QuickBooks and Landlord Studio are both HMRC-recognised and both live for MTD quarterly submissions. They are nonetheless designed for different clients. QuickBooks is a general cloud accounting platform that covers sole traders, landlords, VAT-registered businesses, and more. Landlord Studio is a property management and accounting platform built exclusively for landlords, with no self-employment coverage but a permanently free entry plan and purpose-built tools that general accounting software does not offer.
This article draws exclusively on each provider's own published pages, verified primary sources, and HMRC's published guidance, all current as at July 2026. Prices are stated exclusive of VAT unless noted otherwise.
The MTD for Income Tax Mandate: The Essentials
Making Tax Digital for Income Tax became mandatory on 6 April 2026 for sole traders and landlords with combined qualifying gross income above £50,000 in the 2024 to 2025 tax year. The mandate extends to those with qualifying income above £30,000 from April 2027, and above £20,000 from April 2028.
Qualifying income is gross income from self-employment and UK and foreign property combined, before deductions. PAYE employment income, dividends, savings interest, and capital gains do not count toward the threshold. Qualifying taxpayers must keep digital records, submit four quarterly updates due by 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, and 7 May each year, and file a Final Declaration by 31 January. HMRC has paused penalty points for late quarterly submissions during 2026 to 2027. Financial penalties for late Final Declarations apply from April 2026.
QuickBooks and MTD
HMRC Recognition and Plan Structure
QuickBooks Online is HMRC-recognised for MTD for VAT and MTD for Income Tax across all five paid UK plans: Sole Trader Plus (£10/month), Simple Start (£16/month), Essentials, Plus, and Advanced. Every paid plan supports the full MTD ITSA workflow including digital records, quarterly updates, and the Final Declaration. Source: quickbooks.intuit.com/uk/pricing, June 2026.
Sole Trader Plus is explicitly designed for sole traders and single-property landlords with trading income under approximately £90,000. Landlords with more than one property, with VAT registration, or with payroll requirements should use Simple Start or above.
Income Types and MTD Scope
QuickBooks covers UK property income, self-employment income, and foreign property income within a single subscription. For landlords who also run a sole-trade business, this is the primary structural advantage of QuickBooks over Landlord Studio: both income streams can be covered under one platform and both sets of quarterly updates submitted from one provider.
Important: QuickBooks requires a separate account for each income source. A landlord who also operates a sole-trade business must maintain two QuickBooks accounts and submit quarterly updates from each separately.
MTD for VAT
MTD for VAT is available on Simple Start (£16/month) and above. Sole Trader Plus does not include VAT submission. Landlord Studio has no VAT submission capability at any tier. For VAT-registered landlords, QuickBooks Simple Start is the relevant entry plan.
What QuickBooks Does Not Offer
QuickBooks has no tenancy management, compliance tracking, per-property profit reporting, maintenance management, tenant portal, compliance certificate reminders, or any other property-specific management tools. It is a general accounting platform and should be supplemented with property management software if those features are needed.
Accountant Tools
QuickBooks Online Accountant provides a centralised multi-client agent-level filing dashboard. Accountants managing client billing receive a 50% discount on Sole Trader Plus subscriptions. A 30-day free trial is available.
Landlord Studio and MTD
HMRC Recognition: Confirmed 30 March 2026
Landlord Studio was officially confirmed as HMRC-recognised Making Tax Digital compatible software on 30 March 2026, announced via a press release on its own website. The press release confirms that the new functionality enables UK landlords to submit quarterly updates directly through Landlord Studio's platform. This is a clean, unambiguous confirmation with no live submission uncertainty.
The Three Plans: Go, Pro, and Pro Plus
Plan summary: Go plan: free permanently for up to 3 units (MTD submissions included). Pro plan: £12/month (billed monthly), additional units at £1/unit/month. Pro Plus plan: £24/month (billed monthly), additional units at £1/unit/month. Annual billing saves approximately 20% on Pro and Pro Plus. A 14-day free trial of Pro is available with no credit card required. MTD quarterly submissions and the Final Declaration are included at no extra cost on Pro and Pro Plus.
The Go plan is genuinely and permanently free for up to 3 units, with no time limit and no billing. It includes income and expense tracking, Smart Scan receipt capture, a tenant portal, maintenance management, tenancy tracking, and MTD quarterly submissions. Bank feeds, AI-assisted bookkeeping, Xero integration, and advanced reporting require the Pro plan.
