Making Tax Digital for Landlords - User Guide

What are the Making Tax Digital requirements for Landlords?

Making Tax Digital (MTD) requirements for unincorporated landlords are being introduced and will change how landlords report their income and expenses to HMRC. Under Making Tax Digital, landlords must keep digital records of their property income and expenses and submit updates to HMRC quarterly using Making Tax Digital compatible software.

Making Tax Digital for Landlords will be phased in over two years as follows:

• From April 2026, for those with qualifying income over £50,000
• From April 2027, for those with qualifying income over £30,000

For more information on the legislation, please refer to the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax article on the Gov.UK website.

To support you with this legislation, Alto has new procedures in place to make it simple for you to provide landlords with the records they need to submit their quarterly updates. 

From the landlord’s contact record, you can generate a .csv export file detailing the gross income and expenditure transactions on their account. This file can then be sent to the landlord or their accountant to upload into their accounting software when preparing their Making Tax Digital submissions to HMRC.

Alto does not submit information directly to HMRC. The export file is used by the landlord or their accountant when preparing their Making Tax Digital submissions.

Preparing your landlord records for Making Tax Digital

There’s no need to change your existing client accounting processes in Alto.

Managing landlords who require Making Tax Digital statements

Because Making Tax Digital will only apply to landlords who meet the qualifying income thresholds, the process is managed on an individual landlord basis in Alto rather than being scheduled automatically for all landlords.

Within the Tax top tab of a landlord's contact record, a Making Tax Digital section is available to help you identify landlords who require quarterly statements for Making Tax Digital submissions.

1. Click Contacts on the main navigation bar
2. Select the relevant landlord from Recent & Favourite Contacts
   1. Alternatively, find the landlord using the Search Contacts bar in the top right
3. Click Contact on the side menu
4. Click the Tax top tab
5. In the Making Tax Digital section:
   1. Tick Making Tax Digital statements required if the landlord requires quarterly statements for Making Tax Digital. This can be used for landlords who meet the Making Tax Digital qualifying income threshold (for example £50,000 from April 2026) and who are not already submitting their records through other software.
      Once selected, Alto will create a quarterly management date for that landlord so the statements can be generated and provided when required
   2. Use the Landlord accounting software dropdown to record the accounting software the landlord or their accountant uses
   3. In the Notes field, you can add notes relating to the landlord’s Making Tax Digital submissions. For example, if the landlord has specific requirements, or if you wish to record any charges associated with providing these quarterly records
6. Click Save

If you then click Management on the side menu, you'll see a Landlord MTD Export date has been created. Depending on the quarter, the management date is set for the end of the first month of the following quarter. You still have the ability to customise the date, but, by default, the landlord will have one month after the end of the quarter to submit their update to HMRC.

The management dates will also appear within the Event Dates widget on the Property Management Dashboard. 
Landlord MTD Export will help you track upcoming Making Tax Digital statement requirements.

Create the .csv export file for Making Tax Digital

When the management date is due and you need to produce the statement, you can create a .csv export file.

When creating the .csv export file, you'll need to choose the dates to produce the statement for. The dates that will be used for the transactions of income and expenditure use the Cash Accounting Method - the dates will be based on the date that money enters the client account for income, and the date that money leaves the client account for expenses paid.

The .csv export file will be unconfigurable in Alto, but will provide the data necessary for upload into major accountancy platforms for the purpose of Making Tax Digital submissions to HMRC.

To create the .csv export file:

1. Click Contacts on the main navigation bar
2. Select the relevant landlord from Recent & Favourite Contacts
   1. Alternatively, find the landlord using the Search Contacts bar in the top right
3. Click Docs 
4. In the dropdown menu, click Send Making Tax Digital Statement
5. The Send Making Tax Digital Statement window opens. Click the calendar in the From and To fields, to choose the dates that you need to produce the statement for
   1. Click Download, if required
6. Click Send to generate the .csv file of income and expenditure. The statement will then be sent via the contacts (landlords) account delivery method

A record of the statement being sent will be recorded on the landlord's Timeline.

• Related Help Centre articles that you may find useful.

  What is Making Tax Digital (MTD)?

  Making Tax Digital for VAT - User Guide