With the first Making Tax Digital (MTD) filing deadline approaching on 7th August, The Tax Guys and Moneyhub Partners have launched CleanBooks MTD, software designed to help sole traders and landlords comply with HMRC’s new reporting requirements.
Sole traders and landlords with annual income exceeding £50,000 are legally required to submit quarterly updates to HMRC using compatible software. They can no longer submit Self Assessment returns through the previous manual process.
According to the latest HMRC figures, more than 50% of people required to register for MTD have yet to do so.
The scheme will expand over the next two years. From 6th April 2027, the same requirements will apply to sole traders and landlords earning more than £30,000 a year, before extending to those earning more than £20,000 from 6th April 2028.
Existing software challenges
The Tax Guys says many existing MTD products were originally developed for accountants rather than business owners, making them difficult for sole traders and landlords to use.
According to the company, many platforms rely on technical accounting terminology, such as “obligations”, “nominal codes”, and “EOPS statements”, offer limited guidance, and have been adapted from annual tax return software instead of being designed specifically for quarterly reporting.
Features of CleanBooks
The company says CleanBooks was designed specifically for MTD and includes
- Automatic quarterly updates, tracking income and expenses throughout each quarter and preparing submissions automatically.
- Real-time tax estimates, updated as income and expenses are recorded.
- A live HMRC penalty score, displayed on the dashboard.
- Keeva, an AI assistant that explains finances in plain English, categorises transactions, flags potential issues, reminds users about deadlines, estimates tax liabilities, and confirms everything is ready before submission.
- Direct submission to HMRC through the official MTD API.
- FCA-regulated, read-only open banking connections, which automatically import transactions.
- Separate management of landlord and sole trader income, while keeping everything within a single account.
- Guided end-of-year declarations, including savings, interest, dividends, and other income, with direct submission to HMRC by 31st January.
- HMRC authorisation token monitoring, with reminders 14 days before the token expires and guided reconnection.
- Support for prior-period adjustments if errors are identified after submission, in line with MTD rules.
- One accountant seat included with every account, allowing accountants to review transactions, check updates before submission, and access HMRC history.
The company says users can complete the filing process in four steps. First, transactions are imported through secure open banking. Keeva then categorises them and prepares the quarterly update. Users review a plain English summary with a confidence checklist before submitting the return directly to HMRC. Once the submission is complete, they receive a reference number, timestamp, and updated penalty score.
Pricing
CleanBooks offers a 6-month free trial before moving to a £12 monthly subscription. Customers can cancel at any time. The software is also ISO 27001-compliant.
Jonathan Amponsah, founder of 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 advisers.”
The company says CleanBooks is designed to help sole traders and landlords who have yet to register for MTD, as well as those preparing for the scheme’s wider rollout in 2027 and 2028.