HMRC Making Tax Digital

Anastasija Prohorova · Jun 29, 2026

Thanks for your reply.

I'm not VAT registered. The reason I'm asking is that I run a consignment business, so every sale has to be split between my commission and the amount owed to my client.

Because of that, importing every individual transaction creates a lot of extra work. I was wondering whether it's legally acceptable (for MTD and bookkeeping purposes) to record monthly totals instead, as long as they reconcile to the eBay payouts and I keep the detailed eBay reports as supporting records.

MyAccountantOnline · Jun 30, 2026

Anastasija Prohorova said:
Thanks for your reply.

I'm not VAT registered. The reason I'm asking is that I run a consignment business, so every sale has to be split between my commission and the amount owed to my client.

Because of that, importing every individual transaction creates a lot of extra work. I was wondering whether it's legally acceptable (for MTD and bookkeeping purposes) to record monthly totals instead, as long as they reconcile to the eBay payouts and I keep the detailed eBay reports as supporting records.

MTD for Income tax requires digital links have a read here https://www.gov.uk/guidance/use-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax/create-digital-records

A business making retail sales can record daily gross takings instead of every order but not monthly totals.

GLAbusiness · Jun 30, 2026

Just seen this on my FreeAgent

Product Update26 Jun 26

Etsy and eBay are now live on Equali

You can now sync orders, invoices and sales data from Etsy and eBay with Equali (just like you already can with Shopify and Amazon).

Learn more about Equali(opens in new window)

LPB 123 · Jun 30, 2026

Deleted

Daybooks · Jul 1, 2026

MyAccountantOnline said:
Without going off topic on this too much as I know the question is about MTD for Income Tax - one really common mistake I see as an accountant when people use spreadsheets, is not taking into account fees deducted on ebay sales etc. It's not the amount you get paid which is turnover - it's the gross sale before deduction of fees.

Funnily enough I’ve seen that same mistake made with users of online cloud software. How can that be?

MyAccountantOnline · Jul 1, 2026

Daybooks said:
Funnily enough I’ve seen that same mistake made with users of online cloud software. How can that be?

I specifically referred to spreadsheets as they were mentioned in this discussion. Just wanted to help someone avoid making a common mistake.

Of course the same error can happen using cloud software if transactions aren't imported correctly.

My point was simply that, with spreadsheets, I see people quite often recording the net eBay receipt as turnover and overlooking the fees, whereas good cloud integrations tend to reduce that particular risk.

Daybooks · Jul 5, 2026

MyAccountantOnline said:
Of course the same error can happen using cloud software if transactions aren't imported correctly.

My point was simply that, with spreadsheets, I see people quite often recording the net eBay receipt as turnover and overlooking the fees, whereas good cloud integrations tend to reduce that particular risk.

Equally off topic but hopefully addressing the point you wanted to raise:

This is only the tip of the iceberg. By way of example QuickBooks’ continuing VAT miscalculation shows cloud software can get it wrong just as easily as any spreadsheet and QuickBooks USA’s recent move to force payroll‑tax payments through the same portal as payroll runs - is both incorrect and operationally absurd.

It is and must always be the bookkeeper who decides and takes responsibility and when software takes that responsibility away from the user it undermines accountability and becomes dangerous as high‑profile court cases have shown.

Accounting knowledge and reconciliation will always be the key; yet cloud systems tend towards encouraging a dangerous complacency by presenting results as authoritative and unquestionable; this can lead to errors often going unnoticed and throws off-guard the user’s responsibility for checking the output.

You may not see the spreadsheet user with such accounting knowledge who may spot and correct issues before they become problems, which is in stark contrast to online systems where errors often go unnoticed or cannot be corrected because they are systemic. Online systems seem to be becoming a liability.

Believe in Cloud as the panacea at your peril. They both are but mere tools.

Newchodge · Jul 5, 2026

Daybooks said:
Equally off topic but hopefully addressing the point you wanted to raise:

This is only the tip of the iceberg. By way of example QuickBooks’ continuing VAT miscalculation shows cloud software can get it wrong just as easily as any spreadsheet and QuickBooks USA’s recent move to force payroll‑tax payments through the same portal as payroll runs - is both incorrect and operationally absurd.

It is and must always be the bookkeeper who decides and takes responsibility and when software takes that responsibility away from the user it undermines accountability and becomes dangerous as high‑profile court cases have shown.

Accounting knowledge and reconciliation will always be the key; yet cloud systems tend towards encouraging a dangerous complacency by presenting results as authoritative and unquestionable; this can lead to errors often going unnoticed and throws off-guard the user’s responsibility for checking the output.

You may not see the spreadsheet user with such accounting knowledge who may spot and correct issues before they become problems, which is in stark contrast to online systems where errors often go unnoticed or cannot be corrected because they are systemic. Online systems seem to be becoming a liability.

Believe in Cloud as the panacea at your peril. They both are but mere tools.

I used Quickbooks a number of years ago. To me it was an accounts package, based on N American accounts models, and absolutely not fit for purpose for payroll. For example it would not accept 0 entries for certain data. A new starter on payroll who had been employed prior to their new job, the system would not accept 0 as their previous tax deducted, even though they had earned below the threshold. I was told to 'work around' by stating £0.01. Not a major issue but, to me, utterly unacceptable, but Quickbooks was not interested in resolving it.. I stopped using them for that reason. All software has 'quirks'. Using software blindly may be dangerous. That was not Cloud, by the way.

Trycashpilot · Jul 24, 2026

Coming back to Anastasija's question from a few weeks ago since it never got a direct answer. Two separate things worth splitting (usual caveat, I'm not an accountant, so verify with one or with HMRC's guidance):

1. For consignment selling, what counts as YOUR turnover matters more than the recording method. Whether it's your commission or the gross sale determines both the 50k qualifying income test and what your digital records need to capture. Worth pinning that down first.

2. On monthly totals: the digital records rules give retail businesses an election to record daily gross takings, but monthly summaries specifically don't qualify. So reconciling monthly to eBay payouts, however tidy, wouldn't meet the requirement as described.

KeithGreen · Jul 24, 2026

There are exemptions from MTD of course, and worth checking with HMRC. e.g. partnerships are currently exempt, as are foster carers. In fact foster carers have a temporary exclusion blanket which covers ALL income sources in the current tax year.

chenmichael · Aug 16, 2026

Freakzilla said:
Hey Guys,

Has anyone set this up yet? If so what software are you using? I've looked at it and I haven't got a clue. I sell on ebay, etsy and TikTok Shop

Thanks

If you’re selling across eBay, Etsy and TikTok Shop, I’d start with an accounting tool that can pull the sales data from all three rather than trying to manage each separately. The main thing is getting fees, refunds and payouts reconciled properly.

davidleo7557 · Aug 19, 2026

Anastasija Prohorova said:
Thanks for your reply.

I'm not VAT registered. The reason I'm asking is that I run a consignment business, so every sale has to be split between my commission and the amount owed to my client.

Because of that, importing every individual transaction creates a lot of extra work. I was wondering whether it's legally acceptable (for MTD and bookkeeping purposes) to record monthly totals instead, as long as they reconcile to the eBay payouts and I keep the detailed eBay reports as supporting records.

Monthly totals may be fine if they reconcile properly to the eBay reports and you keep the detailed records. I’d just confirm the treatment with an accountant given the consignment/commission split.

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