With the first Making Tax Digital filing deadline looming on 7th August, The Tax Guys and Moneyhub Partners announce the launch of CleanBooks MTD – the simplest way to meet your Making Tax Digital obligations.
If you earn over £50,000 as a sole trader or landlord, you’re legally required to submit quarterly updates to HMRC using compatible software. It is vital that everyone within those groups starts to use suitable software, as HMRC will no longer accept manual self-assessment returns from them.
However, latest HMRC figures suggest that over 50% of the people who are required to have registered for Making Tax Digital, have not yet done so.
The scheme is rolling out over three years, and the same rules will apply to sole traders and landlords with an income over £30,000 from 6th April 2027 and those with an income of over £20,000 from the same date in 2028.
Understandably, many are finding this prospect daunting. Not least, because a lot of the software available is not fit for purpose, as it was not built for these users. The good news is that, with the right software, MTD can actually make accounting a far safer, easier and less time-consuming task, leaving sole traders more time to run their businesses and landlords to maintain their portfolio.
Why most software does not perform
The tools that currently exist were built for accountants, not businesspeople. They’re full of jargon that assumes you have an accountancy qualification, such as “obligations”, “nominal codes”, “EOPS statements”. These terms mean nothing to the people who need to file their returns.
They are also missing guidance and leave users guessing whether they’ve done it right. And it has very little flexibility to allow the myriad of different situations that people work within. Usually, MTD software simply gives you a form and that is the end of the process. If something looks wrong, you’re on your own.
Perhaps worst of all, these software packages were built for annual returns, not quarterly ones. Legacy tools have been adapted for MTD, rather than created specifically for it.
The CleanBooks difference
CleanBooks was designed for MTD from the ground up, so it fulfils everything you need for MTD.
Here’s what you can expect:
Automatic quarterly updates: CleanBooks tracks your income and expenses throughout the quarter, then prepares your update automatically. No accounting knowledge is required.
Real-time tax estimate: See your estimated tax bill update in real time as you add income and expenses. This means no more January surprises.
Penalty score tracker: Your live HMRC penalty score is always visible on your dashboard, so you know exactly where you stand before every deadline.
Keeva AI assistant: Keeva explains your finances in plain English, flags issues before you submit, and reminds you when deadlines are approaching. She calculates your estimated tax bill in real time, as the quarter progresses, and confirms everything is in order before you hit submit.
HMRC-connected: Direct connection to HMRC via the official MTD API means quarterly updates and final declarations are all submitted from one place.
Secure open banking: FCA-regulated, read-only bank connections. Transactions import automatically.
Landlord and sole trader support: Both income streams are managed separately as HMRC requires, while keeping everything in one account for you.
Final declaration included: CleanBooks guides you through your end-of-year declaration; including savings, interest, dividends, and any other income sources; and submits it directly to HMRC by 31 January.
Live penalty score: Your HMRC penalty score is shown on your dashboard at all times, making sure you always know where you stand.
HMRC token management: Your HMRC authorisation token expires every 18 months. CleanBooks warns you 14 days before it expires and guides you through reconnection, so submissions never fail unexpectedly.
Amendment flow: If you have made an error after submitting, MTD rules don’t allow re-submission of past quarters. CleanBooks handles this correctly — recording your correction and carrying it into the next quarterly update as a prior-period adjustment.
Every account includes one accountant seat at no extra cost: Your accountant can review your transactions, check updates before submission and access your full HMRC history from their own login.
With CleanBooks, MTD actually makes life so much easier for sole traders, landlords and accountants. You can go from bank connection to HMRC submission in four simple steps.
Firstly, CleanBooks imports your transactions automatically via secure, read-only open banking. Your transactions appear in CleanBooks within seconds, meaning no manual entry and no CSV uploads. Then Keeva, your built-in AI assistant, categorises your income and expenses, flags anything unusual, and prepares your quarterly update automatically. Thirdly, before you submit anything, CleanBooks shows you a plain-English summary of your quarter with a confidence checklist confirming everything is in order. Finally, in one click, your update goes straight to HMRC via the official API. You get a reference number, a timestamp, and a running penalty score.
So, with this – correct – software, there is no more filing once a year, no more spreadsheets, complete peace of mind and no nasty surprises.
Even better, CleanBooks is extremely reasonable priced. With an initial six-month free trial, CleanBooks then costs only £12 per month, and you can cancel at any time.
CleanBooks is also ISO 27001 compliant.
Jonathan Amponsah, Founder at The Tax Guys said: “MTD is not something to be scared of. In fact, it can work exceptionally well. By using CleanBooks both our clients and we, as accountants and tax advisers, can cut out a huge amount of the manual work that goes into tax returns. That means the clients can do what they do best and budget throughout the year, with peace of mind. And we can do what we were trained to do: act as genuine advisors.”
So, for sole traders and landlords who still need to embrace MTD or for those who need to plan for the next two years, CleanBooks offers a risk-free solution.
ABOUT CLEANBOOKS MTD
CleanBooks is a software system designed from the ground up, specifically to help sole traders and landlords to comply with MTD. In four simple steps, it takes you from your bank account to your tax declaration to HMRC. The AI assistant, Keeva, explains your finances in plain English, flags issues before you submit, and reminds you when deadlines are approaching. She calculates your estimated tax bill in real time and confirms everything is in order before you hit submit. CleanBooks takes away the spreadsheets, the annual grind of tax returns and, best of all, the nasty surprises.
WEB: https://cleanbooksai.com/