HMRC Refreshes MTD Income Tax Training Hub: Key Updates for Agents and Accounting Firms
HMRC updated its Making Tax Digital for Income Tax help and support page on 24 July 2026, adding a new video on choosing recognised software, overhauling the client sign-up guidance for agents, and refreshing a series of recorded webinar links. For accounting firms and CFOs managing clients with property or self-employment income, these changes are not cosmetic: they signal the pace at which HMRC is building out the compliance infrastructure ahead of the phased mandatory start dates. Any practice that relies on crypto accounting software or broader digital asset accounting software to handle income from crypto activities will need to ensure that software appears on HMRC's recognised list before those dates arrive.
What Changed on 24 July 2026
HMRC's revision history for the guidance page records several distinct changes published on that date. Understanding each one helps firms prioritise their response.
New Software-Selection Video
The previous video titled "How to sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax" has been removed and replaced with a new video titled "How to choose software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax". The shift in emphasis is deliberate. HMRC is moving agents and their clients from the question of whether to sign up toward the question of which software to use. For practices advising clients whose income includes crypto trading, staking rewards, or rental income paid in digital assets, this distinction matters directly: only software that appears on HMRC's recognised software list can be used to meet the MTD obligation, and not every tool on the market qualifies.
Updated Agent Sign-Up Section
The section previously titled "How to add client authorisations to your agent services account" has been retitled "How to sign up your clients to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax", and the accompanying video has been updated to match. The Agent Services Account (ASA) webinar has also been updated to cover how to add existing client authorisations to the ASA under the new MTD for Income Tax framework. Practices that have not yet reviewed their ASA configuration should treat this as a prompt to do so before the next cohort of clients crosses the qualifying income threshold.
Refreshed Recorded Webinar Links
Four recorded webinar links were updated simultaneously: the sole trader and landlord readiness webinar, the businesses webinar, the agent readiness webinar, and the live webinar for sole traders and landlords without an accountant or bookkeeper. HMRC also confirmed that all VAT-registered businesses should now be signed up for Making Tax Digital for VAT automatically, removing the self-sign-up requirement for that regime. While VAT and Income Tax are separate mandates, the VAT MTD experience provides a direct operational template for how agent-led Income Tax sign-ups will work in practice.
The Mandatory Rollout Dates Agents Must Anchor On
The source guidance does not reproduce the specific income thresholds and start years in the excerpt provided, but the underlying GOV.UK MTD for Income Tax framework makes clear that the mandate applies to sole traders and landlords with income from self-employment or property above defined qualifying income thresholds. HMRC's webinar content is explicitly framed around those dates, and agents are directed to confirm whether each client will be legally required to use the system and when.
Why the Timing Matters for Crypto-Exposed Clients
Clients who receive rental income, freelance or consulting fees, or indeed any self-employment receipts that include crypto assets still need to report that income under the self-assessment and, going forward, MTD for Income Tax rules. The income from crypto activities does not sit outside the MTD perimeter simply because it originates on-chain. A landlord paid in stablecoins, or a contractor invoiced in Bitcoin, still has qualifying income that will be captured by the regime. The digital asset accounting software they use will need to produce digital records in a format compatible with HMRC's recognised software requirements, and those records must feed into quarterly updates.
Practical Implications for Accounting Firms and CFOs
Software List Verification Is Now Urgent
The new HMRC video on software selection exists because this is where many practices and their clients will encounter friction. Firms should verify now whether the bookkeeping or crypto bookkeeping software they recommend to clients appears on HMRC's recognised software list. If it does not, clients will need a secondary product that does, or the firm will need to reconsider its software stack entirely. Leaving this until shortly before a client's mandatory start date creates unnecessary compliance risk and potential late-filing exposure.
Agent Services Account Configuration
The updated ASA guidance is a direct prompt to review agent authorisation setup. Firms that have existing client authorisations under earlier HMRC digital frameworks may need to migrate or re-authorise those clients within the MTD for Income Tax structure. The updated HMRC video walks through this process, and the live webinars offer the opportunity to put specific questions to HMRC presenters. Registering for the next live session is the most direct way to resolve edge cases, including those involving clients with mixed income streams that cross multiple tax reporting regimes.
Joint Property Owners Require Separate Attention
HMRC's guidance includes a dedicated webinar stream for landlords who own property jointly. This is a common structure in UK property portfolios and generates its own complications for MTD compliance: each individual owner may have a separate qualifying income threshold to assess, separate software sign-ups to manage, and separate quarterly update obligations. Firms with a material book of joint-ownership clients should treat this webinar track as mandatory internal training, not optional background reading.
