Preparing your clients

Topics to discuss with your client before you sign them up.

Now that you know which of your clients are affected and how your own practice needs to prepare, you can think about how to prepare your clients for the changes to come.

A conversation checklist

Find a suitable time to have a detailed conversation with each of your affected clients, so that they understand what Making Tax Digital for income Tax means for them.

Here’s a list of things you could include as part of your conversation:

  • recommend suitable MTD-compatible software based on the client’s needs and technical ability
  • offer software training or guidance, especially for clients new to digital record keeping
  • set expectations for record submission, which may need to be more frequent than quarterly to help manage workload
  • encourage the use of business bank accounts to support software integration and streamline processing
  • remind clients that HMRC correspondence is not automatically shared with agents, so they should forward relevant letters

If any of your client’s work with bookkeepers or other agents, it’s important to:

  • confirm roles and responsibilities for each stage of the process
  • check software compatibility between the client, bookkeeper and practice
  • coordinate workflows to ensure smooth collaboration and compliance

Consider how you might tailor your communications, based on each client’s circumstances, digital capability and level of support required. 

Our ‘Tax is changing’ campaign page is a useful beginner’s guide to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

We have also made some of our communications and campaign materials available for you to use on your own platforms, including approved social media and newsletter copy and other downloadable videos.

Signing up your clients

You shouldn’t wait until April 2026 to start this process. Signing up takes only a few minutes per client, and early action helps avoid last-minute pressure and ensures systems are working smoothly.

HMRC will not be signing up clients for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and this action must be taken by either the taxpayer or the agent.

How to sign up your client to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - YouTube

Before signing up, you must:

  • make sure you have an Agent Services Account and that it holds your client authorisations
  • gather key client details, including full name, date of birth, National Insurance number, and business information (if applicable)

During sign up, you will be asked to confirm in which tax year the client will start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

After sign up, you will see a list of the client’s mandated income sources. You can review this list and update it if needed.

Sign up your client for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - GOV.UK