What Landlord Studio Covers for MTD
Landlord Studio covers UK property income for MTD quarterly updates and the Final Declaration. It supports any number of properties and ownership structures. Landlord Studio's own published pages explicitly state that it does not handle VAT, self-employment income, or multi-currency accounting, and that for landlords with self-employment income, HMRC allows the use of two separate software solutions, with Landlord Studio handling the property MTD submissions and QuickBooks or Xero handling the self-employment submissions.
Joint Ownership and Co-ownership MTD
Landlord Studio natively supports joint ownership, partnerships, and limited company structures. Landlords can set ownership percentages per property, and Landlord Studio calculates each owner's reportable income based on their share, with separate MTD submissions available for each owner from a single account.
Property Management Features
Landlord Studio includes property management tools across all plans, including the free Go tier, that QuickBooks does not offer at any price:
Tenant portal for maintenance requests and payments (all plans)
Maintenance management and tracking (all plans)
Smart Scan AI receipt capture (all plans)
Tenancy management including applications and screening (all plans)
Compliance reminders for certificates and lease renewals (all plans)
Automated bank feeds and AI-assisted bookkeeping (Pro and above)
Xero integration for full accounting depth (Pro and above)
Advanced financial reports, 20 plus report types (Pro and above)
The Xero Integration
Landlord Studio integrates natively with Xero on Pro and Pro Plus plans, syncing all transactions from Landlord Studio into Xero automatically. This allows landlords who need full double-entry accounting, nominal ledger, balance sheet, or VAT submission to use Landlord Studio for property management and MTD property submissions, while using Xero for the broader accounting and self-employment MTD submissions.
Accountant Partner Programme
Landlord Studio operates a dedicated Accountant Partner Programme for accounting firms managing landlord clients through MTD. Accountants can access client accounts directly and support quarterly submissions. This is a different model from QuickBooks Online Accountant, which provides a centralised multi-client dashboard, but it provides a supported workflow for accountancy practices with landlord-heavy client books.
Side-by-Side Comparison
All data is from each provider's own published pages, verified as at July 2026.
Feature | QuickBooks | Landlord Studio |
|---|---|---|
HMRC MTD ITSA recognition | Yes, confirmed, all paid plans | Yes, confirmed 30 March 2026 |
MTD live submission status | Live and confirmed | Live and confirmed |
Product category | General cloud accounting platform | Property management and accounting platform |
Self-employment income | Yes, all plans | No. Landlord Studio's own pages confirm this explicitly |
UK property income | Yes, all plans | Yes, core use case, all plans |
Foreign property income | Yes, UK-resident landlords | Records foreign property; MTD submission confirmed for property income broadly |
VAT submission | Yes, Simple Start and above | No |
Joint ownership MTD | Manual via tracking categories | Automated, per-owner submissions from one account |
Free plan | No; 30-day free trial only | Yes, Go plan free for up to 3 units, permanently |
Entry-level paid price | £10 + VAT/month (Sole Trader Plus) | £12/month (Pro, billed monthly) |
MTD cost on entry plan | Included in all paid plans | Free on Go plan; included on Pro and Pro Plus |
Bank feeds | Yes, all paid plans | Pro and Pro Plus only (not Go) |
AI receipt capture | Yes, all plans | Yes, Smart Scan on all plans including Go |
Tenancy management | No | Yes, all plans |
Compliance reminders | No | Yes, all plans |
Tenant portal | No | Yes, all plans |
Maintenance management | No | Yes, all plans |
Xero integration | No (separate platforms) | Yes, Pro and Pro Plus |
Mobile app | Yes, iOS and Android | Yes, iOS and Android, mobile-first design |
Accountant portal | Yes, QuickBooks Online Accountant, centralised dashboard | Yes, Accountant Partner Programme, account-level access |
Separate accounts for mixed income | Yes, required per income source | Not applicable; property only. Use Xero or QB alongside for self-employment |
Accounting depth | Full double-entry on Simple Start+; cash basis on Sole Trader Plus | Cash basis; Xero integration adds full accounting depth |
Single-property landlord entry cost | £10 + VAT/month | Free (Go plan) |
Prices exclude VAT. Always verify current pricing directly with each provider and on the HMRC compatible software register at tax.service.gov.uk before advising clients.
Pricing: A Direct Comparison
For non-VAT-registered property-only landlords
Landlord Studio Go is free for up to 3 units with MTD submissions included, making it the only free confirmed-live MTD platform in this comparison. QuickBooks has no free plan; the entry point is £10 per month. For landlords with 1 to 3 properties and no self-employment income or VAT registration, Landlord Studio Go provides full MTD compliance at no cost.
