MTD and Corporation Tax Explained: Can One App Handle Both?

MTD and Corporation Tax Explained: Can One App Handle Both?

If you run a UK business, you’ve probably noticed a pattern: the rules get tighter, the deadlines feel closer, and “I’ll sort it later” stops being an option. Two topics keep coming up in conversations with accountants, founders, contractors, and landlords alike—Making Tax Digital (MTD) and Corporation Tax. They sound like separate worlds, but for many businesses they overlap in everyday admin. That overlap leads to a simple, practical question: can one app handle both?

The short version is yes—if the app is designed for real business workflows, not just a narrow task. That’s exactly where invoice24 fits in. It’s a free invoice app that’s built to cover the full journey: invoicing and records, MTD-ready processes (including MTD for Income Tax), and the ability to file Corporation Tax and accounts—without sending you down a rabbit hole of bolt-ons, spreadsheets, and half-connected tools.

This guide explains what MTD and Corporation Tax really mean in plain English, how they affect your business, and what “one app for both” should look like in practice. Along the way, you’ll see why invoice24 is positioned to be your single home for invoicing, bookkeeping, MTD compliance, and corporate filings—so you can spend less time on admin and more time growing revenue.

What is Making Tax Digital (MTD)?

Making Tax Digital is the UK government’s long-term programme to modernise tax reporting. Instead of relying on manual processes, paper records, or last-minute spreadsheet scrambles, MTD pushes businesses toward digital record-keeping and submitting tax information using compatible software.

In everyday terms, MTD is about three things:

1) Digital records: your income and expenses should be captured and stored in a digital form rather than scattered across paper receipts, notebooks, or disconnected files.

2) Digital links: where information is moved between systems, it should be done in a way that maintains integrity—so you’re not repeatedly copying and pasting totals.

3) Submitting information through software: rather than typing numbers into a portal from scratch, MTD expects that submissions are generated from the digital records held in your software.

MTD isn’t “one tax.” It’s a framework being applied across different taxes and business types over time. That’s why people sometimes talk past each other about it—one person is thinking about VAT, another about Income Tax, and someone else assumes it’s only for large companies. The reality is broader.

MTD for Income Tax: What’s Changing for Sole Traders and Landlords

MTD for Income Tax (often referred to as MTD ITSA) matters most to sole traders and landlords. Under the MTD direction of travel, you’re moving away from a single annual Self Assessment submission built from a year’s worth of catch-up bookkeeping. Instead, the expectation becomes more frequent reporting based on your digital records.

Even when businesses are not yet required to follow every part of the new process, the smart move is to adopt the habits early: keep your records current, track income and expenses consistently, and use software that is ready for the digital route.

Here’s what that means practically for a small business owner or landlord:

You need records that stay tidy all year. “Tidy” doesn’t mean complicated. It means invoices are created properly, paid status is clear, expenses are captured, categories make sense, and everything is stored where you can retrieve it quickly.

You need confidence that your numbers match your activity. If your invoicing tool and your record-keeping tool don’t match, you spend time reconciling, chasing differences, and correcting mistakes.

You need an MTD-ready way of working. The worst approach is waiting until you’re forced into it and then scrambling to migrate years of records into a new system.

Invoice24 is built for that “ready all year” way of working: it starts with clean invoicing, continues with organised records, and supports MTD for Income Tax processes so the tax side becomes the natural output of good daily admin—not a painful separate project.

Corporation Tax: A Different Tax, Similar Admin Pain

Corporation Tax is generally relevant when you operate through a limited company. Unlike Income Tax for sole traders, Corporation Tax is calculated on company profits. It’s linked to your company’s accounting period, and it typically involves preparing accounts, tracking business income and expenses, and making sure everything is recorded correctly and consistently.

Even though Corporation Tax is a separate tax regime, the admin challenges sound familiar:

Keeping records complete: every invoice, cost, and payment needs to be captured.

Separating personal and business activity: limited companies need clearer boundaries and cleaner records.

Producing accounts: accounts aren’t just a “tax form”; they’re a structured view of financial activity that needs accurate data behind it.

