For years, spreadsheets have been the backbone of small business bookkeeping. And it’s easy to see why, because they’re cheap, accessible, and, generally speaking, get the job done.

However, with the arrival of Making Tax Digital, sticking with spreadsheets alone and avoiding MTD software could be your biggest compliance risk.

Because, as of 6 April 2026, MTD for Income Tax applies to self-employed people and landlords with qualifying gross income above £50,000 for the 2024/25 tax year. And the scale of the change is significant, with HMRC estimating that over 860,000 sole traders and landlords need to adapt to digital tax reporting from that date.

In this article, we’ll explore the reasons MTD software is so important, why spreadsheets alone aren’t sufficient anymore, and how to stay compliant in 2026 and beyond.

Why spreadsheets alone are no longer enough

Under the new MTD rules, you can’t keep your accounting figures in Excel and type them into HMRC’s website once a year.

Instead, MTD for income tax requires two key things:

1. Digital records of your income and expenses, kept throughout the year
2. Quarterly updates submitted to HMRC through compatible software.

On top of this, at the end of the tax year, you must also use compatible software to make any necessary adjustments, include other taxable income and gains, and submit your tax return by the normal 31 January deadline. This final submission is sometimes referred to as the Final Declaration. This means that a standalone spreadsheet, however well-organised, can’t submit your data to HMRC in the way the rules now require.

This is mostly because the information has to travel digitally, which is where many businesses come unstuck.

The role of MTD bridging software

This doesn’t mean you have to abandon your spreadsheets entirely. Instead, if your records are thorough and you’d rather not switch to a full accounting package, MTD bridging software offers a middle ground.

MTD bridging software connects suitable spreadsheet records to HMRC-compatible services so that the required information can be submitted digitally. This may let you retain much of your existing bookkeeping process, although the spreadsheet, bridging software and digital links must all be set up correctly at the outset. As a result, for methodical business owners with well-kept spreadsheets, it can be effective.

However, the caveat: bridging software only works if your spreadsheet is in good shape. It won’t fix formula errors, spot missing transactions, or organise data. You must avoid these. The bridging software just passes on whatever figures are there, so if your spreadsheet is a mess, the tool will simply submit a mess.

The hidden risks of relying on spreadsheets

Spreadsheets carry risks that can go unnoticed until something goes wrong. And under MTD, with more frequent submissions, those risks are even higher than before.

Here are the main issues we see from Leeds businesses:

Manual errors

Every figure you type by hand has the potential to be incorrect. This is important because a wrong cell or broken formula can throw off your entire submission and land you in hot water with HMRC.

No automation

Spreadsheets can’t pull in bank feeds or categorise expenses automatically, so everything relies on you keeping information accurate and up to date. Some sole traders struggle with this, as do landlords and other eligible business owners.

No deadline reminders

Most bridging tools won’t alert you when a quarterly update is due, so you have to track every deadline yourself. This leads to issues for smaller business owners or sole traders who aren’t used to keeping up with these kinds of official deadlines so frequently.

Any one of these problems can lead to an inaccurate submission, and inaccurate submissions can lead to penalties with HMRC. And when you’re submitting four times a year rather than once, which is the case under MTD, the chances of something going wrong are considerably higher than before.

MTD penalties to be aware of

When it comes to MTD, the penalty system operates on a points-based model, similar to the one already used for VAT.

Here’s how it works:

• Every missed quarterly update or Final Declaration deadline is a penalty point.
• Once you reach four points, HMRC issues a £200 penalty.
• Individual penalty points normally expire after 24 months if you haven’t hit the penalty threshold. Once the threshold has been reached, the points don’t simply expire automatically: the taxpayer must meet the required period of compliance and bring outstanding submissions up to date.
• Late payment penalties are separate, starting from day sixteen after the due date and escalating if the tax remains unpaid after thirty days.

To help people get used to the new rules, penalty points won’t be issued during the 2026/27 tax year for quarterly updates submitted within a month of the deadline. However, this grace period doesn’t cover the Final Declaration or payment penalties.

This means that adherence to the deadlines is important, and a badly set-up spreadsheet or an overreliance on spreadsheets might become a roadblock.

