Bart is officially HMRC-approved for MTD Income Tax

What HMRC production approval means

Building MTD software involves two stages with HMRC. First, you develop and test against HMRC's sandbox environment, a safe testing space that mirrors the real API without touching live taxpayer data. Once your software meets HMRC's requirements, you apply for production credentials, which allow you to make real submissions on behalf of real users.

We've now completed that process. Bart has been granted production access to HMRC's MTD for Income Tax APIs, and we're listed on HMRC's official software finder as approved MTD Income Tax software.

That listing is the official confirmation. If you're ever asked whether Bart is genuinely HMRC-compatible, you can point directly to it.

Why this matters for you

MTD for Income Tax isn't optional for sole traders earning over £50,000. From April 2026, you're legally required to use HMRC-recognised software to keep digital records and submit quarterly updates. Using software that isn't production-approved means your submissions won't reach HMRC, and you'll be exposed to penalty points.

Bart's production approval means:

• Your submissions go directly to HMRC. When you tap 'Submit' in Bart, your quarterly update is sent to HMRC's live systems via our approved API connection.
• You're covered for compliance. Using Bart counts as using HMRC-recognised software, which is what the law requires under MTD.
• Your data is handled correctly. Production access comes with obligations around data security and API usage, requirements we've met to receive approval.

Verify it yourself

You don't have to take our word for it. HMRC maintains a public list of approved MTD for Income Tax software products. You can find Bart's listing directly on the HMRC website:

That page is maintained by HMRC, not by us: it's the authoritative source for whether a piece of software is genuinely approved for MTD Income Tax submissions in production.

What comes next

With production approval in place, our focus now is on Quarter 1: your first quarterly update covers 6 April to 5 July 2026, and the deadline to file is 5 August. Bart will have everything ready well before then.

If you haven't signed up yet, now is the right time to get set up. Bart imports your transactions from 6 April, so nothing from Quarter 1 is lost, even if you're starting today.