How to Set up CCH iFirm MTD for Income Tax
Overview
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax introduces the requirement for sole traders and landlords from April 2026 with a turnover over £50,000, expanding to those earning over £30,000 from April 2027 and over £20,000 from April 2028 to keep records in digital form and file their quarterly submission, perform their end of year adjustments and final declaration via compatible software.
Our priority is to support Advisors, and their Clients, by delivering an MTD for Income Tax solution that supports the full MTD requirement. This Get Started guide documents how to work with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax within CCH iFirm ( via CCH Central).
Checklist: How to Sign Up
Accountant Sign up
You will need an agent services account to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. Find out how to create an agent services account with HMRC if you do not have one. Create an agent services account (ASA) for your tax agent firm to use certain HMRC services.
Single ASA per practice
- HMRC requires only one ASA per practice.
- This ASA is used for all MTD services, including:
- MTD for VAT
- MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (ITSA)
- Trust Registration Service (TRS)
You’ll need:
- Your Government Gateway user ID and password. If you do not already have them, you can create the sign in details from the sign in page
- the Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) for your tax agent firm
- the postcode associated with your UTR
- your company registration number, if you have one
- your VAT registration number, if you have one
- your National Insurance number and date of birth to confirm your identity if you’re a sole trader or business partnership
- your National Insurance number and date of birth to confirm your identity if you’re a Limited Liability Partnership (in some cases)
- the name of your anti-money laundering supervisory body, membership number and renewal date
Client Sign up
Your client needs the user ID and password they got when they signed up for Self Assessment.
They may be asked to provide further proof of their identity to use this service. They can do this by:
- using an app on their mobile phone to match a photo of their face to their passport or driving licence
- answering questions about information HMRC already hold about their identity — for example, passport, credit reference, driving licence, Self Assessment, latest P60, or a recent payslip
Sign Up Now>
Client Authorisations for MTD for Income Tax
Add your client authorisations for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax - GOV.UK
Important note
- You’ll still retain access to your HMRC Online Services account for clients not using MTD.
- If you stop working with a client, you must remove their authorisation in both your ASA and HMRC Online Services account
How to Authorise CCH iFirm MTD for Income Tax with HMRC
Ensure that your practice has obtained the authorisation token before proceeding to the next step.
This is a one-time authorisation with HMRC and is valid for an 18-month period.
See the steps above under " How to Authorise CCH iFirm MTD for Income Tax with HMRC"
Prerequisites
- Must have the Latest version of CCH Central installed
- Your practice has subscribed to CCH iFirm MTD for Income Tax
- In CCH Central, a new task permission #Client#LaunchiFirmMTDfIT has been created to allow firms to select which employees can access MTDfIT.
Note: Without this permission you won't be able to launch MTDfIT. - .Net 8.0 runtime installed ( This is available via our CSI installer > Tools Install)
- Ensure that the 'CCH iFirm Console' Central service is running and signed in
- Ensure the user can access CCH iFirm
Note: You need to have signed up/subscribed to MTD for Income Tax on HMRC’s website, otherwise you will not be able to authorise CCH iFirm with HMRC. The revenue have produced a short video to guide you through the process (see below).
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Video: Watch this video to find out how to sign up your client for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax |
Useful Information! The authorisation with HMRC is expected to last for an 18-month period (so you do not need to regularly repeat it). However, if HMRC introduce any new APIs/services, then this may require CCH iFirm to be authorised again.
Please note: You need to have signed up your client and be authorised to act on their behalf for MTD for Income Tax, otherwise you will not be able to view their quarterly submission obligation in CCH iFirm.