How to choose MTD compatible software that suits you

The good news is that you have options when it comes to choosing the right MTD compatible software. Let’s look at two of the most popular.

The first is full cloud accounting software, such as Xero or QuickBooks. These replace your spreadsheet and handle record-keeping and submission in the same place. They also have features like bank feeds, automatic expense categorisation, and reminders. These can all go a long way to reducing the manual workload of spreadsheets and the risk of error.

What’s more, your accountant can log into any of these accounts and support you directly, which, again, improves your chances of getting things right.

The second option is keeping your spreadsheet and pairing it with MTD bridging software. This suits people whose records are already well-organised and who prefer the familiar system of using their spreadsheets. It may have a lower initial software cost, but the total amount will depend on the bridging product, the quality of the records and the amount of checking or professional support required to keep things ticking along.

For most growing businesses in Leeds and beyond, we tend to recommend full accounting software as the safer choice. The automation usually pays for itself in saved time and reduced risk, particularly as MTD for income tax becomes more commonplace, and the demands more frequent.

How to make the MTD software switch

If all of this feels daunting, it doesn’t have to be. Making the move away from spreadsheet dependence is far easier when you approach it methodically and give yourself enough time.

Here are a few sensible steps:

• Confirm whether the rules apply to you by checking your qualifying income against the thresholds.
• Request a handful of demos to whittle down your software shortlist. This gives you the freedom to choose one that suits your business.
• Decide on your MTD software early, whether that’s full accounting products or a spreadsheet plus MTD bridging tool.
• Open a dedicated      bank account so your records stay clean and separate from personal spending.
• If you have already entered MTD, review your first quarter before its submission deadline and correct any weaknesses in the process. If your mandatory start date is April 2027 or April 2028, carry out a trial quarter in advance.

Above all, don’t leave getting ready until the last minute. The businesses that prepare early find the transition smooth, but the ones that wait may face a stressful challenge when their first deadline looms.

Don’t let spreadsheets be your downfall: get the right MTD software

Spreadsheets have served smaller businesses well for decades, and they still have their place. However, relying on them alone under MTD rules is a risk that could lead to errors, missed deadlines, and penalties.

Whether you move to full accounting software or keep your spreadsheet supported by an MTD bridging tool, the important thing is to act now rather than later.

At UWM, we’ve spent years helping Leeds businesses navigate exactly this kind of change. As such, our specialists can guide you through MTD options and set you up with a system that takes the risk and the stress, out of the process.

And whatever route you choose, the message is simple. Don’t let a spreadsheet you’ve trusted for years become a huge risk to your business. Because a little bit of preparation now might just save you a great deal of trouble down the line.

This article was written by

Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have no stock, option or similar derivative position in any of the companies mentioned, but may initiate a beneficial Long position through a purchase of the stock, or the purchase of call options or similar derivatives in FIX over the next 72 hours. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Seeking Alpha’s Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.

Shares of fertiliser companies bucked the overall muted market sentiment and rallied up to 13% on Tuesday after Russian President Vladimir Putin assured India of uninterrupted fertiliser supplies.

Fertilisers and Chemicals Travancore (FACT) shares sharply rallied 13% to cross Rs 887 apiece on Tuesday morning, while Rashtriya Chemicals and Fertilisers (RCF) shares surged around 8%. Paradeep Phosphates shares rallied over 7%, while Chambal Fertilisers & Chemicals shares gained around 4%.

Russia assures India of uninterrupted supply of fertilisers

Russia on Monday assured India of uninterrupted supply of energy and fertilisers amid disruption caused by the Middle East conflict, as External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar met President Vladimir Putin. “We are doing everything we can to fully meet the needs of Indian farmers and the agricultural sector, increasing these supplies and standing ready to continue doing so,” Putin was quoted as saying by the state-run TASS news agency during his meeting with Jaishankar.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi looks forward to meeting you at the SCO summit, then welcoming you in India for the BRICS Summit, and in due course, as per your mutual convenience, having the annual summit…So, we have, Excellency, I think a very strong picture of cooperation,” Jaishankar said.

