Apologies if this has already been answered in other posts, but frankly, the whole MTD ITSA submission thing is making my head spin.
I have an IT business, for which I’ve had a Quickfile ‘Power User’ subscription for over a decade. I also have 1 rental property, which I have never recorded accounting information for, as there are so few transactions relating to it, it’s never been necessary. I simply kept records of any maintenance invoices received, and statements from both my bank account (dedicated to the rental property, which shows mortgage and payments from tenants via letting agent) and from my letting agent (which lists income and outgoings they have arranged, which is pretty much everything. I then give that information to my accountant who has been able to total everything up and then submit my tax return as an agent, including everything relating to the IT business.
MTD has changed that. It seems I need to get all the rental accounts into some digital form, which shouldn’t be too difficult. However, I then need to submit that to HMRC. My accountant tells me I need to keep my IT business and rental accounts separate (which I agree with), but that means I need another QuickFile account for the rental business. Does that also mean I need to buy another ‘Power User Subscription’? I am hoping to avoid cost for the Rental side, as it doesn’t make a great deal of money, and I am currently in the process of trying to sell the property via auction, so there shouldn’t be a long term requirement for an accounting system for that.
I am aware Quickfile has a ‘free’ tier, which on the face of it would be perfect, given the very low number of transactions there are. However, without the ‘Power User’ sub, I don’t think I will be able to submit to HMRC.
If there any way I can link a separate QuickFile account ledger with my existing power user subscription? I am aware there is ‘Affinity’, but I thought that was for accountants.
Is there any other way I can do this, if QuickFile isn’t the right solution?
Any guidance would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks
Ed
Hello Ed
Although it is technically possible to file both a sole trader business and a UK property business from a single QuickFile account using nominal code mappings, this isn’t the approach we recommend (as you also confirmed from your accountant).
If you have two distinct taxable income sources, each should ideally be maintained in its own separate QuickFile account. This keeps the bookkeeping records completely separate, makes reporting much clearer, and reduces the risk of transactions being allocated to the wrong income source.
The MTD filing process would then be:
- Submit the Cumulative Updates for your sole trader business from the sole trader QuickFile account.
- Submit the Cumulative Updates for your UK property business from the property QuickFile account.
- Complete the Annual Summary for each income source from its respective QuickFile account.
- Once both Annual Summaries have been submitted, complete the Other Income Sources section and submit the Final Declaration from one chosen main QuickFile account.
As the second QuickFile account is also being used to submit MTD updates, it would require its own Power User subscription.
If you have an Affinity account, you can manage multiple QuickFile accounts from a single login (which is also what accountants use), making it easy to switch between them while keeping each income source separate.
Affinity connected accounts do not require separate power user subscriptions.
Instead affinity connected accounts incur a [small daily charge] for connected businesses (QuickFile Affinity - Pricing Calculator) billed monthly and the MTD ITSA module can be enabled on relevant accounts for (£20+vat) so this will also work out cheaper.
Hello Steve
Thanks for your response, which is much appreciated.
If I went the ‘Affinity’ route, would I be able to revert to what I have now, once the rental property has gone? I really just need something short term, as it’s possible the property could be gone in the next few weeks. Of course, I appreciate I will have to maintain accounts until my regular tax filing for this Tax Year. But once sold, there obviously won’t be anything go through the accounts at all. This is all so very frustrating, as I make so little money from the rental, any additional cost really stings.
Hello @edsquires
If I went the ‘Affinity’ route, would I be able to revert to what I have now
You could
When you sell the property
- Detach both companies/accounts (after backing up or extracting anything you need from the property account)
- As the property account was created in Affinity it would then be deleted.
- The other account you can log in as you have always done rather than Affinity.