Self-Employed Taxpayer Onboarding Now Supported
Self-Employed Taxpayer Onboarding Now Supported
Version: 1.0.290
Starting with v1.0.290, the onboarding wizard fully supports self-employed taxpayers and mixed-income users (those with both property and self-employment income). This closes a significant gap where sole traders and freelancers were incorrectly routed through a landlord-only onboarding flow.
Background
MTD ITSA applies to both landlords and self-employed individuals with qualifying income. The platform's data model has always supported a taxpayerType of landlord, self_employed, or both at the organisation level. However, prior to this release, the onboarding wizard had no logic to act on that distinction — every new user followed the landlord path regardless of their actual taxpayer type.
How Onboarding Now Works
Step: Taxpayer Type Selection
Early in the onboarding wizard, users are now asked to identify their taxpayer type:
| Selection | Description |
|---|---|
| Landlord | Receives property income from residential or commercial lets |
| Self-Employed | Sole trader, freelancer, or contractor with trading income |
| Both | Has both property income and self-employment income |
This selection is persisted immediately to the organisation record (taxpayerType field) and drives all subsequent wizard steps.
Landlord Path
Unchanged from previous behaviour. Checklist steps include connecting a letting agent, importing properties, and configuring rental income categories.
Self-Employed Path
SE-only users now receive a dedicated checklist covering:
- Connecting a self-employment income source
- Importing business transactions
- Categorising income and allowable expenses to HMRC self-employment categories
- Configuring quarterly obligation periods for the SE income source
- Navigating to the Self-Employment dashboard
Both Path
Users with mixed income receive a combined checklist that covers both the landlord and self-employment steps, sequenced to minimise setup time.
MTD Checklist Steps (mtdStatus Router)
The mtdStatus router now returns step definitions appropriate to the organisation's taxpayerType. Previously, all organisations received the landlord-centric step list. The mapping is now:
taxpayerType | Steps Returned |
|---|---|
landlord | Letting agent connection, property import, rental categories |
self_employed | SE income source connection, business transaction import, SE categories |
both | Full combined step list for both income types |
Who Is Affected
- New users signing up as self-employed or mixed-income will now see the correct onboarding flow immediately.
- Existing users whose
taxpayerTypewas not set during onboarding (because no step previously captured it) may need to confirm their taxpayer type on next login so the platform can route them correctly.