Making Tax Digital · East London
Making Tax Digital accountants in Forest Gate
If you have had a letter from HMRC about Making Tax Digital in Forest Gate, or you are not sure whether your income puts you in the first wave, this is the service. We assess your position, set up the digital records and handle every quarterly deadline for clients across East London, online, at a fee agreed before we start.
from £99 · fixed setup, then from £35/quarter
Next deadlines
- MTD quarterly update deadline (7 August, 7 November, 7 February, 7 May)
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
- VAT return and payment for the quarter that ended last month
Who this is for
Making Tax Digital for Forest Gate
Sole traders and landlords in Forest Gate with qualifying income over £50,000 who are already in MTD for Income Tax, those over £30,000 joining in April 2027 and £20,000 planned for April 2028, VAT-registered businesses still filing from spreadsheets or non-compliant software, and anyone who received an HMRC letter about digital record keeping and wants it handled rather than explained.
What is included
Everything inside the fixed fee
- Your MTD start date confirmed from your 2024/25 qualifying income and HMRC's phased thresholds
- MTD-compatible software chosen, set up and connected to HMRC with digital links from bank feeds
- Digital record keeping configured so every transaction meets the requirements without re-keying
- Quarterly updates submitted to HMRC by the 7th following each quarter, from your reconciled records
- The year-end final declaration prepared and filed in place of the traditional Self Assessment return
- MTD for VAT setup and the first return filed for businesses still on spreadsheets or old software
How it works
Making Tax Digital from Forest Gate, step by step
Tell us your situation
A short message or call about what you do and what needs filing. We ask the questions that determine the right package and nothing more.
Fixed fee in writing
You receive one price for the work, confirmed by email before anything starts. It does not change if the job takes longer than we expected.
Send records, review the draft
Records come by WhatsApp or email. We prepare the draft, explain the figures in plain English and answer your questions.
We file, you get the receipts
Once you approve and the fee is settled, we submit electronically and forward the HMRC or Companies House acknowledgement the same day.
Why IGI
The IGI way of working, in Forest Gate
One fixed fee for making tax digital in Forest Gate, agreed in writing before any work starts and never changed part-way through the job, however long it takes us.
Nothing for Forest Gate is left to the last week. Each deadline relevant to making tax digital is tracked from the day you join, with the next four shown on every page we send you.
No appointments, no travel across East London, no parking. Everything for making tax digital in Forest Gate happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.
You get one contact for making tax digital, not a queue. Forest Gate clients message the same person throughout and get an answer in working hours, usually within a few hours.
We explain making tax digital in the words Forest Gate business owners use, not in accountant's shorthand, and we show our working so you can check it.
Nothing is filed for Forest Gate until you have reviewed and approved it. You see the draft, you ask questions, you sign off, then we submit and send you the receipt.
Local facts
About Forest Gate
Forest Gate is in East London, within Newham, in the E7 postcode district, England. Income tax in England follows the UK rates: 20% basic to £50,270, 40% higher to £125,140 and 45% additional, with the personal allowance of £12,570 tapered away above £100,000. National Insurance, VAT and Corporation Tax are UK-wide, and Stamp Duty Land Tax applies to property purchases.
| Place | Distance | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Forest Gate North | 0.3 mi | NW |
| Forest Gate South | 0.3 mi | SW |
| Green Street, Newham | 0.4 mi | SE |
| Green Street West | 0.7 mi | S |
| Green Street East | 0.7 mi | SE |
| Maryland, Newham | 0.8 mi | W |
| Cann Hall | 0.9 mi | W |
| Manor Park, Newham | 1.0 mi | E |
Worth knowing
Rules that come up in this work
Employer National Insurance
The cost of an employee is more than the salary. Employer National Insurance at 15% above £5,000 a year, the 3% minimum pension contribution, holiday pay, equipment and management time all come on top. The Employment Allowance of £10,500 reduces the National Insurance for most employers with more than one person on the payroll.
Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment
Every employer must assess its workers for automatic enrolment from the first employee's start date. Those aged 22 to State Pension age earning over £10,000 a year must be enrolled into a qualifying pension with minimum contributions of 8% of qualifying earnings, at least 3% from the employer, and a declaration of compliance made to the Pensions Regulator within five months.
