Using Taxd's MTD property spreadsheet templates

If you're a landlord using Making Tax Digital (MTD) with Taxd, you don't need special accounting software to stay compliant. Taxd provides free spreadsheet templates that keep your records "digitally linked" to HMRC, in whichever format suits how you already work.

Which template should I use?

• Already track your income and expenses in your own spreadsheet? Use the UK Property Summary template. It links your existing totals straight into HMRC's required format.
• Don't have a system yet, or want Taxd to keep the running record for you? Use the UK Property Tracker template. You log each transaction as it happens, and the totals build themselves.
• Have more than one rental property? Use the UK Property Tracker (multi-property) template — it's built the same way as the standard Tracker, but with a tab per property that rolls up into one combined summary.

All three are available to download from the Templates panel on your Income Tax – MTD dashboard.

Option 1: UK Property Tracker (single property)

This is a simple transaction log — one row per transaction.

1. Open the Transactions Tracker tab.
2. For every payment in or out, add a row with the Date, Payee, Description, Amount, and Category.
3. Select the Category from the dropdown — this single list covers both income and expense types (e.g. "Rental Income", "Repairs & maintenance", "Mortgage interest"), so you don't need to decide up front whether a row is income or an expense.
4. Enter expenses as negative amounts and income as positive amounts.
5. When you're ready to file, upload the completed file to your Taxd MTD dashboard.

Taxd automatically applies HMRC's reporting rules based on your total rental income for the quarter — you don't need to decide between "simplified" and "detailed" reporting yourself with this template.

Option 2: UK Property Summary (bridging your own spreadsheet)

Use this if you already keep your own records elsewhere (your own spreadsheet, a property manager's export, etc.) and just want to bridge your totals across to HMRC.

1. Open the Instructions tab and check whether your annual rental income is above or below £90,000 — this determines which tab you use:
   • Under £90,000: use the Under 90K Annual Rental Income tab. You only need one consolidated total for your expenses.
   • £90,000 or more: use the Over 90K Annual Rental Income tab. HMRC requires a full breakdown of your expenses by category here.
2. In the blue boxes, replace the existing formula with your own formula that links to the totals in your own spreadsheet (e.g. =SUM('My Records'!D2:D50)). The formulas already in the template are placeholders — they won't pull in your figures automatically, because Taxd doesn't know the layout of your personal spreadsheet. You need to point each blue box at the right place in your own records.
3. Do not type a number directly into a blue box. HMRC requires an "unbroken digital link" between your original records and what you submit — typing or pasting a value in breaks that chain and can lead to a penalty.
4. Pay particular attention to two boxes:
   • Mortgage interest must go in the dedicated "Residential Financial Cost" box, never mixed in with general expenses — this is what gets you the 20% tax credit rather than a straight deduction.
   • Capital costs (like an extension or full refurbishment) don't belong in a quarterly update at all — these are handled separately, usually when you sell.
5. Once every blue box is linked and showing the right figures, upload the file to your Taxd MTD dashboard.

Troubleshooting: linking your own spreadsheet to the blue boxes

This is the step that trips people up most, so it's worth spelling out in detail.

"I'm getting a #REF! error in a blue box." This almost always means you've copied a formula cell from your own spreadsheet and pasted it directly into the Taxd template — rather than writing a new formula in the blue box. When you copy a cell that contains a formula (rather than a plain number) and paste it into a different file, Excel pastes the formula itself, including its reference to your original spreadsheet's tab names. Since the Taxd template doesn't have a tab with that name, the formula can't find what it's pointing to, and you get #REF!.

The fix: don't copy-paste the formula cell across. Instead, either:

• Bring your data into the Taxd file. Copy your own source data (the raw figures, not just the total) into a new tab inside the Taxd template, then write a fresh formula in the blue box that references that new tab — for example =SUM('My Data'!D2:D50) where "My Data" is the tab you just added.
• Point the blue box directly at your original file, if you're comfortable with cross-workbook formulas in Excel — but only do this if you understand that this kind of link can break if the original file is later moved, renamed, or deleted, since the blue box then won't be able to find it.

"I'm copying the value, not the formula, and it still doesn't work." Double-check you're copying from the cell itself (not the formula bar) and pasting normally — if you use "Paste Special > Values Only" to strip the formula out, you'll get a number in the box, but this breaks HMRC's digital link requirement (see below), so it's not a safe workaround even if it stops the error.