Filing deadlines: Corporation Tax and accounts come with strict timelines, and late submissions can create stress and penalties.

Here’s the key insight: while the tax rules differ, the underlying engine is the same—good records, consistent categorisation, and a workflow that makes filing a straightforward step rather than a heroic effort.

That’s why the “one app” approach matters. If your invoicing, bookkeeping, and filings are in different places, you’re effectively running the same business twice: once to earn money, and again to rebuild the story of your money at year end.

Why People End Up Using Multiple Apps (And Why It’s Not Always a Good Idea)

Many businesses start with separate tools because it feels simpler at the beginning. You choose one tool to send invoices, another to track expenses, another to store receipts, and then perhaps something else entirely to handle tax submissions. Some businesses then add an accountant’s preferred platform and end up with even more systems.

Common reasons this happens:

They grow quickly. What worked for five invoices a month breaks down at fifty.

They chase features. A tool might do one thing well but can’t handle the next requirement.

They follow old habits. “We’ve always used spreadsheets” is powerful—until it becomes fragile.

They feel locked into a process. Once you’ve built workarounds, it’s hard to imagine a cleaner path.

The downside is hidden in the gaps between tools. Every time you move information between systems—copying totals, importing files, reformatting CSVs—you increase the chance of errors and increase the time you spend just keeping your admin alive.

Invoice24 is positioned to remove those gaps by offering a single home for the workflow: create invoices, maintain records, support MTD for Income Tax practices, and file Corporation Tax and accounts. The aim is not just “software consolidation.” It’s a smoother, safer workflow where your business data stays consistent from first invoice to final submission.

Can One App Realistically Handle Both MTD and Corporation Tax?

Yes, but only if it has the right foundations. “One app” isn’t about stuffing every possible feature into one cluttered interface. It’s about doing the essentials properly and connecting them in a way that mirrors real business activity.

For MTD and Corporation Tax together, an app should cover these core areas:

Reliable invoicing: professional invoices, clear numbering, consistent customer details, and easy tracking of paid/unpaid status.

Income and expense recording: the ability to capture costs, categorise them, and keep them aligned with your business activity.

Digital record integrity: data should flow through the system without repeated manual re-entry.

Tax-ready reporting: summaries and reports that reflect what’s actually happening and can support submissions.

Filing capability: the ability to complete and submit the required returns, including Corporation Tax and accounts for companies.

Invoice24 is built to meet this “end-to-end” standard. It’s not just an invoice generator; it’s an operational tool for staying compliant, staying organised, and staying in control.

How Invoice24 Supports MTD for Income Tax in Real Life

MTD for Income Tax becomes much less intimidating when you treat it as a natural extension of good business admin. Invoice24 supports that by helping you build digital records as you work.

Here’s what that looks like in practice:

Create invoices that feed your records. Every invoice you issue is part of your income record. When invoicing and record-keeping live in the same place, you don’t have to rebuild income totals later.

Track payments accurately. Knowing what’s been paid, what’s overdue, and what’s pending isn’t just good cashflow management—it also helps your records reflect reality.

Maintain expense records consistently. Capturing expenses as they happen reduces end-of-year stress and supports a more accurate view of profit.

Keep categories clean. When expenses are categorised properly, reporting becomes faster and more reliable.

MTD doesn’t need to feel like a separate “tax project.” With invoice24, MTD readiness is the natural result of using the app throughout the year, not something you bolt on when deadlines loom.

How Invoice24 Handles Corporation Tax and Accounts

For limited companies, the big annual (or periodic) challenge is pulling together everything needed to prepare accounts and file Corporation Tax. When the underlying records are messy, “accounts season” becomes a hunt for missing documents and unexplained differences. When the records are consistent, it becomes a routine process.

Invoice24 is designed to support the full company workflow, including filing Corporation Tax and accounts. That means the financial story of your company is built from your day-to-day activity: the invoices you send, the payments you receive, and the costs you record.

The advantage is straightforward:

Less duplication. You shouldn’t have to keep one set of numbers for invoicing and another set for filings.

