UK MTD ITSA Readiness & Software Picker
Five Questions. Your Software. Sorted.
Executive Summary
In a nutshell
A free 5-minute diagnostic that tells UK sole traders and landlords whether they're in scope for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — this year, in 2027 or in 2028 — estimates their basis-period transition profit, then ranks HMRC-recognised software based on their actual situation. We monetise via affiliate referrals to Xero, FreeAgent, QuickBooks, Sage, ANNA, Hammock and the rest. The April 2026 deadline has just passed and only ~25% of those required have signed up — there's a confused, scrambling audience of roughly 730,000 people right now, and three more rolling waves still to come (April 2027 at £30k, April 2028 at £20k). Position upstream of every existing player as the neutral picker.
The Story
Meet the user
Naz has been a self-employed picture framer in Bristol for fourteen years. Spreadsheet, shoebox of receipts, accountant once a year — same rhythm since 2011. Then in late March a letter from HMRC turned up: *"From 6 April 2026 you must keep digital records and submit quarterly updates."* A neighbour who's also a landlord got the same letter. Two evenings later she's down a rabbit hole — Sage's free thing, FreeAgent (which seems free if you bank with NatWest, which she doesn't), Xero Simple at £7, QuickBooks Sole Trader at £10, ANNA, Hammock for the flat she rents out, something called "bridging software" that nobody can explain in plain English. The first quarterly deadline is 7 August. She doesn't even know if she's *in scope* — her turnover was £52k last year but rent from the flat pushes that up by another £8k and nobody's told her whether to add them.
Then she finds MTD-Ready. Five questions. Two minutes. A clear answer ("Yes, you're in for April 2026 — your qualifying income is £60k"), a transition-profit estimate she can show her accountant, and a ranked shortlist of three apps suited to her shape — picture-framer plus single-let landlord, no payroll, no VAT. She picks one, clicks through, and breathes for the first time in a fortnight.
Scores
How does this idea stack up?
7.4/10
~970,000 UK sole traders and landlords mandated across three waves; "making tax digital software" pulls 3,600/mo with £20.13 CPC — advertisers are already paying through the nose to be in front of this audience
"Only a quarter of landlords and sole traders who need to sign up have done so" — high anxiety, real penalties, deeply confused customer base
A decision-tree quiz + a basis-period calculator + a ranked list page. Solo dev can ship in 2-3 weeks. No HMRC API needed for picker; transition-profit estimator is pure JavaScript maths
The £50k cohort just went live 6 April 2026. Wave 2 (£30k) hits April 2027, Wave 3 (£20k) hits April 2028. Three rolling launches of urgency baked in
Picker demand is highest 2026-2028 then drops as the system normalises. Transition profit is one-shot. Software comparison content has medium-term durability
Low barrier — Next.js, a JSON file of providers, a few decision-tree questions. No regulated data handling on the picker side
Strongest
Timing
The deadline cascade gives three discrete demand spikes, each with hundreds of thousands of fresh confused searchers.
Watch out
Durability
The picker is a top-of-funnel tool, not a habit-forming product. Plan to expand into adjacent compliance pickers (CIS, MTD VAT, R&D) or pivot to the affiliate-content engine model long-term.
Pain Point
The problem
“Most people get this step wrong by attempting to register with HMRC first and then scrambling for software, when HMRC's MTD ITSA registration process actually assumes you already have a compatible product in place.”
— TapTax/Dext blog, capturing the modal user journey
The pain has three layered components:
**"Am I in scope at all?"** — Qualifying income aggregates self-employment + property turnover (gross, not profit), and partnership income is excluded. Most sole traders look at their net SA302 figure and get the wrong answer. Search volume for "what is qualifying income for making tax digital" has grown 24x in the last 12 months (30/mo → 720/mo).
**"Which software?"** — HMRC's own list has 30+ providers. They are not comparable. Some are free if you bank with NatWest, some are landlord-only, some require an accountant, some are sole-trader-only. There is no neutral comparison: every existing comparison page is published by one of the providers (Sage, Xero, FreeAgent), or by an accountancy firm trying to onboard you. MTD.digital looks neutral but is also chasing affiliate revenue and reads as content-farm thin.
**"What about my transition profit?"** — Basis period reform from 2024-25 means many traders have a one-off "transition profit" they need to spread or pay over five years. ATT and HMRC guidance is dense; no consumer-facing calculator currently exists.
**HMRC's own data** (cited Apr 2026): "Only a quarter of the landlords and sole traders who need to sign up for the UK's new digital tax system have done so." Roughly 730,000 people are non-compliant on day one of mandate.
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