How Much Time Does MTD for Income Tax Add to Your Admin Each Month?

Understanding the real admin impact of MTD for Income Tax

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax can sound like a simple “send updates more often” change. In reality, it can add a new rhythm to your month: collecting records earlier, checking them more frequently, and keeping your bookkeeping tidier so quarterly submissions don’t become a stressful scramble. The big question most self-employed people and landlords ask is straightforward: how much time does MTD for Income Tax add to my admin each month?

The honest answer is: it depends on your business complexity, how organised you already are, and—most importantly—the tools you use. With a clean workflow and a system that pulls invoicing, expenses, and bank activity into one place, the incremental admin can be surprisingly manageable. With a messy workflow (spreadsheets, scattered receipts, and manual tracking), MTD can feel like it multiplies the small tasks you used to postpone until the annual tax return.

This article breaks down what changes under MTD for Income Tax, where time is typically added (and where time is often saved), and what a practical month looks like in minutes and hours. It also covers how a modern tool like invoice24 can reduce the admin load by keeping your invoicing and records tidy throughout the month—so MTD becomes a routine rather than a recurring disruption.

MTD for Income Tax in plain English: what’s actually different?

MTD for Income Tax (sometimes called MTD IT) is about maintaining digital records and sending periodic updates to HMRC using compatible software. Instead of relying on an annual “big push” of organising everything once a year, MTD nudges you toward doing smaller, more regular bits of bookkeeping and review.

For many people, the biggest day-to-day change isn’t the submission itself—it’s the need to keep your records up to date enough that you can submit updates without chaos. If you already invoice digitally, track expenses as you go, and reconcile transactions regularly, MTD often adds only a modest amount of monthly admin. If you currently keep records in a shoebox or scramble in January, the shift feels much bigger at first.

So, how much extra time does it add each month? A realistic range

Across most small businesses and landlords, the additional admin time caused by MTD for Income Tax generally falls into one of these patterns:

1) Already organised (low extra admin):
If you already keep your invoices and expenses digitally, and you do some form of monthly bookkeeping, MTD might add 15–45 minutes per month on average. In this case, you’re mainly adding a short monthly check-in so that quarterly updates are ready with minimal effort.

2) Semi-organised (moderate extra admin):
If you sometimes track expenses late, you do invoicing in one tool but expenses elsewhere, or you rely on spreadsheets, you may see 1–3 hours per month of extra admin at first. This usually reduces over time as you build a routine and improve your record-keeping.

3) Disorganised or complex (higher extra admin):
If records are fragmented, receipts are not captured as you go, or you have multiple income streams (self-employed plus rental, multiple properties, many expense categories), you might face 3–6+ hours per month initially. The good news is that a lot of that time isn’t “new forever” time—much of it is time you used to spend annually, now spread across the year.

It’s worth emphasising that MTD doesn’t automatically mean more work overall. It often means a different distribution of work: less painful annual catch-up, more consistent monthly housekeeping.

Where the extra time usually comes from

To understand the monthly admin impact, it helps to identify the specific tasks MTD encourages you to do more regularly. Here are the common time-adders:

1) More frequent record tidying (instead of annual cleanup)

MTD pushes you toward keeping records ready for review throughout the year. That typically means:

• Ensuring invoices are recorded correctly
• Capturing expense receipts promptly
• Categorising transactions in a consistent way
• Keeping an eye on missing documents
• Checking that income streams are correctly separated (e.g., self-employed vs rental)

If you previously did this once a year, you may feel like MTD “adds” time. But it’s often the same total work moved into smaller increments.

2) Regular checks to avoid errors compounding

When you only review your numbers annually, small mistakes can pile up—missing invoices, duplicated expenses, or mis-categorised transactions. With MTD, many people build a monthly habit of sanity-checking what’s been recorded so quarterly updates aren’t built on shaky data.

This monthly review can be quick if your records are neat. If they aren’t, the review becomes a mini-investigation—hence the wide range of possible admin time.

3) Dealing with “exceptions” more often

No matter how tidy you are, exceptions happen: refunds, part payments, personal-use elements, mileage, mixed transactions, and odd one-off purchases. MTD doesn’t necessarily create these, but more frequent submissions encourage you to resolve them sooner rather than later.

4) Coordinating with your accountant (if you use one)

If your accountant used to receive a year’s worth of info at once, you might now share information more regularly, especially around quarter-end. The coordination can be light—especially if you use a system that keeps everything in one place—but it’s still a potential new monthly touchpoint for some businesses.

