So what is MTD? In short, if your business is VAT registered, it will need to file VAT returns directly from MTD compatible software. Within the software, there should be a digital record of business income, business expenses and ideally (although not essential) the business bank account transactions.

MTD becomes mandatory for all VAT registered businesses for the first VAT return period starting on or after 1 April 2022, so if you have a VAT return quarter ended 30 April, your first MTD VAT return would be the quarter ended 31 July 2022.