MTD Bridging Software UK 2026: VitalTax vs 123 Sheets vs AbraTax — Prices Compared

Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is now live for sole traders and landlords earning over £50,000. If you already keep your records in a spreadsheet and have no intention of switching to full cloud accounting, bridging software is the most straightforward route to compliance — a lightweight tool that sits between your spreadsheet and HMRC's API, submitting the quarterly summary figures without touching anything else in your workflow. Three names come up most often in UK practitioner forums: VitalTax, 123 Sheets, and AbraTax.

This comparison covers what each tool costs, what it does well, and where it falls short. Prices are checked as of August 2026. No affiliate relationships with any of the three tools below — just an independent look at the market for people who want to spend as little as possible on MTD compliance and keep their spreadsheets exactly as they are. If you want a broader picture of all HMRC-recognised options before drilling into bridging tools specifically, start with our guide to the best MTD software for UK sole traders.

Not sure which MTD software you need? Compare all HMRC-recognised options side by side.

See the full MTD software comparison →

What is MTD bridging software?

Under MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA), HMRC requires you to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates of your income and expenses through recognised software — four times a year instead of once in January. Bridging software satisfies that requirement by sitting between your existing spreadsheet and HMRC's MTD API. You keep your records in Excel, Google Sheets, or whatever you use. The bridging tool reads your summary figures and transmits them to HMRC. HMRC never sees your underlying spreadsheet.

The alternative is full cloud accounting software — Xero, QuickBooks, FreeAgent, Zoho Books — which manages bookkeeping end-to-end, including the HMRC submissions. Bridging software is cheaper, far simpler to set up, and purpose-built for people who already have a workable spreadsheet setup and have no appetite for learning new platforms. It is not a workaround or a temporary fix: HMRC has explicitly recognised bridging tools as a long-term compliance route, and that confirmation was repeated at Accountex London 2026 by HMRC officials on the record.

For a full explanation of what HMRC-recognised actually means — and how it differs from tools that just claim to be "MTD-ready" — see our “MTD-Ready” vs “HMRC-Recognised” guide.

Quick comparison: VitalTax vs 123 Sheets vs AbraTax

Prices as of August 2026. 123 Sheets: first-year introductory rate; list price on renewal is approximately £39.50 + VAT. VitalTax and 123 Sheets prices exclude VAT. AbraTax Individual plan at £50/year — confirm current terms at checkout.

VitalTax: the Excel add-in for committed spreadsheet users

VitalTax is the deepest Excel integration of the three tools. Once you install the add-in from Microsoft AppSource or the VitalTax website, a new tab appears in your Excel ribbon. You authorise HMRC via Government Gateway once, then map your spreadsheet cells to the relevant HMRC submission fields — total turnover, staff costs, premises costs, travel, advertising, and so on. When a quarterly deadline approaches, you open Excel, update the figures, and click Submit. The add-in handles the API call to HMRC and retrieves a tax calculation showing your estimated Income Tax and National Insurance liability for the year to date.

The tool is listed on HMRC's official register of compatible software and available through Microsoft AppSource. It supports self-employment income, UK property income, and foreign property income all under a single licence per NI number.

What it costs

• 1 NI number: £30 + VAT (£36 all-in) per year
• 5 NI numbers: £72 + VAT per year (~£14.40 per client)
• Unlimited NI numbers: £198 + VAT per year

Each licence covers all four quarterly updates and the Final Declaration for every NI number included. No per-submission charges. Licences run for a full tax year from purchase.

Best for

VitalTax is the right choice if you want the most frictionless Excel experience. Once cell-mapping is set up, submission takes two clicks. For accountants managing large volumes of Excel-using clients, the unlimited licence at £198 + VAT is the most cost-effective at scale — at 20 clients you're paying less than £10 per client per year. Solo traders who already track income and expenses in Excel and want the cheapest HMRC-recognised compliance route will also find it hard to argue with £36 a year.

Limitations

The constraint is absolute: VitalTax requires Microsoft Excel. Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice — none are supported. There is no mobile app, which matters for sole traders who manage finances on the go. The support team is small, and a handful of AccountingWEB forum reports mention occasional failures with the add-in loading or false "HMRC unavailable" messages during HMRC maintenance windows. These appear infrequent rather than chronic, but turnaround time on support queries has occasionally been flagged as slow.

