MTD-Specific Onboarding: Your Six Steps to Making Tax Digital Compliance
MTD-Specific Onboarding: Your Six Steps to Making Tax Digital Compliance
Release: v1.0.53
When you first sign in, you'll see an onboarding checklist in your dashboard. This checklist now maps directly to the critical path for Making Tax Digital (MTD) compliance as a UK landlord. Each step is automatically marked complete as you provide the required information — there's nothing to dismiss manually.
Work through the steps in order. Each one unlocks the next stage of your MTD journey.
Step 1 — Add Your National Insurance Number
Where: Dashboard → Settings → HMRC tab
Deep link: /dashboard/settings?tab=hmrc
Your National Insurance Number (NINO) is a mandatory identifier required by HMRC for all MTD submissions. Without it, no quarterly return can be filed.
- Navigate to Settings → HMRC.
- Enter your National Insurance Number in the format
AB 12 34 56 C. - Save. The checklist step is marked complete automatically (
hasNino = true).
Step 2 — Connect Your Letting Agent (AgentOS)
Where: Dashboard → AgentOS
Deep link: /dashboard/agentos
The platform connects to the AgentOS API to import your landlord record, including managed properties and financial transactions. You must authorise this connection before any data can flow in.
- Navigate to AgentOS.
- Follow the authorisation flow to link your AgentOS landlord account.
- Once linked, the checklist marks this step complete (
agentLinked = true).
Step 3 — Import Your First Properties
Where: Dashboard → AgentOS
Deep link: /dashboard/agentos
With your AgentOS account connected, you can pull in your managed properties. These form the basis of your income and expense records.
- From the AgentOS page, trigger a property import.
- Review the imported properties to confirm they are correct.
- The checklist advances once at least one property is present.
Step 4 — Categorise Transactions
Where: Dashboard → Transactions
Deep link: /dashboard/transactions
Imported transactions need to be assigned to the correct MTD income and expense categories before they can be included in a quarterly submission.
- Open the Transactions page.
- Work through uncategorised items and assign each one to the appropriate HMRC category (e.g. rental income, repairs & maintenance, letting agent fees).
- The checklist reflects progress as transactions are categorised.
Step 5 — Connect Your HMRC Account
Where: Dashboard → HMRC
Deep link: /dashboard/hmrc
You must grant the platform permission to communicate with HMRC on your behalf via the Making Tax Digital API. This uses HMRC's OAuth flow and is required before any submission can be made.
- Navigate to HMRC.
- Select Connect to HMRC and sign in with your Government Gateway credentials.
- Approve the requested permissions.
- On return, the checklist marks this step complete (
hmrcConnected = true).
Note: The HMRC connection uses your National Insurance Number (Step 1) as part of the authorisation. Complete Step 1 first.
Step 6 — Compute Your First Quarter
Where: Dashboard → Submissions
Deep link: /dashboard/submissions
With properties imported, transactions categorised, and HMRC connected, you are ready to generate and review your first quarterly summary.
- Navigate to Submissions.
- Select the relevant quarterly period.
- Review the computed income and expense figures.
- Submit to HMRC.
- The checklist is fully complete once your first quarter has been computed (
firstQuarterComputed = true).
Checklist Completion Detection
The onboarding checklist tracks real account state — you do not need to tick anything off manually. The completion flags are:
| Flag | Set when |
|---|---|
hasNino | A valid NINO is saved in HMRC settings |
agentLinked | AgentOS account authorisation is confirmed |
hmrcConnected | HMRC OAuth connection is active |
firstQuarterComputed | At least one quarterly submission has been computed |
Property import and transaction categorisation completion is inferred from the presence of imported property and categorised transaction records.