topic Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed in Business Seller Board

Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

lost-in-time-uk — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 16:54:30 GMT

Hi,

I expect there are 1000s of people now on Ebay in my position. I do my own tax returns and just keep my records in a day a page diary and on a excel spread sheet. I buy from car boot sales obviously with cash from a weekly cash float I take from my bank and sell on Ebay. I do buy a few lots from second hand shops and auctions and these are really the only reciepts I get so very few Been doing Ebay like this for around 10 years now and did clear with HMRC that this was really all that could be done to record my purchasses.

Anyway I have a turnover of around 30 to 35 k a year so will need to sort the make tax digital for next year. After all my expenses for my stock, my ebay fees, my milage, my entry fees, my business sundries for packing and my postage costs I normally end up with around 12 to 15k profit each year. Not much so any saving I can make helps so dont want to get an acountant as really with all the info on my excel spread sheet at the end of the tax year this is all I need. Anyway I am not really very good with technoligy so want something really easy. My wife did my returns for years as she was good with that sort of thing and I do find even doing it once a year quite hard but Sadly I lost my wife so now I work my way through it when I need to submit it. Anyway what are others who just keep there info on Excell using ?

Thanks.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

cobwebcottage — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:02:47 GMT

Have a read of this thread. There is a lot of knowledge and useful information which will help.

https://community.ebay.co.uk/t5/Business-Seller-Board/Advise-re-MTD/m-p/7848229

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

derob5954 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 17:54:14 GMT

You can continue to use Excel to keep your books if you use Bridging Software to submit to HMRC.

Below is a link from the HMRC website to help you choose the right software for you by answering a couple of straightforward questions.

Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - GOV.UK

I hope this helps you make your decision

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

padanpcparts — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:13:38 GMT

You only have to do it next year if your over £50k in this financial year ending April 2026. Go make yourself a nice cuppa and put it off for another 12 months.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

derob5954 — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 18:21:51 GMT

From the HMRC website:

When you need to start using Making Tax Digital for Income Tax depends on your qualifying income within a tax year. If your qualifying income is over:

£50,000 for the 2024 to 2025 tax year, you will need to use it from 6 April 2026
£30,000 for the 2025 to 2026 tax year, you will need to use it from 6 April 2027
£20,000 for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, the government has set out plans to introduce legislation to lower the qualifying income threshold

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

pillarboxred — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:10:48 GMT

I use FreeAgent from the Royal Bank of Scotland which is free if you bank with them. It's great for categorising and totalling and it produces a statement for the HMRC. However, I cannot submit it to HMRC for whatever reason so I have to go through it and copy the totals into the paper Tax Return. This digital return fail has been going on for years and I can't fix it: neither RBS nor HMRC take any responsibility for it. However, it is a very useful programme and is easy to use and search. For nearly forty years, I used a 26 column double entry paper bookkeeping account which was a nightmare to keep and total at year end.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

padanpcparts — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 01:00:16 GMT

Thanks for agreeing with me? The OP does not need to switch to MTD until April 2027.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

padanpcparts — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 01:04:06 GMT

Oh....that's super good news now I see the years, I think I might get another year too. I thought it was the tax year 2025-2026 that counted for the over £50k bracket. That is a real winner. I can sack it off for another year too as I was just short. Amazingly good news. Gabbing a bottle of champagne at the weekend.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

tascio1 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 01:14:24 GMT

Our business is an equal partnership between two of us. Does the £50k mean it can be 50% each so both of us have to go the DTR route eventually or will it mean we have start it from this coming tax year in April?

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

sheba-knows-best — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:38:07 GMT

I may be wrong - please correct me if I am - but it's my understanding that even if you were over the 50k threshold last year (april 25 - ye april 26), but deliberately limit sales this year (april 26- april 27) to under 50k, you also don't have to go MTD.

You could then deliberately come in under 30k in 27-28.

I'm seeing it as an option for sellers to get rid of stock and wind down their business if online selling is no longer for them.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

sheba-knows-best — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:39:43 GMT

@padanpcparts

...or to practice for a year with the new software before actually having to submit 😀

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

the_brick_lodge — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:48:56 GMT

I used to use 123-Sheets when VAT registered, they appear to be working on a sheet for MTD, when the sample is ready you'll be able to download it from their site to have a look, it will likely require a handful of total figures input into their sheet, you'd add their sheet into the Excel book for the period and then upload the whole book via their site. Costs £40 plus VAT a year, which is yet another £50 a year to spend but for those using basic Excel sheets it's likely a very easy way of doing it.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

sheba-knows-best — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 09:49:27 GMT

Just out of interest...

I have been onto my accountants three or four times over the last year (they are a family-owned, local, small town kind of business) to ask for advice on MTD and been told something along the lines of: no idea, we're as confused as you are, we'll tell you when we know anything. My questions were always surrounding things like how do we submit MTD and still get all of the accountants knowledge (and write offs). ie isn't this whole system doing them out of a job, and us out of legal tax savings.

Anyhow, finally this week they have contacted me (email) and I have to opt in or out for them to (1) register on my behalf for MTD and (2) submit my returns on a quarterly basis.

I'm gonna ring them on Monday to see what system this is. My question is - anyone else had this with their accountants?

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

billythecardy — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 14:06:47 GMT

I use Quickbooks (which I pay for but it does what I need it to do), and it saves me so much time and effort over the year that it's well worth the money. Like you I used to use a spreadsheet, but once MTD appeared on the horizon I thought I'd get ahead of the game and switched to using the software. I used the free one from my bank first (it was Freshbooks) but it didn't do what I needed (it only imported the incomings from my bank account not all the payments, of which there are many as I buy a lot from charity shops). I do try and pay for as much as possible with the business debit card so it's all recorded for me. If I don't have a receipt or have paid cash (bootsales etc) I just write down where I was, what I bought, what I paid and photograph it like a normal receipt.

My turnover is similar to yours so I won't have to deal with MTD until next year, but I advise that you start with software from April to give yourself a year to get used to your new systems.

There is a list on the HMRC website of compatible free software - I would try a couple till you get one that you like, and that does what you need it to do.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

derob5954 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:19:13 GMT

If your income for the year to 5th April 2025 was over £50,000 it applies from this April. If your income for the year ending 5th April 2026 is over £30,000 then it applies from April 2027.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

derob5954 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:22:14 GMT

If you are registered with HMRC as a partnership and submit a partnership tax return then you do not currently have to apply the MTD rules. You will have to eventually but HMRC have yet to set a date when it will apply to partnerships.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

derob5954 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:28:42 GMT

A final submission has to be done at the end of the tax year where adjustments can be made and other sources of income are added much in the same way you would on a tax return. You might require an accountant to do this for you or if you were already submitting your tax returns yourself you could do this yourself as well.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

derob5954 — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 17:37:59 GMT

Once you are using MTD your income has to be below the threshold for three consecutive years before you can opt out

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

padanpcparts — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:37:42 GMT

It's not income, it's turnover. Very important. I was just under the threshold in the 2024-2025 financial year as I only worked 3 day weeks. 2025-2026 I am going to be over, but means I can delay it another year which is excellent news as it will give everyone else 12 months to figure everything out for me.

I guess they call it income, but it isn't really. Semantics.

Re: Making Tax Digital - help with getting my excel spead sheet details to HMRC when needed

padanpcparts — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 22:38:29 GMT

Hahahaha I learnt very early in this journey NEVER to volunteer to do anything until you have to.