123 Sheets: the low-cost option with the broadest spreadsheet compatibility

123 Sheets is a web-based platform that has quietly become one of the most widely-used bridging tools in UK practice. More than 50,000 entities are currently filing through it, and several top-15 UK accountancy firms use it for client submissions. Unlike VitalTax, it works with any spreadsheet application — Excel, Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice, Open Office — which makes it the practical choice for accountants whose client base is not uniformly on Microsoft Office.

The platform holds ISO27001 certification and Cyber Essentials Plus accreditation — independently audited security standards that matter for practices handling client data under GDPR. Data in transit is encrypted, and 123 Sheets stores only the summary figures HMRC requires, not the underlying financial records.

What it costs

• Year-one rate: £19.75 + VAT (~£23.70 all-in) per taxpayer
• List price (from year two): approximately £39.50 + VAT (~£47.40 all-in) per taxpayer
• Licence validity: licences purchased now run to 30 June 2027, covering the full 2026/27 tax year
• Optional 123 Sheets bookkeeping spreadsheet: additional £40 + VAT (one-off) if you want their template rather than your own

Best for

123 Sheets is the strongest value-for-money option for sole traders who want the cheapest legitimate route to MTD compliance and are not committed to any particular spreadsheet application. At £23.70 all-in for year one, it undercuts VitalTax (£36) and AbraTax (£50) by a clear margin. It is also the natural choice for accountants who manage a mixed spreadsheet environment — 123 Sheets handles Excel and non-Excel clients from a single accountant account without additional licensing headaches. If your client base currently uses paper records or PDF exports, 123 Sheets also accepts manually typed figures, giving you an upgrade path without forcing a software change on resistant clients.

Limitations

The browser-based upload workflow is less seamless than VitalTax's direct add-in. There is no mobile app. HMRC's software directory rates 123 Sheets at 5 out of 16 Final Declaration return items — adequate for straightforward affairs but lower than VitalTax (9/16) or AbraTax, so clients with complex returns (additional income sources, capital gains, PAYE alongside self-employment) may need supplementary software for the year-end declaration. The year-one pricing is compelling; the renewal price of ~£47.40 all-in is closer to VitalTax's rate and worth factoring into multi-year budgeting conversations with clients.

AbraTax: the template-based tool with the strongest agent workflow

AbraTax takes a different approach from the other two. Rather than a direct spreadsheet connection or Excel add-in, it provides downloadable templates for each income source — self-employment, UK property, foreign property — which you link to your existing records using spreadsheet formulas, then save as CSV and upload to the AbraTax platform for submission. One extra step in the process, but a richer dashboard experience in return: filing confirmations, HMRC submission receipts stored as an audit trail, estimated tax positions after each quarterly update, and — for practices — a client approval workflow that requires client sign-off before anything goes to HMRC.

AbraTax was HMRC-recognised ahead of the April 2026 mandate and ran a free beta from late 2025. The first filing is still free for new accounts with no card required, making it the most risk-free tool to test of the three here.

What it costs

Individual self-filers:

• Individual (1 person): £5/month or £50/year
• Family & Groups: £8/month or £80/year
• Extended: £20/month or £200/year

Agents and accountants (annual plans, per client):

• 1–10 clients: £20 per client per year
• 11–25 clients: £18 per client per year
• 26–50 clients: £16 per client per year
• 51–100 clients: £14 per client per year

A pay-as-you-go agent plan is also available at £4/client/quarter (Basic) or £11.50/client/quarter (Pro), the latter including additional team workflow features. An introductory 50% discount on annual agent plans was available for sign-ups before 31 July 2026 — check current pricing at checkout.

Best for

AbraTax is the right choice for bookkeepers and accountants who want built-in workflow controls — client approval steps before submission, a consolidated dashboard, and a digital audit trail. For agents handling 20+ clients, the annual per-client pricing (£14–20/client/year) is competitive. For individual sole traders wanting to test before committing, the free first filing removes financial risk entirely.

It is also the only tool here that works cleanly for Google Sheets users through its CSV upload route without any Excel conversion step. The template approach for foreign property income is more guided than the other tools, which is useful for landlords with overseas property. Our guide to property accounting tools for UK landlords covers the full range of landlord-specific software options.

Limitations

AbraTax is the most expensive option for a sole trader filing for themselves — £50/year against VitalTax's £36 and 123 Sheets' first-year £23.70. The extra cost buys workflow tools that most self-filers do not need. The template-upload process adds steps to each quarter compared to VitalTax's direct add-in or 123 Sheets' straightforward upload. As a newer market entrant relative to 123 Sheets, which has a multi-year VAT filing track record, the user community and forum presence is smaller — fewer AccountingWEB threads to benchmark problems against.

