What HMRC actually says about “approved” MTD software, and how to check

“HMRC approved” is not how HMRC describes software to you

Look around and you will see “HMRC approved” on vendor sites and comparison guides. It is worth knowing that HMRC's taxpayer guidance does not say it. Nowhere in HMRC's GOV.UK guidance on choosing MTD software does the word approved appear. The word does turn up behind the scenes: developers complete HMRC's ‘Production Approvals Checklist’ and pass its testing and functionality checks to get access to HMRC's live systems. That is a step for connecting to those systems. HMRC's guidance mostly says “compatible”. Where it names the status, the word is recognised: its taxpayer guide says “Choose recognised software”, its 12 August 2026 press release says updates “need to be sent through HMRC-recognised software”, and its developer terms say “Do not use terms like ‘accredited’ or ‘approved’”.

HMRC is explicit about the limit of what recognition means: “All software listed has been through HMRC's recognition process. HMRC does not recommend any product or software provider.” The finder carries its own warning: “HMRC does not recommend any specific product and is not responsible for availability or whether the software meets a particular current or future need. All software has passed HMRC's recognition process.” We could not find a published HMRC definition of recognition. HMRC's developer guide says only products meeting its minimum functionality standards, alone or combined with other software, feature on its software choices page. We also found no HMRC explanation of how “all software has passed” squares with listing products in development. Recognition is not an endorsement.

HMRC's developer terms say software makers must not claim or imply their software is “HMRC approved”. The permitted phrase is “HMRC recognised”, and only after a product has completed HMRC's formal recognition process. So do not read “HMRC approved” as meaning recognised. Check the product in the finder, and see below for what a listing can and cannot tell you.

The table you remember has gone

For years, GOV.UK published a browsable table of compatible software you could scan. On 31 July 2025 HMRC removed it. The page's update history for that day says: “The table of software listings has been removed.” In its place is a finder tool: you can answer a few questions about your income and get a filtered list, or browse everything it lists and filter it yourself.

This matters because it quietly changed what “check the HMRC list” means. There is no table to scan. If someone points you at an old list, it is exactly that: old. For Income Tax, the current source is the finder, and it gives a different answer depending on who is asking.

If HMRC has signed you up to Making Tax Digital itself, which it says it does from September 2026 onwards, its guidance sends you to the same finder to pick software.

What the finder actually returns

So we ran it. On 6 November 2026 the route that lists all software, for sole traders and landlords combined, showed 165 results in random order, which HMRC's finder says is for fairness. On 21 July 2026 the question route, answering as a self-managing landlord with UK property income, no other income or items to report, on a standard 6 April to 5 April accounting period, returned 100 results, 28 of them with a free version. We have not re-run that route since, so those two figures are from July.

A list that long is not one you can eyeball. The useful questions sit on top of recognition, not inside it, and the finder gives you filters for some of them.

Some cautions on those numbers. They come from different routes on different dates, so do not compare them. The 165 covers sole traders as well as landlords, so check the income sources on each entry. The finder changes as software is added and removed. And since 13 July 2026 an update note on HMRC's guidance page has said products in development are listed in the finder, so a product being there does not by itself mean it is ready. The results list we loaded on 6 November 2026 did not use the words “in development”, “planned” or “coming soon”, though we did not open each entry's features section. Read its features and their availability, and ask the provider what works today.

How to check any product yourself, in a few minutes

The finder is at GOV.UK, free, and needs no sign-in. It opens by asking how you want to search, and gives you three routes.

1. 1

   Find software based on your answers

   Answer a few questions about your income, and it returns a personalised list. This is the landlord route we used on 21 July 2026.

2. 2

   Show all available software, then filter

   See everything the finder lists and narrow it yourself. Good if you want to browse rather than be guided. This is the route that showed 165 results for sole traders and landlords combined on 6 November 2026.

3. 3

   Check if your current software is compatible

   Give the product’s name. This is the one to use when a vendor claims to be recognised. If the finder cannot find a product by name, treat it as not on HMRC’s list for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, whatever its marketing says, and ask the provider. Being in the finder does not by itself mean a product is ready for you: an update note on HMRC’s guidance page says products in development are listed too, and we found no HMRC explanation of how that squares with "all software has passed". Read its entry too.

Once you have a list, HMRC lets you filter it. These are the filters we noted on the list route on 6 November 2026, and they are a fair checklist of what to look at once a product is on the list:

• Price (free version)
• Type of software (digital records, or bridging software)
• Making Tax Digital for VAT
• Accessibility
• Welsh
• HMRC Assist

On 21 July 2026 the question route also offered “Ready for quarterly updates and tax return”. Each entry shows its price, type, income sources (sole trader, UK property, foreign property) and submission type (quarterly updates, or quarterly updates and tax return), plus a section on features and their availability. Compatible software can be a single end-to-end product or a set of linked products, including bridging software that connects to a spreadsheet, but you can only use one product for each submission to HMRC. We could not find an HMRC explanation of exactly what the submission type label checks, so use it as a starting point and ask the provider whether the product handles your digital records, quarterly updates and tax return.

Where we stand, honestly

A fair question to put to any vendor writing this is: are you on the list? No. LetSort is not HMRC recognised and is not on its software list. On 29 October 2026 HMRC gave LetSort production access, which lets it connect to HMRC's live systems. That does not make it HMRC recognised or put it on HMRC's list. HMRC's developer terms say software makers must not claim or imply their software is HMRC approved, so we do not.

As at 6 November 2026 no filing has gone through LetSort's live service, by a landlord or by us. One live connection test reached HMRC, and HMRC refused the next step because that account was not signed up for Making Tax Digital. The full filing journey has only run in HMRC's test environment. LetSort covers UK property income only.

HMRC's press release of 12 August 2026 says quarterly updates need to be sent through HMRC-recognised software. The regulations say “functional compatible software” (SI 2026/336 reg 3). LetSort is not recognised or listed, so if you need to file now, choose a product from HMRC's finder and check it is available now. We will update this post if any of this changes.

We would rather tell you that than claim a status we do not hold.

Common questions

Sources

The product counts are our own, from HMRC's finder: the list route walked on 6 November 2026 and the question route run on 21 July 2026 for the landlord profile described above. Re-run it for today's figures. The quoted wording is from HMRC's guidance, announcements and Developer Hub, last checked 6 November 2026.

• HMRC: Choose the right software for MTD for Income Tax (the recognition wording, the removed table and the 13 July 2026 update note (last updated 13 July 2026))
• HMRC: Find software that works with MTD for Income Tax (the finder guidance (published 31 July 2025))
• HMRC: the software finder tool (the tool itself; the source of the 165 figure (6 November 2026), the 100 and 28 figures (21 July 2026) and the warning quoted above)
• GOV.UK: check what to do if HMRC has signed you up (HMRC sign-ups from September 2026; use the finder)
• HMRC developer hub: MTD for Income Tax end-to-end service guide (Production Approvals Checklist, minimum functionality standards and compatible software (last updated 15 September 2026))
• HMRC developer guide: Prepare for MTD (minimum functionality standards and the software choices page)
• HMRC Developer Hub: terms of use (the ban on claiming "approved" and when "HMRC recognised" may be used)
• HMRC press release, 12 August 2026 (updates "need to be sent through HMRC-recognised software")
• SI 2026/336, regulation 3 (the legal term, "functional compatible software")
• HMRC: Making Tax Digital taxpayer guide ("Choose recognised software" (undated))

Related

• What actually happens when your software files an MTD update
• HMRC rebuilt its losses API in June. Software still on the old version will fail when you record 2026-27 losses