For landlords with self-employment income
Landlord Studio does not cover self-employment income and its own pages recommend using a second platform such as QuickBooks or Xero for that income stream. QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus at £10 per month can cover both a single property and a sole-trade business in one account, though separate accounts are required per income source if using the same plan. For mixed-income clients, the combined cost of Landlord Studio Pro (£12/month) plus QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus (£10/month) would be £22 per month, compared with QuickBooks Simple Start at £16 per month covering both streams in one subscription.
For VAT-registered landlords
QuickBooks Simple Start at £16 per month covers MTD for VAT and MTD for Income Tax. Landlord Studio has no VAT capability; VAT-registered landlords using Landlord Studio must use a second platform for VAT.
Which Platform Is Right for Your Client?
Choose QuickBooks if your client:
Has self-employment income alongside property income and wants a confirmed, live platform covering both in one subscription.
Is VAT-registered and needs MTD for VAT alongside MTD for Income Tax from one platform.
Has a single rental property and a sole-trade business and wants the Sole Trader Plus entry plan at £10 per month.
Works with a practice using QuickBooks Online Accountant for centralised multi-client agent-level MTD filing.
Needs formal double-entry accounting, nominal ledger, or multi-currency on Simple Start and above.
Choose Landlord Studio if your client:
Has income exclusively from UK property with no self-employment income and no VAT registration.
Has up to 3 properties and wants a permanently free, confirmed-live MTD platform with no monthly subscription.
Wants purpose-built landlord tools including tenancy management, compliance reminders, and a tenant portal alongside MTD compliance.
Co-owns properties and wants automated per-owner MTD submissions from a single account without manual calculations.
Wants to connect to Xero for broader accounting depth while keeping property management and MTD submissions in a single landlord-focused platform.
The Combined Approach: Landlord Studio plus QuickBooks
Landlord Studio's own published guidance explicitly recommends using two separate MTD apps for landlords with mixed income: Landlord Studio for property submissions and QuickBooks or Xero for self-employment submissions. HMRC's system accepts quarterly updates from multiple software providers and collates them into a single tax position. This means a landlord with both income types can legitimately and compliantly use both platforms simultaneously.
For accountants advising mixed-income landlord clients, this is a workable and HMRC-supported approach. The total monthly cost of Landlord Studio Pro (£12/month) plus QuickBooks Sole Trader Plus (£10/month) is £22 per month. Landlord Studio Pro plus QuickBooks Simple Start (for VAT-registered clients) is £28 per month. Whether this dual-platform cost is justified depends on whether the landlord needs the property management depth that Landlord Studio provides; if not, QuickBooks Simple Start alone at £16 per month may suffice.
What Neither Platform Fully Resolves
Partnerships are not yet in scope for MTD for Income Tax. HMRC has not confirmed a start date.
MTD for Corporation Tax is not yet mandated. Limited company landlords are outside the scope of MTD ITSA.
Neither platform confirms automated Section 24 mortgage interest tax credit calculations within their standard MTD quarterly update workflows, based on published pages as at July 2026.
The Final Declaration covers qualifying business income but does not replace the need to declare employment income, dividends, or capital gains separately.
HMRC has paused penalty points for late quarterly submissions during 2026 to 2027. Financial penalties for late Final Declarations apply from April 2026.
Conclusion
Both QuickBooks and Landlord Studio are confirmed, live HMRC-recognised MTD platforms. The choice between them is determined by the income profile and the level of landlord-specific tooling the client needs.
QuickBooks is the right choice for landlords with self-employment income alongside property, for VAT-registered clients, and for practices that need centralised agent-level filing across a mixed client portfolio. Its single-account limitation per income source is a workflow consideration, but its income breadth and VAT coverage mean it remains the more complete single-platform solution for mixed-income clients.
Landlord Studio is the right choice for property-only landlords who want purpose-built tools, a free entry-level plan, and automated joint ownership handling alongside confirmed MTD compliance. Its recommendation to use a second platform for self-employment income is not a gap but a deliberate design choice, one that Landlord Studio's own guidance addresses directly and that HMRC explicitly supports. For accountants with landlord-heavy client books, the Accountant Partner Programme and the Xero integration make Landlord Studio a credible practice recommendation.
For landlords with both income types and a growing portfolio, the dual-platform approach of Landlord Studio plus QuickBooks, recommended by Landlord Studio itself, is a workable and HMRC-supported solution that gives the best of both platforms without compromise.