Annual cost comparison at a glance

All prices ex. VAT except AbraTax Individual (£50/year stated as all-in). VitalTax unlimited licence used for 25-client scenario. 123 Sheets year-one pricing used; renewal rates are higher. Verify current rates with each provider before purchasing.

Bridging software and receipt capture: filling the gap

Bridging software handles the submission layer. It does not capture receipts, categorise expenses, or reconcile bank statements — that part of the workflow remains your responsibility. If sorting income and expenses from a bank statement takes you two or three hours per quarter, that time cost is unchanged by any of the three tools above.

Pairing bridging software with a dedicated receipt capture tool is a common approach for sole traders who want MTD compliance and organised records without switching to a full cloud accounting platform. Dext integrates with most spreadsheet workflows — you can export categorised expense totals from Dext into an Excel file, which a bridging tool then submits to HMRC. Receipt Bot is the lower-cost alternative with per-document pricing, suited to sole traders with lower transaction volumes. Our full receipt capture comparison covers both in detail.

The right pick for your situation

• You live in Excel and want the fastest possible submission: VitalTax. The add-in integration is seamless once set up, and £36/year is hard to argue with for committed Excel users.
• You use Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, or LibreOffice: 123 Sheets (cheapest) or AbraTax (better workflow tools). VitalTax does not support non-Excel spreadsheets.
• You want the cheapest possible first-year cost: 123 Sheets at £23.70 all-in, by a clear margin.
• You're a bookkeeper with 10–25 Excel-using clients: VitalTax's unlimited licence at £198 + VAT undercuts per-client pricing from any of the three tools at that volume.
• You're an accountant who wants a client approval workflow: AbraTax — the only one of the three with built-in client sign-off before submission and a multi-client dashboard.
• You want to try before committing: AbraTax — first filing is free, no card required.
• You have landlord clients with foreign property income: AbraTax handles this most cleanly with dedicated templates. VitalTax and 123 Sheets both support it; check HMRC's software finder for current coverage specific to your clients' income types.

Frequently asked questions

Is bridging software a temporary solution for MTD?

No. HMRC has confirmed that bridging software is a permanent, legitimate compliance route — not a workaround or a stop-gap until everyone migrates to cloud accounting. An HMRC official at Accountex London 2026 stated on the record that spreadsheet-based records are valid under MTD as long as quarterly submissions are made through recognised software. The suggestion that bridging tools will be phased out comes from cloud software vendors with a commercial reason to promote migration, not from HMRC.

Do I need separate bridging software for VAT and Income Tax?

Potentially. VitalTax, 123 Sheets, and AbraTax all offer both VAT and Income Tax submissions, but they are typically licenced and priced separately. Check whether your existing VAT bridging software also covers MTD for Income Tax before purchasing a second subscription — it is often cheaper to add the Income Tax module from the same provider than to introduce a second tool.

What is the next quarterly submission deadline?

Q1 of the 2026/27 tax year (6 April–5 July) was due 7 August 2026. Q2 (6 July–5 October) falls due on 7 November 2026. No penalty points apply during 2026/27 under the MTD ITSA soft landing, but the habit of filing on time needs to be in place before the points-based penalty system begins in 2027/28.

Which tool supports the Final Declaration (the Self Assessment replacement)?

All three support the Final Declaration in principle. VitalTax has 9 out of 16 HMRC return items covered (August 2026 data). AbraTax has broader coverage. 123 Sheets covers 5 out of 16 items — adequate for straightforward affairs but check HMRC's software finder for your specific income sources, particularly if clients also have PAYE income, savings interest, or capital gains alongside trading or property income. Our What Is Making Tax Digital guide explains how the Final Declaration fits into the annual MTD cycle.

Can my accountant submit quarterly updates on my behalf using bridging software?

Yes. All three tools support agent submissions. VitalTax's unlimited licence covers any number of clients from a single account. 123 Sheets offers accountant accounts for multi-client filing. AbraTax has the most developed agent experience, with a dedicated multi-client dashboard, per-client approval workflows, volume pricing, and support for multiple ASA agent accounts.

Related Reading

• Best MTD Software for UK Sole Traders (2026): The Complete Guide — all HMRC-recognised options compared, including free tools and full cloud accounting
• “MTD-Ready” vs “HMRC-Recognised”: What Every UK Sole Trader Must Know in 2026 — the difference between a marketing claim and verified HMRC status, with the key questions to ask before choosing software
• Best Receipt Capture Software for UK Bookkeepers (2026) — tools to pair with bridging software for a complete quarterly compliance workflow

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