Honest comparison

MTD bridging software

Bridging software is the recognised category for a program whose job is to take figures out of a spreadsheet and submit them to HMRC without being a full accounting package. This explains what that means, what HMRC requires of it, what to ask before you buy one — and exactly where we stop.

7 free tools linked from this page · 6 with no account at all · 1 AI tools that need one

This page exists because “bridging software” is a term of art that almost nobody explains properly, and the pages that do explain it are usually selling one. We are not selling one: we cannot file, we are not on HMRC’s list, and we are not going to be by the end of this page.

So take this as the explanation rather than the pitch. What bridging software is, why the category exists, what makes one recognised, what the digital link requirement actually demands of you, and what to ask a vendor before you pay them. Then, at the bottom, the narrow thing we do for free — working out the figures — and the plain statement that it is not filing.

What bridging software actually is

Seven things worth knowing before you choose one.

It exists because spreadsheets did not go away. Making Tax Digital requires records to be kept digitally and the return to be submitted from compatible software. It does not require you to abandon the spreadsheet you have kept for fifteen years. Bridging software is the answer to that: a small program whose only job is to take figures out of a spreadsheet and send them to HMRC.
It is not a lesser category. “Bridging” describes what the software does, not how approved it is. A bridging tool that submits your return holds exactly the same recognition as a full accounting package that submits yours. There is one gov.uk list of software compatible with Making Tax Digital for VAT, and a product either is on it or is not.
Only nine numbers travel. A VAT return submission is nine figures and a period. Your invoices, your customers and your ledger do not go to HMRC. That is worth knowing before you decide how much software you need in order to file nine numbers.
The digital link is the real requirement. This is the part people get wrong, and it is the part that decides whether a bridging tool is doing its job. It is not enough for the figures to arrive at HMRC from software; the journey from your records to those figures has to be digital too. Reading a number off one screen and typing it into another is not a digital link. Linked cells, a formula, a CSV import, an API call — those are. Holding that chain together from the cell to the submission is where a bridging tool earns its fee.
HMRC has to be able to see where a submission came from. Every call to HMRC’s API carries fraud prevention headers describing the device and connection it came from. That is one reason recognition is an approval rather than a weekend project: a vendor registers, is issued credentials, passes HMRC’s tests, and then keeps meeting those requirements on every call.
It is not only VAT any more. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax works the same way for the quarterly updates a sole trader or a landlord has to send, and has its own list of compatible software. The word “bridging” is used more loosely there, but what matters is identical: software HMRC recognises, and a digital link back to the records.
What to ask before you buy one. Is it on the gov.uk list for the tax you are filing? Does it read your spreadsheet the way you actually keep it, or does it want its own template? Does the link from your records to the submitted figures stay digital the whole way? Can it read your obligations and liabilities back from HMRC, or only submit? And what happens to your spreadsheet — is it read on your machine, or uploaded to theirs?

What recognised bridging software does that we do not

One of these is the whole distinction and the rest follow from it.

It files. We do not. No amount of good arithmetic closes that gap. Our VAT tool produces the nine boxes and the working behind them, and it has no connection to HMRC of any kind. This is a static site; it sends nothing anywhere.
It is on HMRC’s list. We are not. A return has to be submitted through software HMRC has recognised. We are not recognised, we do not claim to be on any page, and every tool here that touches a return says so in its own words.
It holds the digital link. We break it. The moment you read nine numbers off our page and type them somewhere else, that is a manual transfer. If you are relying on a digital link, our figures are your working — not your filing route. We would rather be the first to say that than have you discover it in an enquiry.
It can read back what HMRC holds. Your obligations, your open periods, your liabilities and your payments. We can see none of it, so the deadlines you plan around are the ones you looked up yourself.
There is a vendor behind it. Somebody to ring when a submission is rejected at five to five on the seventh. Here there is a contact form and an honest page.

Side by side

5 rows go their way and 5 go ours, and the ones they win are printed first. Nothing in the right-hand column is a claim about any particular product’s price or features — we have no way to check those, so we do not state them.

What you need	Here, free, in your browser	Recognised bridging software
Submitting the VAT return	No. There is no connection to HMRC anywhere in this site.	Yes — that is the definition of the category.
On the gov.uk compatible software list	Not on it, and not claiming to be.	Check the list rather than the advert. It is the only thing that settles it.
Keeping the digital link from cell to submission	Broken, by us, at the point you copy the figures out.	Held, if you use it from the spreadsheet all the way to the submission.
Reading your obligations and liabilities from HMRC	No.	Commonly included; worth confirming, because not every product does.
Somebody accountable if a submission fails	A contact form.	A vendor with an obligation.
Where your spreadsheet goes	Nowhere. It is read by your own browser and nothing is uploaded.	Ask. Some read the file on your machine, some upload it to theirs.
Working the nine boxes out of your records	Standard accrual, cash accounting or the flat rate scheme, from the sheet you already keep, with the checks run over it first.	Some do the arithmetic; some expect the nine figures to be sitting in nine cells already. This is the first question to ask.
Showing what each box is made of	Click “show rows” on any box and you get the rows that made it and what each one contributed, with the box 3 and box 5 identities re-checked afterwards rather than assumed.	Varies from a full drill-down to a cell reference.
Catching a bad sheet before it is filed	Net plus VAT that does not equal gross, VAT that is not the stated rate, duplicate invoice references and rows outside the period — every one named by row number, and nothing quietly corrected.	Varies.
Quarterly updates for income tax as well	The quarterly update builder maps your own category names onto the standard headings and cuts the year into its periods. It cannot file those either.	Depends on the product and which list it is on.
Cost	Free. No account, no card, no per-return charge.	Charged per return or per year. The vendor has the figure; we will not guess at it.

