Accounting

Making Tax Digital · South East London

Making Tax Digital accountants in Lewisham

From April 2026, sole traders and landlords in Lewisham with qualifying income over £50,000 must keep digital records and send HMRC four quarterly updates a year, with the £30,000 threshold following in April 2027. We tell you exactly when it applies to you, get the software and records in order, and run the submissions for a fixed fee.

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 Lewisham

Sole traders and landlords in Lewisham 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 Lewisham, step by step

  1. Scope the job

    We find out what you need filed, when it is due and what state the records are in, and tell you which fixed-fee package applies.

  2. Agree the price

    The fee is confirmed in writing. There is no hourly billing and nothing added for questions during the work.

  3. Hand over the records

    Photographs, PDFs, software access or a spreadsheet, sent however suits you. We confirm what we have and what is missing within two working days.

  4. Approve, then we submit

    You review the draft with our explanation, sign off, and we file. Receipts, copies and the next deadlines come back to you immediately.

Why IGI

Why Lewisham businesses file with IGI

The price for making tax digital is published on this page and is what a client in Lewisham pays. We confirm it in writing first, and the invoice matches the quote.

Nothing for Lewisham 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 South East London, no parking. Everything for making tax digital in Lewisham happens online, with a real person on the other end during UK working hours.

A named person handles your making tax digital from Lewisham and knows the file, so you are not re-explaining your business to a different helpdesk each time.

Plain English, with the numbers. Every draft for Lewisham comes with a short explanation of what the figures mean and what, if anything, you should do about them.

Approval before filing is a rule, not a courtesy. For making tax digital in Lewisham, every submission to HMRC or Companies House follows your written go-ahead.

Local facts

About Lewisham

Lewisham is in South East London, in the SE13 postcode district, England. For businesses in England the tax rules are those set by the UK Parliament: the 20/40/45% income tax bands, Class 4 National Insurance for the self-employed at 6% and 2%, Corporation Tax at 19% to 25%, and Stamp Duty Land Tax on property. Business rates are set locally by the council.

Nearby places we also serve for making tax digital
PlaceDistanceDirection
Lewisham Central0.4 miS
Ladywell0.6 miSW
Hither Green0.9 miS
Blackheath, Lewisham0.9 miNE
Lee Green, Lewisham1 miSE
Lee, Greenwich1 miSE
Deptford, Greenwich1 miNW
Greenwich West1 miN

Worth knowing

Rules that come up in this work

The 60-day property CGT return

Selling UK residential property that was not your main home for the whole period of ownership triggers a separate Capital Gains Tax return, due within 60 days of completion along with payment of the tax. This is in addition to the annual Self Assessment. The gain is taxed at 18% or 24% depending on your income band, after the £3,000 annual exempt amount.

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.

Allowable expenses

The expenses sole traders most often miss are home working costs, claimed by actual proportion or HMRC's flat rate, the business share of phone and internet, mileage at 45p for the first 10,000 business miles, and training that maintains existing skills. The ones most often claimed wrongly are commuting, entertaining customers and clothes that could be worn outside work.

Record keeping

Record keeping is a legal obligation with a penalty of up to £3,000 for failure, but its real value is in making every other filing cheaper and more defensible. Keep invoices, receipts, bank statements, mileage logs and any HMRC correspondence, digitally if you like, for five years after the relevant filing deadline for individuals and six years for companies and VAT.

Workplace pensions and auto-enrolment

Workplace pension compliance is part of payroll, not separate from it. Each pay period the payroll assesses who is eligible, calculates employer and employee contributions on qualifying earnings between the lower and upper thresholds, and sends the contribution file to the scheme. The minimum total is 8%, and many employers choose to contribute more as a recruitment advantage.

Employer National Insurance

Employers pay National Insurance at 15% on each employee's earnings above the £5,000 secondary threshold, following the April 2025 changes. The Employment Allowance offsets up to £10,500 of this for eligible employers, which for a small team often removes the liability entirely, but companies where the director is the only employee do not qualify.

The trading and property allowances

The first £1,000 of trading income and, separately, the first £1,000 of property income each year is tax free under the trading and property allowances. Below those figures no return is needed for that income. Above them you can deduct the £1,000 allowance instead of actual expenses if that is better, which suits side businesses and single-room lets with few costs.

Questions

Making Tax Digital questions from Lewisham

Can I do MTD myself without an accountant?

Yes, if you are comfortable keeping the records digitally and submitting four updates and a declaration each year on time. Many sole traders do. The value we add is in the setup being right, the categories mapping correctly to HMRC's lines, the deadlines never being missed and the year-end declaration including the adjustments and allowances that reduce your tax.

What is the full MTD service?

From £299 a year: software subscription guidance, digital record review each quarter, the four quarterly updates submitted, and the year-end final declaration prepared and filed with capital allowances, adjustments and all other income included. It replaces the traditional Self Assessment fee for clients in MTD. Bookkeeping can be added if you would rather not do the recording.

How does MTD for VAT differ?

MTD for VAT has applied to all VAT-registered businesses since April 2022: digital records and returns submitted through compatible software, with the same quarterly return as before. If you are still typing figures into a portal or using software that is not linked, you are non-compliant. Our £129 setup includes the first return filed.

What if my income drops below the threshold later?

Once in MTD you stay in unless your qualifying income falls below the threshold for three consecutive years, after which you can apply to leave. There are exemptions for digital exclusion on grounds of age, disability, location or religion, which must be applied for and granted by HMRC.

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.

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.

How do I get started from Lewisham?

Message us on WhatsApp or email with a sentence about your business and what you need. We reply in working hours with any questions and a fixed fee for making tax digital. Once you confirm, we tell you exactly which records to send and the work begins. Most Lewisham clients are set up within a day.

Which deadlines matter most for making tax digital?

The next four dates that apply to making tax digital are shown at the top of this page, calculated from today. For Lewisham clients we diarise every one of them from the day you join and send reminders before each, so the work is done in good time rather than in the last week before a penalty.

Fixed fees, filed on time, for Lewisham

Tell us what you need. You get one fixed fee in writing, and nothing is filed until you approve it.

WhatsApp for a fixed quote