Free Making Tax Digital record sheet

An Excel workbook for a sole trader's or landlord's digital records, set up with HMRC's income and expense categories and the quarterly periods for the tax year you choose. Each quarter's year-to-date totals work themselves out, ready for bridging software to send to HMRC.

HMRC's Self Assessment categories as a drop-down on every row
Year-to-date totals for each quarterly update
Standard or calendar quarters, with the deadlines
Self-employment, UK property, or both

How the sheet works

Enter each transaction on the Records sheet with its date, a description, the amount and a category from the drop-down. The totals sheet adds up each category from the start of the tax year to the end of each quarter, which is how HMRC's quarterly updates work.

A spreadsheet is record-keeping software under Making Tax Digital. The totals then go to HMRC through bridging software linked to the sheet, and HMRC does not allow them to be copied and pasted across by hand.

Moving to software

Accountin uses the same HMRC categories, so a client who moves from the sheet to software keeps them. Read the guide to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax for the deadlines and rules.