When you should buy bridging software — which is probably now

If you are VAT registered, this is not a choice between us and them. It is a choice between them and them.

You are VAT registered and your records are in a spreadsheet. That is the exact case the category was invented for, and it is the cheap end of the market.
You need the chain from your records to the submitted figures to be digital. Under Making Tax Digital you do, so use one product for the whole of it.
You would rather not be the person who mistyped box 6 into a form at half past four.
You want to see your obligations and what you owe without logging in somewhere else to look them up.
Where we might fit alongside it: as the working. Produce the boxes here, open each one and check the rows behind it, then file through whatever you already use. The VAT tool says exactly that on its own page, and so does this one.

What you can do here for nothing

Everything below runs in your browser unless it is marked “free to try”, which means an AI tool with an account and a monthly allowance. None of it files anything.

Work out what has to be filed

The figures and the working. Not the submission.

VAT Return from a Spreadsheet (the nine boxes)Turn a spreadsheet of sales and purchases into the nine boxes of a UK VAT return — standard accrual, cash accounting or the flat rate scheme — with every box opened up to show the rows behind it, and the sheet checked for net-plus-VAT that does not equal gross, duplicate invoice numbers and rows outside the period. It computes the figures; it does not file them. Runs entirely in your browser.Free MTD Quarterly Update BuilderTurn the income and expense spreadsheet you already keep into the figures a Making Tax Digital quarterly update asks for. It maps your own category names onto the standard self-employment or property headings, cuts the tax year into its four quarterly periods - standard or calendar - and gives the cumulative year-to-date total alongside the standalone quarter, with every unmatched row listed by name. It produces the figures; filing them needs software HMRC has recognised. Runs in your browser.Free Making Tax Digital: Does It Apply to Me?Work out whether Making Tax Digital for Income Tax catches you, and from which April. It adds up your qualifying income the way HMRC defines it - gross income before expenses, across every trade and every property business - shows the sum, names the threshold that catches you, counts your quarterly updates, and gives you the first period and its deadline. Guidance as at 2026-09-20; gov.uk is the authority. Runs in your browser.Free

Keep the digital records behind it

Because the link has to start somewhere real.

Bookkeeping: Trial Balance, P&L and Balance SheetBring a bank statement, a sales day book or a set of journals into a real double-entry ledger and get the trial balance, profit and loss, balance sheet, VAT or GST figures and every account’s ledger back. Charts of accounts for the UK and India. Runs in your browser — a client’s books are never uploaded.Free Bank ReconciliationMatch a bank statement against the bank ledger from your books — Tally, Zoho, QuickBooks or a spreadsheet — and get the unmatched entries on each side, the matched pairs, and the closing balances explained. Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.Free Bank Statement CategoriserPaste or upload a bank statement and get every transaction categorised to a ledger head — rent, salaries, GST paid, a named customer — as a spreadsheet, or as Tally receipt and payment vouchers ready to import.Free to try Merge & Dedupe SpreadsheetsCombine up to ten Excel or CSV files into one sheet — columns matched by heading, rows stacked — then remove duplicates on the columns you choose, with every removed row listed by source file and row. Runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded.Free

Frequently asked questions

What is bridging software, in one sentence?

Software recognised by HMRC whose job is to take the figures out of your spreadsheet and submit them as a return, without being a full accounting package.

Do I still need it if I keep my books in a spreadsheet?

Yes, if you are filing under Making Tax Digital. Keeping records in a spreadsheet is allowed; submitting by hand is not. Bridging software is the recognised route from one to the other.

Is a spreadsheet still allowed at all?

The records themselves may be kept in one. What the rules bite on is the transfers: the data moving between the pieces of software involved has to move by digital link rather than by somebody retyping it. gov.uk is the authority on what counts, and on the exceptions.

Can I not just type the nine boxes into HMRC’s website?

Not under Making Tax Digital. The return goes through compatible software rather than being keyed into the VAT online account. Where an exemption has been agreed the position is different, and gov.uk is the place that settles it — not us.

Are you going to become recognised?

It is the intended next step and it is not done. Recognition means registering as a vendor, passing HMRC’s tests and meeting the fraud prevention header requirements on every call — an approval, not a feature we can write in an afternoon. Until we are on the list, every page here that touches a return will keep saying it cannot file.

How current is the guidance on this page?

What is described here is the shape of the regime rather than a set of figures. The tools that do carry figures each print the date they were last checked and link to the gov.uk page that settles them. gov.uk is the authority; this page is an explanation of it.

The authorities, rather than us

gov.uk — Use Making Tax Digital for VAT — what Making Tax Digital for VAT requires, in HMRC’s own words
gov.uk — Find software compatible with Making Tax Digital for VAT — the list of compatible software — the only thing that settles whether a product can file
gov.uk — Use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — quarterly updates, periods and the Final Declaration for income tax
gov.uk — Find software compatible with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — the compatible software list for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
gov.uk — Check if you are eligible for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — whether income tax reporting catches you yet, and from when