The problem
Sole trader and landlord clients now in Making Tax Digital for Income Tax need four quarterly updates a year, and many still keep spreadsheets. If you have 40 such clients, that's 160 updates a year; re-keying each into bookkeeping software takes 30 minutes, about 80 hours a year, or 6.7 hours a month.
What the AI does
TaxCalc's MTD Quarterly Filer is HMRC-recognized spreadsheet bridging software. You upload the client's spreadsheet, map it once and submit the quarterly update without converting the client to bookkeeping software. It retrieves each client's obligations and submission data from HMRC and shows submission status across all clients, including updates sent outside TaxCalc. The final tax position is still prepared in your tax return software, and you check every update before it goes.
A worked example
A tax adviser in York has 40 clients in MTD for Income Tax who keep spreadsheets. They buy the 50-client license, map each spreadsheet once and send each quarter's update from it after checking the totals.
Before
30 minutes to re-key each of 160 updates a year: about 6.7 hours a month
After
About 10 minutes to upload, check and submit each: about 2.2 hours a month
What it's worth
About $237£178€212A$342C$335 a month in adviser time, against $12£9€11A$17C$17 to $25£19€23A$36C$36 for the software. That is 20 minutes saved on each of 160 updates a year, 3,200 minutes or about 53 hours a year, 4.4 hours a month, at an assumed $53£40€48A$77C$75 an hour. The 50-client license is $302£227€270A$436C$427 a year (about $25£19€23A$36C$36 a month) excluding VAT, or half that, about $12£9€11A$17C$17 a month, for existing TaxCalc Tax Return Production Individual and Partnership customers.
How to set it up
- Record each client's quarterly update deadlines in your practice system or diary first, with a colleague checking them against the client's HMRC obligations.
- Take the trial and map one client's spreadsheet, checking the totals it produces against the spreadsheet.
- Agree a cut-off with clients for sending their updated spreadsheet each quarter.
- Check each update's totals before submitting, and keep the spreadsheet as part of the client's records.
- Each week near a deadline, compare the status view with your deadline list and chase anyone missing.
What goes wrong
- Your diary is the record of deadlines, not the status screen. If the HMRC connection fails, the status can be out of date without telling you, so check obligations in the client's HMRC record when in doubt.
- Bridging sends the totals you map. A spreadsheet with a wrong formula sends a wrong update, so check totals each quarter.
- Licenses are by client band; 51 clients moves you to the 150-client band at $442£332€395A$637C$624 a year.
- TaxCalc bills most products annually, with monthly plans on request, so ask which you will get.