The Russian President highlighted that Jaishankar’s visit underscored the level of relations Russia and India had built over decades. He said cooperation was underway in virtually all areas, including at the level of the two governments, parliaments and businesses, according to TASS.

Also read |India buys its most expensive LNG in years as war upends market

Govt’s higher spending on fertiliser subsidy

The elevated global prices of finished products and LNG have led to the government using up around 56% of the annual fertiliser subsidy in less than five months into the new financial year 2026-27, the Times of India reported.The higher spending, at Rs 99,000 crore, is being seen as an indication that the overall expenditure on fertiliser subsidy is set to cross the estimate of Rs 1.77 lakh crore in FY27, the report further said, adding that a large chunk of the subsidy is being spent on imports and domestic production of urea.

Notably, this comes after India’s production and imports of NP/NPK fertilisers fell sharply in the April-June quarter, as the Middle East conflict inflated prices of key raw materials, raising concerns over nutrient availability for the ongoing crop sowing season. Production of these complex fertilisers fell 28% YoY to 19.2 lakh tonnes from 26.64 lakh tonnes a year earlier, while imports slipped 48.5% to 4.9 lakh tonnes from 9.54 lakh tonnes, said industry officials, citing data from the Fertiliser Association of India (FAI).

In April, the government approved a 10-21% hike in nutrient subsidy rates for the 2026 kharif season, taking total subsidy outlay to Rs 41,534 crore. However, fertiliser manufacturers say the revision has been overtaken by subsequent increases in global input costs.

Also read | India’s fertiliser imports, production plunge as West Asia war drives costs

(With inputs from agencies)

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times.)

The character of a business often shows up in small decisions.

Who does it want to serve? What should customers experience? Which standards are non-negotiable? And what happens when the business starts to grow?

Those questions help explain the development of Honnas Veterinary.

Dr. Cheri Honnas founded the Austin, Texas, veterinary practice in 2023. It was a career objective that gave her an opportunity to put her own ideas about veterinary care into practice.

Rather than defining the business through one feature, Honnas Veterinary was built around several connected priorities. Accessibility mattered. Inclusivity mattered. The clinic environment mattered. So did maintaining a high standard of care.

“We believe in inclusivity and a high standard of vet care for all,” Honnas Veterinary says.

In a little more than two years, those principles have moved from an early business plan into a growing veterinary organization.

What Was the Goal Behind Honnas Veterinary?

Becoming a veterinarian and owning a veterinary practice are two different career challenges.

One is centered on practicing medicine. The other adds hiring, operations, customer experience, leadership, and the responsibility of defining how an organization works.

For Dr. Honnas, starting a practice created the chance to shape those elements around a clear purpose.

That purpose was “to provide excellent and accessible vet services from a welcoming clinic in the heart of Austin.”

The practice opened in 2023 and carries Dr. Honnas’ own last name.

That personal connection is fitting. Building the business meant putting a professional reputation behind the standards the practice wanted to represent.

Those standards would soon influence decisions throughout the clinic.

Turning Professional Values Into Everyday Decisions

Business values can easily become words on a website.

The harder task is making them visible.

At Honnas Veterinary, accessibility is one example. The practice offers a free new patient exam, giving Austin pet owners another way to begin establishing veterinary care for their animals.

The clinic is also female-owned and locally owned.

Inclusivity is another stated priority.

Rather than viewing a welcoming environment as separate from veterinary medicine, Honnas Veterinary has made it part of how the practice defines good service.

Its stated objective remains “excellent and accessible vet care.”

That provides a simple standard against which everyday business decisions can be considered.

Why Honnas Veterinary Focuses on the Clinic Environment

Physical surroundings are another part of the Honnas Veterinary model.

The practice operates from a state-of-the-art clinic in the heart of Austin. Honnas Veterinary describes its combination of priorities as “compassionate care and beautiful facilities.”

That wording says something about the larger business philosophy.

A veterinary clinic has a functional purpose, but function is not the only thing clients experience.

People notice whether a space feels welcoming. They notice how their animals react. They also remember how they felt during an appointment that may have involved uncertainty or concern.

