Compliance
Making Tax Digital: a practical readiness checklist for UK businesses
What digital record keeping actually requires, the mistakes that cause penalties, and a step-by-step checklist you can work through with your accountant.
TaxNuvia editorial team · 18 June 2026 · 7 min read
Key takeaways
- Digital records must be kept in compatible software, and the link between records and the return must be digital end to end.
- Copy-and-paste between spreadsheets breaks the digital link and is the most common compliance failure.
- Getting your opening balances and bank feeds right before a filing period starts avoids most reconciliation problems.
What the rules actually ask for
Making Tax Digital is less about new taxes and more about how records are kept and submitted. In practice it means maintaining your records in compatible software and submitting returns from that software, with an unbroken digital link between the underlying records and the figures filed.
Spreadsheets are not banned, but they must be joined to filing software with a digital link — not manual retyping or copy-and-paste.
The readiness checklist
1. Confirm which taxes and periods apply to your business and diarise the first affected filing date. 2. Choose compatible software and connect your business bank accounts so transactions flow in automatically. 3. Reconcile your opening balances before the first digital period begins.
4. Set a monthly bookkeeping rhythm rather than a quarterly panic. 5. Agree in writing who performs each step — you, your bookkeeper or your accountant. 6. Run a dry-run submission early so authorisation problems surface before the deadline.
Where businesses get caught out
The classic failures are manual re-keying between systems, missing agent authorisation, and unreconciled bank feeds that quietly duplicate transactions. Each is cheap to fix in advance and expensive to unpick at deadline.
If your records are behind, tell a prospective accountant before you engage them — catch-up work is normal, and an honest starting point produces an accurate quote.
Frequently asked questions
Can I still use spreadsheets?
Yes, provided they are linked to compatible filing software by a digital link. Manually retyping figures into a return does not meet the requirement.
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<a href="https://taxnuvia.co.uk/blog/making-tax-digital-checklist-uk-businesses">Making Tax Digital: a practical readiness checklist for UK businesses</a> — TaxNuviaCompare accountants for free
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