How to price your MTD for income tax services in 2026
Key Takeaways
A three-tier service model makes pricing conversations easier. Bronze, Silver and Gold let clients self-select how much work they hand over, so the fee is tied to a level of involvement they've actively chosen.
The tier alone doesn't reflect the real workload. Two clients on the same tier can differ wildly, so the calculator layers in transaction volume and number of income streams to price the actual time each client demands.
Only the new quarterly layer needs pricing here. MTD for IT pricing should cover ongoing record-keeping, categorisation, review and submission – the final tax return and year-end adjustments stay in your existing compliance fee.
The calculator is fully editable, not prescriptive. Tier names, variables and rates can all be changed to match your cost base and market, giving clients a clear, itemised breakdown without buying separate proposal software.
Income stream coverage can be a hidden cost advantage. A single Dext Solo licence covers up to five income streams, whereas providers that charge per stream can effectively double the cost for clients with both trading and property income.
Pricing for MTD for Income Tax is one of the questions practices are grappling with right now. These clients, sole traders and landlords, are often price-sensitive, and the additional work involved varies considerably from one client to the next. Charging a flat fee across the board risks either undercharging for complex clients or losing simpler ones who feel the price isn't justified.
Dext has put together a MTD pricing proposal calculator for 2026 to give practices a structured way to think through this, and it is being shared with partners as a downloadable spreadsheet while a built-in version is developed.
What the calculator is trying to do
The calculator is not designed to tell you what to charge. Every practice is different, and the right price depends on your cost base, your market, and the service level you want to offer. What it does instead is give you a mechanism to arrive at a price that is fair both for you and for your clients, and that can be explained clearly.
The starting point is a three-tier service model.
Bronze covers clients who are doing most of the data entry themselves. The accountant or bookkeeper comes in to do a final quarterly review and submits the update on the client's behalf.
Silver is a shared arrangement. Some of the work is done by the client and some by the practice.
Gold means the practice is handling everything, with minimal input required from the client.
This structure gives clients a choice and lets them self-select into the level of involvement that suits them, which makes pricing conversations easier to have.
Why the tier alone is not enough
Two clients on the same tier can represent very different amounts of work. A bronze client with 100 transactions a month requires significantly more time than a bronze client with 10. The calculator accounts for this by factoring in two key variables alongside the tier: the number of transactions per month and the number of income streams.
Transaction volume affects how long it takes to review and process each period. Income streams add complexity to both the ongoing categorisation and the submission itself, since each stream generates its own quarterly update. Setting fees for landlord clients under MTD is rarely one-size-fits-all, a client with self-employment income and a rental property is more involved than a client with a single trading income.
The calculator takes a fixed standard monthly charge as its base and then applies adjustments for each variable. The result is a monthly figure and an annual total that reflects the actual time and effort the client is likely to require, rather than treating everyone on the same tier identically.
What it is and is not covering
The calculator focuses specifically on the quarterly MTD work: the ongoing record-keeping, categorisation, review, and submission that is new under MTD for IT. It does not include the cost of preparing and submitting the final tax return, which remains part of your existing fee structure. Year-end work involving adjustments for things like dividends, pensions, or capital gains continues to sit in your compliance software and should be priced separately.
This distinction matters because MTD for IT is fundamentally about the quarterly layer, and that is the additional workload practices need to price for. The year-end return itself is not changing in the same way.
Customising it for your practice
Every field in the calculator is editable. The tier names, the variables, and the rate applied to each variable can all be adjusted to match how your practice works and what you want to charge. The spreadsheet pulls any changes through automatically, so once your inputs are set, the calculator does the rest.
The goal is to make it possible to give clients a clear, itemised view of what they are paying for and why, without needing to buy separate proposal software or build your own model from scratch.
Dext Solo pricing
For context on the software side of the cost: our MTD software Dext Solo starts at £12.50 per month for a bundle of five licences. Additional individual licences are £3.25 each, or you can add further bundles of five at the same £12.50 rate to keep the per-client cost at £2.50.
One point worth noting when comparing costs with other MTD software providers: a single Dext Solo licence covers up to five income streams. Some providers charge separately for each income stream, which can mean effectively doubling the cost for clients with both trading income and property income.
FAQs
Start with a tiered service model (such as Bronze, Silver and Gold) based on how much work the client does versus the practice, then adjust the fee for transaction volume and the number of income streams. This produces a price that reflects the actual time each client requires rather than a flat fee that over- or under-charges.
Bronze suits clients doing most of their own data entry, with the practice handling a final quarterly review and submission. Silver splits the work between client and practice, while Gold means the practice handles everything with minimal client input.
No. MTD for IT pricing should cover only the new quarterly work — ongoing record-keeping, categorisation, review and submission. The final tax return and year-end adjustments for things like dividends, pensions or capital gains remain part of your existing compliance fee and should be priced separately.
Dext Solo starts at £12.50 per month for a bundle of five licences. Additional individual licences are £3.25 each, or you can add further bundles of five at £12.50 to keep the per-client cost at £2.50, with each licence covering up to five income streams.