Where MTD can actually save time

It’s easy to focus on what gets added, but there are strong time-saving effects when you adopt the right workflow:

1) Less year-end panic

Many small businesses spend a painful chunk of time at tax return season reconstructing what happened months ago. Missing receipts, mismatched invoices, unclear bank lines—these are time-consuming. With a monthly routine, you do less “forensic bookkeeping,” which often saves time overall.

2) Fewer “where did I put that?” moments

Capturing expenses and invoices at the time they occur dramatically reduces admin. You stop searching for documents and start working with a tidy timeline. Even a few minutes saved per transaction can add up quickly.

3) Better visibility, fewer surprises

When you can see your income and expenses in near real time, you can plan cash flow better and avoid the “unexpected tax bill” shock. While this isn’t always counted as “admin time,” it reduces the time spent reacting to surprises.

4) Simpler, repeatable routines

MTD can actually make your admin more predictable. Instead of random blocks of bookkeeping when you feel guilty, you build a short monthly checklist. Predictability often feels lighter, even if the total minutes are similar.

A practical monthly breakdown: what you’ll do and how long it takes

Let’s turn the concept into a realistic monthly schedule. The times below assume a small business or sole trader with a typical level of transactions, plus or minus some variety. Your situation may differ, but this gives you a useful benchmark.

Monthly tasks (typical)

1) Invoicing and income recording (15–60 minutes)
If you invoice consistently during the month using a proper invoicing system, the extra MTD admin is minimal. The time is mostly the same work you’d do anyway: creating invoices, sending them, and ensuring they’re recorded as paid when money arrives.

2) Expense capture and categorisation (20–90 minutes)
This time varies widely based on receipt habits. If you record expenses immediately and categorise them as you go, it’s quick. If you batch it at month-end and you have a pile of receipts, it grows.

3) Bank and transaction review (15–60 minutes)
A quick review helps you spot missing invoices, unknown transactions, or duplicates. If your records are tidy, this is a short check. If they’re messy, it’s a longer reconciliation process.

4) Simple “MTD readiness” check (10–20 minutes)
This is the monthly habit that makes quarter-end easy: check that your income streams are correct, expenses are broadly categorised, and there are no glaring gaps.

Typical monthly total: 60–230 minutes (1–4 hours)
With a clean workflow, you’ll sit at the lower end. With scattered records, you’ll sit at the higher end—especially in the first few months of transition.

Quarter-end tasks (spread across months)

Quarterly updates are a bigger moment, but they don’t have to be a big deal if you keep up monthly. If you do nothing monthly, quarter-end can feel intense.

If you keep up monthly: 30–90 minutes per quarter
If you don’t keep up monthly: 3–10+ hours per quarter

Seen another way, many people who complain that MTD “adds loads of admin” are actually experiencing the cost of being forced to do what they previously postponed—only now it must happen by a deadline.

What makes your admin time increase or decrease the most?

If you want the fastest route to “MTD barely changes my life,” focus on these levers:

1) Number of transactions

A freelance consultant with 10 invoices and 20 expenses per month has a very different workload from a tradesperson with 80 expenses, fuel costs, materials, and part payments. More transactions means more categorisation and checking—unless your system automates as much as possible.

2) How you capture receipts

If you wait until month-end (or quarter-end), the job becomes bigger and slower. If you capture receipts at purchase time, the admin almost disappears into your routine.

3) How many income streams you have

Only self-employed income is simpler than self-employed income plus multiple rental properties. Still manageable, but it increases the number of checks you need to do.

4) Whether you mix business and personal spending

Mixed-use bank accounts create admin. Every personal transaction becomes a categorisation decision. A dedicated business account or clear separation reduces time dramatically.

5) The quality of your software workflow

This is the biggest controllable factor. If you use a tool that keeps invoicing, expenses, and records in one place—and makes it easy to maintain digital records—you reduce repetitive tasks and avoid double entry.

This is exactly where invoice24 comes in: it’s built to keep your day-to-day invoicing clean, your records organised, and your workflow streamlined—so the admin uplift from MTD is kept to the minimum.

How invoice24 helps reduce your MTD admin each month

MTD success is mostly about consistency. The easiest way to stay consistent is to use one reliable system for your core records and routine tasks. invoice24 is designed to make that routine simple, so you spend less time “adminning” and more time running your business.