Why you can't just paste the number in. HMRC's "digital link" rule requires that figures move from your original records to your submission electronically, without being manually typed or re-entered as a static value at any point. A working formula link satisfies this. A pasted-in value — even if it's technically correct — does not, and can put your submission at risk of a penalty. If your own spreadsheet's total is genuinely correct, the extra step of bringing the data across (rather than just the number) is what keeps the link intact.

Option 3: UK Property Tracker (multiple properties)

If you own more than one rental property, this version keeps every property's records in one workbook while still giving HMRC one combined figure.

1. Duplicate the example property tab for each property you own, and rename each tab (e.g. "12 Rental Road").
2. On each property's tab, log income and expenses the same way as the single-property Tracker — the tab automatically totals that property's income, expenses, and mortgage interest for you.
3. Important: if you add a third (or further) property tab, check the combined Under £90k / Over £90k summary tabs — the totals there need to include every property tab you've added, not just the first two. If you're not comfortable editing the formulas yourself, contact us via live chat before you file, so we can check the summary is picking up all your properties correctly.
4. Once every property tab is complete and the summary tabs reflect all of your properties, upload the file to your Taxd MTD dashboard.

Common mistakes to avoid (all templates)

• Typing over a formula with a manually entered number — this breaks the digital link HMRC requires.
• Putting mortgage interest in with general expenses instead of the dedicated Residential Financial Cost box.
• Including capital expenditure (improvements, extensions) in a quarterly update — these aren't reported this way.
• Forgetting to update the combined summary when adding extra property tabs to the multi-property template.

What’s Inside the File

The tracking workbook is divided into five specialized tabs located along the bottom of your spreadsheet interface:

• Instructions: A permanent, quick-reference guide detailing shortcuts and operational parameters.
• Property #1 & #2 Examples: Individual property ledgers. This is where you will execute 99% of your data entry. Each tab contains an Income Tracker table on the left, an Expense Tracker table adjacent to it, and automated calculation summary tables on the right.
• Summary – Under £90K & Over £90K: The final compliance ledgers. These tabs automatically compile your property data into the exact format required for your quarterly submissions. You will focus exclusively on one of these two tabs, dictated by your gross portfolio turnover.

Step 1: Set Up a Dedicated Tab per Property

To maintain a compliant audit trail, every physical property in your real estate portfolio must possess its own independent ledger tab.

1. Rename the Examples: Right-click the sheet tab labeled "Property #1 Example" at the bottom of your screen, select Rename, and input a distinct identifier (e.g., 12 Oak Street). Update the main title header at the top of the sheet to match.
2. Replicate for Larger Portfolios: If you own more than two properties, right-click an existing property tab, select Move or Copy, check the Create a copy box, and position it within the workbook.
3. Purge Sample Data: Highlight and delete the illustrative transaction rows pre-loaded into the income and expense tables (such as the default £100,000 baseline row) to clear the ledger for your live records.

Step 2: Record Your Transactions Seamlessly

Regular data input prevents a quarterly administrative scramble. Capturing a transaction takes seconds and maintains your real-time profit and loss metrics.

• Logging Rental Receipts: When rent is deposited, create a new row in the Income Tracker. Input the date, an explicit description (e.g., March Rent – Flat 2), select Rental Amount from the categorical dropdown menu, and enter the exact numerical value.
• Logging Operational Costs: When a business liability is settled, execute an identical entry in the Expense Tracker. Input the date, description (e.g., Boiler Repair), assign its precise category via the dropdown menu, and add the cost.

Core Operational Tips:

• Expanding Table Boundaries: To add new rows, locate the small icon at the bottom-right corner of the data table and click-and-drag it downward. Do not manually insert rows via standard spreadsheet application menus, as doing so can corrupt the underlying formula cells.
• Dropdown Selection Is Mandatory: You must always select your transaction categories from the pre-formatted dropdown menus. Typing bespoke text phrases will break the cell logic, preventing the ledger from routing the expense into the final summary.
• Chronological Order is Optional: You can log transactions randomly as they occur. The tracking algorithms automatically sort and compile the data by type behind the scenes.