Dormant companies
A dormant company is one with no significant accounting transactions in the year, where the only permitted entries are the payment for shares on incorporation, Companies House fees and penalties. It still files a confirmation statement and simplified dormant accounts every year. A bank charge or an accountant's fee paid from the company ends dormancy and requires full accounts.
The trading and property allowances
Not every small income needs a tax return. The trading allowance exempts the first £1,000 of self-employment or casual income and the property allowance does the same for rental income, each measured on gross receipts. They cannot be combined with rent-a-room relief on the same income, and claiming the allowance means giving up the expense deduction for that source.
Crypto records and reporting
Most crypto holders have taxable events they do not recognise, because every swap is a disposal even when no pounds change hands. The computation requires the complete transaction history from every exchange and wallet, pooled by asset with HMRC's matching rules applied. Exchange-generated tax reports are frequently wrong because they cannot see transfers between a user's own wallets.
The 60-day property CGT return
Since April 2020 a gain on UK residential property must be reported and the tax paid within 60 days of completion through HMRC's dedicated service, separately from the annual return. Non-residents must report all UK land disposals in the same window whether or not tax is due. Getting the computation right first time matters because the figure is then carried into the Self Assessment.
Record keeping
HMRC requires records of all income and expenses, bank statements, invoices and receipts to be kept for at least five years after the 31 January filing deadline of the tax year they relate to, and companies must keep records for six years from the end of the accounting period. Digital copies are acceptable. Under Making Tax Digital the records must be kept in compatible software.
Questions
Making Tax Digital questions from Forest Gate
What does the £99 readiness check and setup include?
Confirmation of your start date, choice and setup of MTD-compatible software suited to your business, bank feeds connected, the chart of categories mapped to HMRC's reporting lines, the authorisation of the software with HMRC, and a short walkthrough so you know how to capture receipts and invoices day to day.
Can I keep using my spreadsheet?
Only with bridging software that links the spreadsheet digitally to HMRC, and the links must be digital, not copy-and-paste. For VAT this remains workable; for Income Tax the quarterly category reporting makes proper software far less effort. We set up whichever approach suits you and explain the trade-off honestly.
When does Making Tax Digital for Income Tax apply to me?
It depends on your gross self-employment plus property income on your 2024/25 return: over £50,000 means you joined from 6 April 2026; over £30,000 means 6 April 2027; over £20,000 is planned for April 2028. Below £20,000 there is currently no requirement. We check your figures and confirm the date in writing.
What do I actually have to do under MTD for Income Tax?
Keep records of income and expenses digitally in compatible software, send HMRC a quarterly update summarising them by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February and 7 May, and submit a final declaration with any adjustments and other income by 31 January. The tax payment dates are unchanged.
What are the penalties under MTD?
A points-based system: one point for each late quarterly update or declaration, and a £200 penalty once you reach four points, with the count resetting after a period of compliance. Late payment penalties start at 3% after 15 days. The first year has been described by HMRC as light-touch, but points still accrue.
I am a landlord with a job. Does MTD apply to my rental income?
Yes, if your gross rental income, added to any self-employment income, exceeds the threshold for your start year. Employment income does not count towards the threshold but is reported in the final declaration. Jointly owned property has simplified rules allowing the income-only reporting of your share each quarter.
Do you have an office in Forest Gate?
No. IGI Accounting is an online-only firm. We serve Forest Gate and every other UK postcode remotely, with records sent by WhatsApp or email and everything filed electronically. The absence of local premises is why the fee for making tax digital is the same in Forest Gate as anywhere else in the country, and why there is nothing to visit and nothing to print.
Is making tax digital in Forest Gate really the same price as elsewhere?
Yes. The fee published on this page is what a client in Forest Gate pays and what a client in any other part of England pays. It is confirmed in writing before work starts and the invoice matches the quote. Where a higher package applies because your situation is more complex, we say so at the quote stage, never afterwards.
Let us take the deadlines off your plate in Forest Gate
Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.