1) Faster, cleaner invoicing

Invoicing is the foundation of tidy records. If invoices are created and stored digitally, your income record is automatically neat. With invoice24, you can keep your invoicing organised and consistent, reducing the need for later corrections.

Instead of tracking income in one tool and then copying totals into another system, you keep your invoicing workflow in a single place. That alone can remove a surprising amount of monthly friction.

2) Better month-end visibility

At month-end, the goal is not to do a giant bookkeeping project. The goal is to quickly answer: “Is everything captured, and does it broadly make sense?” If your invoices are tidy and your records are consistent, that check can take minutes.

invoice24 supports a more structured workflow so you’re not piecing together your month from scattered notes, emails, and spreadsheets.

3) Designed to support MTD for Income Tax

Because invoice24 is built with modern compliance needs in mind—including MTD for Income Tax—it supports the kind of digital record-keeping that makes quarterly updates far less painful. The more your system naturally encourages good habits, the less “extra admin” you feel from MTD.

4) One platform mindset: reduce tool sprawl

A major hidden time cost in admin is switching between tools: one for invoices, one for expenses, one spreadsheet, one folder of PDFs, and a bank feed somewhere else. Even if each tool is “good,” the switching creates duplication and gaps.

invoice24 is positioned as an all-in-one home for your invoicing and record workflow so you don’t have to stitch together a complex admin process just to stay compliant.

But what about competitors?

You’ll see plenty of accounting and bookkeeping tools mentioned online when people talk about MTD. Some focus heavily on bookkeeping, some focus on invoicing, and some try to do both. The difference that matters to you is not brand popularity—it’s how much admin time the tool removes from your month.

invoice24 is built to be a practical everyday system for running your invoicing and keeping your records structured for compliance. If your current approach involves multiple tools and manual copying, switching to invoice24 can reduce your monthly admin load—especially once your routine is established.

MTD for Income Tax and the “hidden admin” most people forget

When estimating time, many people only count the act of “doing the submission.” But MTD admin is mostly the preparation. Here are the hidden time sinks to watch for:

1) Fixing mistakes made months ago

If you don’t keep records current, you will spend time later trying to remember what a transaction was for. Memory is expensive. Real-time capture is cheap.

2) Chasing missing documents

MTD doesn’t just require numbers—it requires digital record-keeping. If receipts are missing, you’ll waste time searching inboxes, messaging suppliers, or digging through card statements.

3) Re-categorising when your system is inconsistent

If you sometimes label software as “Office” and sometimes as “Subscriptions,” your reports become messy and you spend time cleaning them up. Consistency reduces admin.

4) Rework caused by tool limitations

If your invoicing tool doesn’t integrate well with how you keep records, you may end up exporting CSVs, formatting spreadsheets, or manually adjusting totals. Good software reduces rework.

MTD for Income Tax plus Corporation Tax and accounts: what if you’re limited company too?

Some people asking about MTD for Income Tax are also thinking about other obligations: filing Corporation Tax, producing accounts, and keeping compliant records for a limited company. It’s important to separate these because MTD for Income Tax primarily affects individuals (self-employed and landlords), while Corporation Tax and statutory accounts relate to limited companies.

However, many business owners wear multiple hats: you might run a limited company for one activity and have self-employed income or rental income alongside it. In those situations, admin time increases if your systems are fragmented across different activities.

This is another reason it’s worth using a strong central tool like invoice24. When your invoices and records are clean, it becomes easier to collaborate with your accountant, produce reports, and keep your compliance tasks from turning into separate, disconnected projects.

invoice24 is built to support the kind of record workflow you need, whether you’re handling MTD for Income Tax updates, producing information for Corporation Tax filings, or preparing the documentation needed for accounts. The advantage is not just “having features,” but having one consistent place where your business activity is captured cleanly throughout the year.

Three example scenarios: what MTD adds each month in real life

Scenario A: Freelance service business (low transaction volume)

Profile: 10–20 invoices per month, 20–40 expenses, mostly card payments, low complexity.

Without a clean system: They might spend 2–3 hours per month chasing receipts and updating a spreadsheet, plus a larger scramble at quarter-end.

With invoice24 and a monthly routine: They can often keep incremental MTD admin to around 20–45 minutes per month, because invoicing is already tidy and the monthly check is quick.