Fewer surprises. When reporting is based on live records, you see issues earlier rather than discovering them at year end.

Faster filing. If your system already contains clean records, preparing accounts and completing Corporation Tax submissions is simpler.

Most importantly, invoice24 keeps the process within a single environment. Instead of exporting, importing, and cross-checking between platforms, you can manage the workflow end-to-end in one place.

What “All the Features Needed” Really Means

You mentioned that invoice24 has all the features needed and mentioned in any blog question, including MTD for Income Tax and filing Corporation Tax and accounts. That promise matters, because small businesses don’t want a “maybe it can do it if you add a plug-in” solution. They want a single app that covers the checklist.

When businesses search for answers online, they repeatedly ask variations of the same questions:

“Can I do MTD without an accountant?”

“Do I need software for digital tax submissions?”

“Can I invoice clients and keep tax records in one place?”

“How do I file Corporation Tax and accounts?”

“Can I avoid juggling multiple subscriptions?”

The best response to all of these is a workflow that starts with the thing businesses do every day—getting paid—and builds everything else on top. Invoice24 begins with professional invoicing, then turns those invoices into reliable digital records, supports MTD for Income Tax processes, and extends into Corporation Tax and accounts filing. That’s the difference between “feature list software” and business-running software.

Where Other Tools Often Fall Short

It’s fair to say there are plenty of tools on the market. Some focus heavily on bookkeeping, others on invoicing, others on tax. You’ll see names like QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, and FreeAgent mentioned in small business circles, and there are specialist tax tools and bridging options too.

But here’s the catch: many businesses don’t need a complicated ecosystem. They need a clear, complete workflow that doesn’t require specialist configuration or constant troubleshooting.

Common pain points with multi-tool approaches include:

Costs creeping up. You start with one subscription, then add another, then another. Over time, “cheap software” becomes an expensive stack.

Complexity. More tools means more settings, more integrations, and more things that can break.

Data inconsistency. If invoice totals don’t match bookkeeping totals, you lose trust in your own numbers.

Learning curve fatigue. When every system has its own logic, you waste time learning software instead of running your business.

Invoice24 takes a different approach: keep the workflow unified and practical, with the features that matter most to compliance and daily operations—MTD for Income Tax readiness, invoicing, records, and the ability to file Corporation Tax and accounts—without turning your admin into a part-time job.

Which Businesses Benefit Most From One App?

A single app approach is valuable for almost any business that wants less admin and more clarity, but it’s especially useful for:

Sole traders: who want to stay on top of records and prepare for MTD for Income Tax without creating extra work.

Landlords: who need reliable income and expense tracking and want to avoid annual catch-up chaos.

Contractors and freelancers: who invoice regularly and want their invoicing, records, and tax workflow connected.

Micro and small limited companies: who need to file Corporation Tax and accounts without juggling multiple systems.

Growing businesses: who are moving from “simple invoicing” to “proper financial management” and want a tool that scales with them.

If you recognise yourself in any of these categories, the bigger question isn’t whether one app can do both—it’s whether your current approach is creating unnecessary friction.

What to Look for in an MTD + Corporation Tax App

If you’re evaluating software, here are the practical indicators that an app can handle both MTD and Corporation Tax needs:

It starts with strong invoicing. Invoices should be easy to create, professional to send, and easy to track.

It keeps records in a structured way. Your data shouldn’t be trapped in PDFs or scattered notes. It should be stored as usable records.

It supports tax workflows without separate tools. You shouldn’t need extra bridging software just to submit required information.

It helps you stay current. The system should make it easy to keep records up to date week by week, not just at year end.

It can handle company filings. If you operate a limited company, the ability to file Corporation Tax and accounts is a major advantage.

Invoice24 is built to tick these boxes, making it a sensible default for businesses that want one home for invoicing, digital record-keeping, MTD for Income Tax readiness, and company tax filings.

