Tackling new terrain together: key takeaways from our 2021 partner roadshows

Important: This blog post was published before the government announced that MTD for ITSA will be delayed until 2026. Some of the information below is no longer accurate.

Earlier this month, we were delighted to host our first in-person roadshows for our Practice Partners since 2019. We took our MTD support station to London, Reading, Bristol, Leeds, Brentwood, Manchester, Birmingham and Edinburgh, and each session was packed full of practical and informative content. Here are some of the key takeaways.

MTD for ITSA: the path ahead

HMRC recently advised that Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD for ITSA) will come into effect from 6th April 2024. Self-employed business owners and landlords with a total business and/or property income above £10,000 per year will have to comply with MTD for ITSA from that date.

We’ve been helping practices and their clients get ready for the changes that lie ahead, which include the requirement to file quarterly updates to HMRC. At the roadshow events, we talked attendees through our plans to ensure that FreeAgent will be ready with new functionality to support you and your sole trader and landlord clients ahead of the new rules coming into effect.

Your MTD survival kit

During the roadshows, we discussed the ways you can prepare your practice for the next phase of MTD, as well as how we can support you.

Segment your clients

You might want to consider how the initiative will impact different types of clients and then separate them into groups. This way, you can tailor your messaging to fit the needs of each one, rather than adopting a one-size-fits-all approach. Our MTD Express Pack includes a handy spreadsheet template that you can use to organise your client list.

Build a communications plan

We recommend that you take some time to plan how to speak to your clients about MTD. Consider what message you want to communicate to each segment and when you want to share it. 

While you’ll certainly want to keep your clients informed about MTD, it’s important to avoid bombarding them with so many messages that they feel confused or struggle to stay on top of everything.

Make use of FreeAgent’s content

We have a host of useful MTD content available on our website, including:

• a selection of videos and webinar recordings
• downloadable assets including a guide to MTD for Income Tax to share with your clients
• webinars and events to keep you up to date with the latest MTD news

Looking to plan your practice's approach to MTD? You can book a free 30-minute consultation with one of our MTD experts.

Other new features on the horizon

We gave attendees a sneak peek of our product roadmap for the first half of 2022. Upcoming FreeAgent features include the introduction of multi-category bills and an upgrade to Auto Extract that will match receipt data to bank transactions automatically. Many of the features and updates we plan to introduce in 2022 are based on requests we've received from our partners. 

Your questions answered

Our team held a Q&A session at each of the roadshow events to discuss topics such as:

• how to factor MTD into your practice’s pricing strategy
• how landlord clients can easily migrate to digital record-keeping - for example, by using a Mettle account which includes a free FreeAgent subscription 
• how you can encourage clients to take care of some basic admin tasks themselves, giving you more time to provide them with valuable business insights ahead of MTD