Clients Without an Accountant or Bookkeeper
HMRC maintains a distinct webinar stream for sole traders and landlords who are not working with an agent. This matters to firms in two ways. First, it is a pipeline signal: those clients may seek professional support as the mandatory dates approach and the complexity of the regime becomes apparent. Second, firms whose clients have previously self-managed their tax affairs will need to onboard them into a structure that supports MTD digital record-keeping from day one, not retrospectively.
Tax and Accounting Implications
Quarterly Updates Require Continuous Record-Keeping
MTD for Income Tax replaces the single annual self-assessment return for in-scope clients with a regime of quarterly digital updates followed by a year-end finalisation. For clients with crypto income, this means that the piecemeal approach of reconstructing a year's transactions in January each year is no longer viable. Records of disposals, staking rewards, DeFi income, and any other crypto receipts that contribute to qualifying self-employment or property income must be maintained continuously in recognised software. The accounting entry discipline required is the same discipline that any crypto bookkeeping software must support: cost basis tracking, acquisition date recording, and sterling valuation at the point of each transaction.
Recognised Software and Digital Records: The Compliance Boundary
HMRC's recognised software requirement is a bright line. Spreadsheets alone do not qualify unless they are used with bridging software that is itself on the recognised list. For practices that have built client workflows around manual spreadsheet reconciliation of crypto trades, this is a structural change, not an incremental one. The investment in proper digital asset accounting software that integrates with an MTD-compatible submission route is now a compliance requirement, not a competitive differentiator. Firms should begin that transition conversation with affected clients immediately rather than waiting for HMRC to issue penalties.
Broader Digital Compliance Context
The MTD for Income Tax update sits alongside a broader trend of regulators and tax authorities requiring real-time or near-real-time visibility into financial activity. The VARA, FCA and HKMA real-time AML supervision shift illustrates how supervisors globally are moving toward continuous monitoring rather than periodic reporting. MTD is the UK's domestic expression of the same principle applied to income tax. For accounting firms with clients who hold crypto assets, the obligation to maintain good digital records for MTD purposes and the obligation to support AML monitoring are converging into a single integrated data management challenge. Firms that build systems capable of meeting both will be materially better positioned than those treating each requirement in isolation.
UK-based firms with clients subject to sanctions screening or operating in higher-risk jurisdictions should also note that clean digital records under MTD will increasingly interact with other HMRC and FCA data-sharing requirements. The HTX sanctions screening and UK compliance obligations analysis is a reminder that HMRC's digital record requirements and the FCA's AML expectations are not parallel universes.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does MTD for Income Tax apply to clients whose only income is from crypto trading?
Crypto trading profits are typically treated as capital gains in the UK rather than income from self-employment or property, so they would not ordinarily create a qualifying income obligation under MTD for Income Tax. However, clients whose crypto activities are treated by HMRC as a trading business, or who have other self-employment or property income in addition to crypto gains, may well be in scope. The classification question should be assessed individually for each client. Where there is doubt about treatment, formal advice based on the client's specific facts is necessary before concluding they are or are not in scope.
Can existing crypto accounting software be used to meet MTD digital record requirements?
Only if it appears on HMRC's published recognised software list. Being technically capable of calculating tax positions is not sufficient. The software must be able to create and store digital records in a way that meets HMRC's functional compatibility standards and must support the submission of quarterly updates and the year-end finalisation. Firms should check the HMRC recognised software list directly rather than relying on a vendor's own claims.
What does the new software-selection video add beyond existing HMRC guidance?
According to HMRC's own changelog, the video covers what to consider when choosing recognised software for MTD for Income Tax. This is a practical step forward from earlier guidance that focused on the sign-up process itself. The implication is that HMRC has received enough feedback from agents to know that software choice is a genuine friction point, and it has produced dedicated training material to address it. Agents who have not yet watched the updated video should do so promptly.
Are joint property owners treated as a single unit for MTD purposes?
Each individual owner is assessed separately for MTD for Income Tax purposes. Each person's qualifying income is calculated on their own share of the property income, alongside any other self-employment or property income they have individually. HMRC has produced a dedicated webinar for this scenario precisely because joint ownership introduces complexity that the standard sole trader or landlord track does not fully address.
What should agents do if a client's existing software is not on the HMRC recognised list?
The practical options are to switch the client to recognised software before their mandatory start date, to use a bridging software solution that connects their current records to an MTD-compatible submission route, or to review whether the client is genuinely in scope. Leaving the situation unresolved is not a safe option: using non-recognised software to file MTD updates would not meet the statutory requirement, and the penalties regime for MTD for Income Tax is distinct from the previous self-assessment penalty structure.
Source: GOV.UK / HMRC