalc MTD Quarterly Filer | £24 a year ex VAT | From £24 a year | None |
| 123 Sheets, single taxpayer | £19.75 a year ex VAT | £19.75 a year ex VAT | None |
On 20 October 2026 Xero Ignite cost £18 a month before VAT, up from £16 on 27 July 2026. Over a full year at standard price that is £216, £24 more than in July. It was the only list-price rise among the plans we track.
QuickBooks did not state the VAT basis on its plan card on 20 October. The figure is shown as the card shows it.
What changed besides price
- Introductory offers got bigger. Sage moved from three months free to 90% off for six months. Xero moved from 80% to 90% off for six months. FreeAgent now shows 50% off for the first six months, or 50% off the first year on annual billing.
- untied’s cheap plan does not file MTD. In July we listed untied Lite at £64.99 a year. On 20 October its pricing table shows Making Tax Digital struck through on Lite. The plan that includes MTD, untied Pro, costs £129.99 a year including VAT.
- 123 Sheets’ price is a first-year price. Its page says the £19.75 annual price includes a first-year 50% discount. It does not state the year-two price.
- Coconut added a cheaper spreadsheet route. MTD Bridging at £49.99 a year, beside MTD filing at £129.99 a year or £12.99 a month. Coconut is still free for two years if you apply for a Zempler bank account through it.
- FreeAgent’s free route has a condition for Mettle users. On 20 October the page says the Mettle account needs at least one transaction a month.
Year one against year two
Offers make year one look cheap. Year two is what you keep paying. Figures before VAT, monthly billing, from the 20 October prices.
| Plan | Year one with the offer | Year two at standard price |
|---|---|---|
| Sage Sole Trader | £46.20 | £84 |
| QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus | £66 | £120 |
| Crunch Plus | £120 | £120 |
| Xero Ignite | £118.80 | £216 |
| FreeAgent Sole Trader | £171 | £228 |
Year one is six months at the offer price plus six months at the standard price. FreeAgent billed annually is £95 in year one and £190 after. These are list prices only. Payroll, extra users and add-ons cost more on most of them.
The cheapest route, by situation
- You bank with NatWest, RBS, Ulster Bank or Mettle: FreeAgent, free. Check the Mettle condition.
- Few transactions, happy to type them in: Pandle Free or Zoho Books Free. Pandle’s free plan has no bank feeds. Sage’s free plan caps you at 25 auto-categorised transactions and 5 sales invoices a month.
- You keep a spreadsheet and want to keep it: a bridging tool. TaxCalc from £24 a year and 123 Sheets at £19.75 in year one were the lowest stated prices on 20 October. Check what each charges for the final return and for year two.
- You want bank feeds and invoicing: compare Sage at £7, QuickBooks at £10 and Crunch at £10 a month on year-two price, not the offer.
Whatever you pick, check it on HMRC’s software finder first. It is the only list that counts.
How we read it
- HMRC’s finder: on 20 October 2026 we chose “show a list of all available software”, answered “sole trader, a landlord or both”, applied no filters and recorded every result: name, free or paid flag, software type, submission types and income sources. The July counts are from our MTD software cost guide, read the same way on 27 July 2026.
- Vendor prices: the cheapest plan that the vendor says files MTD for Income Tax, read on its own UK pricing page, from a UK connection, with screenshots kept.
- Free or paid is HMRC’s flag. It does not tell you a free version’s limits.
What this does not prove
- Two readings are a start, not a trend. The series grows by one reading a month.
- HMRC lists products in random order and does not recommend any of them. A listing is not a quality check.
- We read pages, not invoices. A vendor can show different offers to different visitors.
- We track eleven plans, not all 159 products. They are the ones UK sole traders are most often pointed to, plus the main free and bridging options.
Download the data
Every reading, with plan, standard price, VAT basis, offer, free route and the page we read: whito-mtd-software-price-tracker-2026-10-20.csv. All 159 HMRC finder results on 20 October 2026: whito-hmrc-mtd-itsa-finder-2026-10-20.csv. Free to reuse with a link to this page.
What each tool includes is in our MTD for Income Tax software guide and our best accounting software guide. What MTD means in one line is in the glossary.
Cite this research
Whito Research (2026). MTD for Income Tax Software Price Tracker. Whito. https://whito.co.uk/research/mtd-software-price-tracker/
Key finding: On 20 October 2026 HMRC’s software finder listed 159 products for MTD for Income Tax, up from 127 on 27 July 2026; 33 had a free version for sole traders, and 9 of those were listed for quarterly updates only. Xero Ignite rose from £16 to £18 a month before VAT between the two readings.
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