Honnas Veterinary’s Fear Free certified staff adds another layer to this approach.

It reflects attention to the fear, anxiety, and stress animals may experience around veterinary visits.

In this model, the surroundings and experience are not intended to replace medical standards. They support the broader way the practice wants to deliver care.

What Happens When a Values-Led Business Grows?

Honnas Veterinary soon faced a different question: how do those values work at a larger scale?

The practice now has five doctors and sees more than 1,500 patients each month.

“We have grown significantly in just over two years,” Honnas Veterinary says.

Growth changes the work of a founder.

Early on, a business owner can influence nearly every part of an organization directly. As a team expands, the founder’s ideas have to become shared standards.

That is where culture becomes important.

A welcoming environment cannot depend entirely on Dr. Honnas. Neither can accessibility, inclusivity, or compassionate service. Those ideas have to become recognizable across a larger practice.

Honnas Veterinary has also received award nominations during this period of development.

The larger test, however, is maintaining consistency as more patients and professionals become part of the organization.

What Can Entrepreneurs Learn From Dr. Cheri Honnas?

The career story behind Honnas Veterinary offers a practical lesson about entrepreneurship.

Not every business needs to be built around disrupting an industry.

Sometimes leadership means having clear professional standards and creating an organization where those standards can be applied consistently.

Dr. Honnas started with ideas about the kind of veterinary environment she wanted to create. She then connected those ideas to tangible choices involving the clinic, accessibility, certification, ownership, and culture.

The numbers came later.

Five doctors and more than 1,500 patients per month show how much the organization has changed since 2023. But scale is only one measure of its development.

The deeper leadership challenge is preserving the principles that existed before that growth.

For Honnas Veterinary, the guiding idea remains “a high standard of vet care for all.”

That makes its story less about one big idea and more about dozens of smaller decisions.

Together, those decisions turned professional values into a working business.

A British start-up based on a west London trading estate is to help the American government build a fleet of nuclear-powered cargo ships. A public private partnership between the US Maritime Administration and Core Power, which is based in Chiswick Park, was signed in Washington DC on Monday.

The agreement, the first of its kind, aims to accelerate construction of a US-flagged fleet of rapid nuclear-powered merchant vessels, and to revive a US shipbuilding industry that has been decimated by cheaper competitors from China in recent years.

Core Power says it has raised 200 million dollars from backers including Mitsui, Mitsubishi and Sumitomo, a trio of Japanese conglomerates, to help it develop the nuclear technology. It is targeting first construction of its nuclear propulsion systems in 2028, and will work with traditional shipbuilders to make the vessels’ hulls.

“China is already moving toward nuclear-powered commercial shipping,” Mikal Boe, chief executive of Core Power, said. “America does not regain maritime strength by building a better version of yesterday’s ship. Government can set the direction and co-ordinate; private industry must move the money and the steel. We are honoured to be working with the US Maritime Administration on this landmark programme.”

The company behind the deal

Core Power was founded in 2018 by Boe, a Norwegian shipping and commodities executive. In 2024, the most recent year for which its accounts are available, it made an operating loss of £19.4 million and employed 41 people. Its British arm, Core Power (UK) Ltd, is registered at an address on Chiswick High Road and last filed accounts made up to 31 December 2024, according to Companies House.

The partnership follows an initiative launched in May by Sean Duffy, the US transportation secretary, under which the Maritime Administration issued a request for information on small modular reactors for commercial shipping alongside the US Coast Guard, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Department of Energy. That call for industry input closed on 5 August.

Stephen Carmel, administrator of the Maritime Administration, said: “President Trump has made it clear that American energy dominance and maritime strength go hand in hand. This framework ensures that the United States leads the world with a secure US-flagged fleet.”

Why nuclear shipping has never taken off

Nuclear power has been used for decades in military submarines, but it has struggled to gain traction in commercial shipping, partly because of high costs but also safety concerns. Its proponents have argued that advances in the design of onboard nuclear reactors have improved safety, while the sheer power of nuclear-powered ships could offset the higher build costs.