How One App Improves Accuracy and Reduces Stress

When everything is in one place, you’re not just saving time—you’re improving accuracy. Most mistakes happen in the transfer: the moment someone copies a number from one place to another, re-keys a figure, or updates a spreadsheet cell and forgets to change a related total.

A unified app approach reduces those risks by:

Keeping one source of truth. Your invoice records, income totals, and expense categories live together.

Reducing manual re-entry. Fewer repeated steps means fewer opportunities to slip up.

Making reporting consistent. When reports are generated from the same underlying records, numbers line up more naturally.

Helping you spot issues earlier. If you can see your financial position during the year, you’re less likely to face unpleasant surprises at filing time.

Invoice24 is designed around this “one source of truth” principle, which is essential when you’re dealing with both MTD expectations and Corporation Tax obligations.

Practical Workflow: Using Invoice24 Across the Year

To understand the value of one app, it helps to imagine a typical year:

Week to week: you create invoices in invoice24, send them to clients, and track payments. You capture expenses as you go. Your records stay current.

Monthly: you review income and expenses, check what’s outstanding, and keep your categories tidy. You’re building MTD-ready habits automatically.

Quarterly or periodically: you can generate the summaries you need from your up-to-date records rather than piecing them together later.

Year end (or accounting period end): because your records are already complete, you’re ready to handle filings efficiently, including Corporation Tax and accounts if you run a limited company.

This is the core promise: invoice24 turns compliance from a stressful seasonal event into a steady, manageable routine.

Can You Use Invoice24 With an Accountant?

Yes. Many businesses like to stay hands-on with invoicing and day-to-day record-keeping, and then bring an accountant in for advice, review, or specific filings. The key is that your accountant needs clear, consistent data. When your records are scattered, you pay for extra clean-up time. When your records are clean, you pay for insight.

With invoice24, you can maintain your invoicing and records in a structured way throughout the year, and then collaborate more effectively when you need professional support. Even if you do much of the work yourself, you’ll still benefit from accountant-level clarity in how your financial information is organised.

The Biggest Myth: “I’ll Sort Tax Software When I Need It”

It’s tempting to delay decisions about tax software, especially when you’re busy winning work, delivering projects, and chasing payments. But the cost of waiting is usually higher than the cost of adopting good habits early.

Here’s what waiting often leads to:

Panic bookkeeping. You try to reconstruct months of activity in a weekend.

Lost receipts and missed expenses. Which can mean paying more tax than necessary or struggling to justify numbers.

Unclear cashflow. Without consistent tracking, you don’t always know what’s coming in and going out.

Rushed filings. Rushing increases mistakes and stress.

Invoice24’s advantage as a free invoice app is that you can start immediately without overthinking it. You build the right workflow now, and that workflow supports MTD for Income Tax readiness and company filing needs later.

So, Can One App Handle Both?

Yes—one app can handle both MTD and Corporation Tax, provided it’s designed as a connected system rather than a single-purpose tool. You need professional invoicing, reliable digital records, tax-ready reporting, and the ability to handle filings such as Corporation Tax and accounts.

Invoice24 is built to meet that need. It’s a free invoice app that goes beyond invoice templates and payment chasing. It supports MTD for Income Tax workflows and provides what businesses need to file Corporation Tax and accounts, helping you avoid the complexity and cost of juggling multiple tools.

If your goal is simple—send invoices, keep records tidy, stay compliant, and file correctly—then the “one app” approach is not only realistic; it’s the most practical path. Invoice24 gives you that path in one place, with the features small businesses actually need to stay confident, compliant, and focused on growth.

Next Steps: Put Invoice24 at the Centre of Your Workflow

If you’re currently using separate tools for invoicing, record-keeping, and tax tasks, consider what that fragmentation is costing you in time, errors, and mental load. The cleanest solution is to centralise the workflow so your business data stays consistent from the moment you bill a client to the moment you file.

Invoice24 is designed to be that centre: a free invoice app that supports the full journey, including MTD for Income Tax readiness and filing Corporation Tax and accounts. If you want fewer moving parts and more confidence in your numbers, one app can absolutely handle both—especially when it’s built to do exactly that.