Step 3: The Golden Rule of Digital Linking

HMRC regulations mandate an unbroken, end-to-end digital link between your raw transaction data and the numbers transmitted to the state. In plain terms: data must flow organically via software formulas; it can never be typed or manually transferred by the user.

• Do: Allow the pre-built spreadsheet formulas to automatically pull your data through from your property ledgers into the final summary sheets.
• Don't: Type, override, or copy-and-paste consolidated financial figures directly into the final summary tabs. Manually breaking this calculation chain violates digital record-keeping regulations and exposes you to automated compliance inquiries.

Formula Customization Note: The default summary tabs are configured to read data only from the two pre-built example sheets. If you create additional property tabs, those new sources must be integrated into the final summary equations. If you require assistance adjusting these calculations, contact the Taxd team to update your link logic safely.

Step 4: Evaluate Your Target Summary Tab

At the conclusion of an active financial quarter, open the specific summary tab that corresponds to your portfolio's annual gross revenue:

Summary – Under £90K

Select this sheet if your total portfolio-wide rental turnover sits below £90,000 per annum. Because HMRC accepts a single, consolidated expense total for businesses operating below this threshold, this tab isolates your inputs into a streamlined layout.

Summary – Over £90K

Select this sheet if your portfolio-wide rental turnover exceeds £90,000 per annum. For larger portfolios, HMRC requires an itemized structural breakdown of expenses, and this tab organizes your entries by their exact categories automatically.

Critical Validation Anomalies:

Before submitting, run a brief sanity check on your totals, watching out for three unique accounting frameworks:

• Residential Financial Costs: Double-check that mortgage interest payments have been categorized strictly under Residential Financial Cost rather than buried in general property expenses. This allows the sheet to isolate the value so it can be claimed as a tax credit rather than a direct profit deduction.
• The Rent-a-Room Allowance: If you let a room within your primary home, ensure those receipts are routed through the dedicated Rent-a-Room section to seamlessly apply your standard £7,500 tax-free allowance.
• Capital Improvements vs. Repairs: Verify that any structural upgrades (such as home extensions or loft conversions) are entirely omitted from your quarterly sheets. These capital items are held on file for future Capital Gains calculations, while routine repairs and general maintenance are entered normally.

Step 5: Upload Directly to Taxd

Once you have verified that your summary figures accurately reflect your quarter's performance, log into your Taxd portal and upload the completed spreadsheet file directly to your MTD dashboard.

The software interprets your digital links, validates the categories, and transmits your quarterly update securely to HMRC, providing you with instant digital receipt confirmation.

If Using Your Own Spreadsheet

If you are using your own tracking software/spreadsheet, then you will still be required to upload Taxd's own "UK Property Summary" that can be found on Taxd's MTD Dashboard. Here are the easy steps to import that document into your own spreadsheet.

1: Navigate to Taxd's MTD Dashboard

2: Click "download" on the "UK Property Summary"

3: Once the file opens you will then need to save your own copy of the spreadsheet. To do this click "File" then "Create a Copy" then "Download a Copy". This will automatically send the file to your "Downloads" folder, which can be found via your file explorer on your computer.

4: When opening the file, you will potentially be asked if you would like to either trust the file or if you want to enable editing for the file. Choose yes if asked either.

5: Left click on either the "Under £90k Annual Rental Income" or the "Over £90k Annual Rental Income" tab located at the bottom of the screen.

6: Using your keyboard, at the same time press the "CTRL" and "C" keys to copy the tab.

7: Now open your own tracking spreadsheet or software and paste the summary tab into the file using the "CTRL" and "V".

8: Fill out the summary tab according to the instructions given on the summary page itself.

Do not add any additional items onto this summary tab. Doing so will invalidate the upload of the file onto the Taxd platform.

You must use either cell refrencing or formulas to add up your totals on the summary tab. This is explained in detail on the summary tab itself.

When Finished with Summary Tab

When you are finished calculating your totals onto the summary tab, then go to "File" on the top left of the screen. Navigate to "Save As" and rename your file as you would like.

Ensure that your file is being saved as a CSV (Comma Delimited) file.

Finally, navigate to the Taxd MTD Dashboard again to upload your new CSV file.

If you have any questions or comments about doing so, contact a member of our customer support team through the live chat function on the Taxd platform.

Quick Reference: Do’s and Don’ts