Boe estimated that nuclear-powered vessels could move up to 75 per cent faster than traditional fossil fuel-powered ships, carry more cargo and be exempt from costly environmental taxes. Russia, through its use of nuclear-powered icebreakers, is currently the nation with the largest nuclear shipping fleet.

Regulation and financing of this nascent industry remains a hurdle, but the US government said it would work with Core Power to develop an “actionable commercial pathway”, including providing clarity on how insurance of nuclear-powered ships will work.

“Nuclear propulsion is a serious commercial opportunity, but it must be approached as a complete system: safe, secure, licensable and investable,” Carmel said.

What it means for British business

Nothing in the agreement lands directly on a UK balance sheet. The vessels will be US-flagged, the hulls will be built by shipbuilders working with the American government, and the jobs that follow will sit in American yards. What sits in west London is the design work and the intellectual property, which is a familiar pattern for British engineering firms that scale by selling into someone else’s industrial programme.

The freight economics matter more. Companies that import or export by sea have already seen how quickly a change in shipping conditions feeds through to their costs, with Red Sea disruption pushing container prices and delivery times up sharply for UK exporters and manufacturers. Boe’s claims about speed, capacity and tax exemption, if they hold, would change that calculation. They are claims about ships that do not yet exist, however, and the first propulsion systems are not due to be built until 2028 at the earliest.

There is a supply chain point too. Britain has been building an industrial base around compact reactors, from Newcleo’s plan to raise £900 million for a fleet of small reactors to Holtec’s choice of South Yorkshire for a mini-reactor factory. The engineering, fabrication and licensing skills that a maritime reactor programme needs overlap heavily with the ones those projects are already competing for, which is a recruitment problem for smaller suppliers and an opportunity for firms that can get qualified early.

For now, the practical test is regulatory rather than technical. Until insurers, flag states and port authorities agree how a commercial reactor at sea is licensed and covered, no cargo owner can plan around it.

---

Shares of Entero Healthcare Solutions rallied as much as 6% to their day’s high of Rs 1,625 on the BSE on Tuesday after Prashant Jain-owned 3P Investment Managers acquired a 2.5% stake in the healthcare product distribution and supply chain platform through open market transactions on August 24. With today’s gain, the stock is up 15% in two sessions.

The 3P India Equity Fund 1M and 3P India Equity Fund 1 schemes, managed by 3P Investment, bought 10.88 lakh shares of Entero Healthcare for Rs 104.99 crore. The acquisition represents 2.5% of the company’s paid-up equity, stock exchange data showed.

The shares were purchased from Prasid Uno Family Trust at Rs 1,377.8 apiece.

Surbhi Singh, through Prasid Uno Family Trust, held a 10.45% stake, equivalent to 45.5 lakh shares, in Entero Healthcare as of the June 2026 shareholding pattern.

Entero Healthcare Q1 results

Faridabad-based Entero Healthcare Solutions reported a 38% year-on-year increase in consolidated revenue from operations to Rs 1,940.5 crore for the quarter ended June 30, 2026, compared with Rs 1,403.8 crore in the year-ago period.

Consolidated profit after tax (PAT) rose 72% year-on-year to Rs 52.1 crore, while profit before tax (PBT) increased 85% to Rs 67.1 crore. Profit attributable to owners of the company grew 37% year-on-year to Rs 38.2 crore.
The company’s operating performance also improved during the quarter, with EBITDA rising 94% year-on-year to Rs 97 crore. EBITDA margin expanded to 5% from 3.6% in the corresponding quarter last year.Entero said the MedTech market is large and growing, and has synergies with its pharmaceutical distribution business. It also sees significant consolidation potential in the segment, with distributors playing a high value-add role and having a higher margin profile than distributors in the pharmaceutical market.

The company’s existing MedTech business and acquisitions focus on the IVD and Cardiology/Orthopaedic devices segments, which it described as large and high-growth. The company has outlined these factors as the strategic rationale for its MedTech acquisitions.

Entero Healthcare share price performance

Entero Healthcare shares have gained more than 21% over the past month and around 32% so far this year. Over the past six months, the stock has climbed nearly 50%.

(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, views and opinions given by the experts are their own. These do not represent the views of The Economic Times)