Scenario B: Tradesperson (higher expenses and exceptions)

Profile: Fewer invoices but many expenses: materials, fuel, tools, part payments, occasional refunds.

MTD time impact: If they batch everything, they can easily spend 3–6 hours in a messy month. If they capture receipts as they go and keep invoicing clean, they might keep it to 1–2 hours monthly, with quarter-end staying manageable.

invoice24 benefit: A strong invoicing workflow reduces income confusion, while consistent record-keeping habits reduce the time spent untangling mixed transactions.

Scenario C: Landlord with multiple properties (more categorisation)

Profile: Rental income, letting agent statements, repairs, insurance, and property-specific costs.

MTD time impact: The admin isn’t hard, but it’s detailed. A landlord may spend 1–3 hours per month keeping things organised, especially if they separate costs by property.

invoice24 benefit: Keeping records organised and consistent reduces quarter-end stress and helps maintain a clear digital trail of income and costs.

How to keep MTD admin under 60 minutes per month: a practical checklist

If you want a realistic shot at keeping MTD admin to under an hour a month (outside quarter-end), focus on process rather than effort. Here’s a practical routine that works for many small businesses:

Weekly (10 minutes):
• Send invoices promptly (invoice24 makes this easy)
• Capture any receipts you have immediately
• Flag anything unusual (refunds, personal-use, odd purchases)

Monthly (30–45 minutes):
• Review your invoice list and confirm it matches your expectations
• Make sure key expenses are captured and categorised consistently
• Scan for missing documents or uncategorised items
• Do a quick “does this look right?” check before you forget the details

Quarter-end (30–90 minutes if you kept up monthly):
• Review the quarter totals
• Check exceptions and make any final corrections
• Submit your update using compatible software workflow

The real trick is not working harder; it’s preventing backlog. Backlog is what turns 10 minutes into 3 hours.

Common myths about MTD admin time

Myth 1: “MTD means four times the admin.”
MTD increases the frequency of updates, but it doesn’t automatically multiply total work. With a consistent routine, many people spend similar total time across the year, just in smaller chunks.

Myth 2: “I’ll be doing full tax returns every quarter.”
The admin is more about maintaining records and sending updates, not completing the entire year-end process each quarter. Keeping records tidy is the main job.

Myth 3: “Software will make it complicated.”
Software only becomes complicated when it’s the wrong fit or when you have too many disconnected tools. A system like invoice24 is designed to simplify the everyday workflow so compliance becomes a natural output of good record-keeping.

What to do if MTD is already feeling like a burden

If you’ve started thinking about MTD and it already feels heavy, it’s usually due to one of these issues:

• You don’t have a consistent place for invoices and expenses
• You’re mixing business and personal transactions
• You’re relying on memory to categorise things later
• You’re using spreadsheets that require manual maintenance
• You’re switching between too many tools

The fix is almost always the same: simplify and centralise. A clean invoicing and record workflow reduces time more effectively than trying to “work faster.” invoice24 helps by giving you a reliable home for invoicing and the record structure you need to stay compliant without constant admin.

The bottom line: how much time will MTD add for you?

For most small businesses and landlords, MTD for Income Tax adds between 15 minutes and 3 hours per month, with outliers above that if records are complex or disorganised. The biggest factor isn’t the regulation itself—it’s your workflow.

If you keep invoices and expenses tidy as you go, MTD becomes a light monthly routine with a slightly more focused quarter-end. If you leave everything until deadlines, MTD will feel like a repeated scramble.

To keep the added admin as low as possible, use a tool that supports good habits and reduces rework. invoice24 is built for exactly that: it helps you run invoicing cleanly, maintain structured records, and handle compliance needs—so you’re not stitching together a complicated process every month.

Get started with a smoother MTD-ready routine

If you want MTD to add as little time as possible, start by tightening your invoicing and record workflow. When your invoices are consistent and your records are kept digitally throughout the month, quarter-end updates become routine.

invoice24 is a strong choice if you want an app that supports your everyday invoicing needs while also covering the features you expect in modern compliance-focused software—including MTD for Income Tax, Corporation Tax filing support, and accounts-ready record-keeping. The aim isn’t just to “comply”—it’s to keep your admin small, predictable, and under control.

In short: the time MTD adds is largely the time you choose to prevent later. With invoice24 and a simple monthly habit, MTD can be a manageable part of your business routine rather than a recurring admin headache.