How does a local accountant compare with our Making Tax Digital service?

A typical accountant's tax return fee is £200–£500 plus VAT, according to 2026 fee guides, with quarterly updates usually extra. An accountant suits complex affairs and face-to-face help; our fixed-price automated service suits straightforward books.

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (MTD) means keeping digital records, sending HMRC four quarterly updates a year and filing a tax return. A local accountant can do all of that for you, and much more besides. Our service does the MTD work from your bank feed or records using automated software, including AI, and you check and confirm every figure before anything is sent to HMRC. Our tax plans start once our HMRC registrations are complete. Until then you can join the waitlist, and no payment is taken.

Prices compared

There is no official price list for accountants, and fees vary from firm to firm. The figures below come from fee guides published in 2026 by accountancy firms, or by a publisher that works with partner firms, so they have a commercial interest. Our prices include VAT. All figures were checked on 17 October 2026.

No published survey of fees for quarterly updates was found. Sleek says several rental properties can push a return past £400 plus VAT. Firms' own listed MTD prices are in our guide to what accountants charge for MTD.

What each one does

When a local accountant is the better choice

• You want to sit down with someone. A local firm can meet you in person. We cannot.
• Your affairs are complex. A limited company, a partnership, selling a property or income from abroad all need more than bookkeeping and tax returns.
• You want someone to plan ahead with you. An accountant can look at your whole position, not just this year's figures.
• You already have an accountant you trust. They can carry on and add your quarterly updates.
• You need to start now. Our tax plans are not open yet.

When our service may suit you better

• Your books are straightforward. Self-employment in a trade, or 1 to 4 lets in England, with your income coming through a bank account.
• You want the yearly cost fixed. Accotax's fee guide, checked 17 October 2026, puts a landlord return alone at £200 + VAT and up, and a self-employed return alone at £200–£500 + VAT. Our landlord plans, at £150 or £200 a year including VAT, cost less than the bottom of that landlord range. Our trades plan, at £350 a year including VAT, sits inside the self-employed range, and also includes the bookkeeping and four quarterly updates.
• You are a CIS subcontractor. Before you join Making Tax Digital, over-deducted CIS is claimed back through your Self Assessment tax return. Once you are in Making Tax Digital, HMRC adds your CIS deductions to your tax return, and any refund is requested separately through HMRC online services. Either way, the sooner after 5 April the return is filed, the sooner HMRC can repay you.

What this means for you

If your self-employed turnover and rent before expenses came to more than £30,000 in 2025-26, MTD starts for you on 6 April 2027. Your first quarterly update covers 6 April to 5 July 2027 and is due by 7 August 2027. Late quarterly updates can earn penalty points, and 4 points means a £200 penalty. At the Budget on 28 October 2026 the government said people who must join in April 2027 will get no penalty points for late 2027-28 quarterly updates, though the updates must still be sent. For you, the earliest a late update can earn a point is 7 August 2028.

Your 2025-26 tax return, due by 31 January 2027, sits outside MTD. Whoever you choose, ask whether that return is included or charged separately.

Whoever acts for you with HMRC must have an agent services account, and anyone paid to deal with HMRC for clients must register with HMRC and have money-laundering supervision. Only your main agent can send your tax return.

Steps to choose between them

1. Use the free MTD check to see whether and when MTD starts for you.
2. List every source of income, and anything unusual this year, such as a property sale.
3. Decide whether you want face-to-face meetings and someone to plan ahead with you.
4. Ask at least two local firms for a written yearly price, including VAT, that covers all four quarterly updates and the tax return.
5. Check each firm's HMRC registration and money-laundering supervision.
6. If your books are straightforward and you want a fixed price, see the plans for trades or landlords and join the waitlist. No payment is taken.