What’s New in BrightManager: MTD Features That Transform Practice Management

We’ve released the MTD tools practices have been asking for. Here’s how they help you manage quarterly compliance at scale.

The MTD Scale Challenge (And Why We Built These Features)

When Making Tax Digital arrives in April 2026, a practice managing 100 affected clients suddenly faces 400 additional quarterly filing deadlines annually. That’s the reality driving our latest BrightManager updates.

The challenge isn’t handling quarterly filings for one client, it’s managing them for dozens or hundreds simultaneously without:

• Spending hours on repetitive record updates

• Losing track of who needs what and when

• Your team drowning in manual task creation

• Missing deadlines because they’re not systematically tracked

Traditional practice management approaches such as spreadsheets, manual processes, memory-based systems don’t scale to meet continuous quarterly deadlines across an entire client base.

That’s why we’ve built MTD-specific capabilities directly into BrightManager, transforming it into your “MTD Command Centre.”

What’s Live Now in BrightManager

What we’ve built:

A bulk update feature that lets you select multiple clients (10, 50, 100+) and update their records simultaneously rather than clicking through individual files one at a time.

What you can bulk update:

• Flag clients by MTD income thresholds (£50k, £30k, £20k) to identify cohorts

• Enable MTD Quarterly Filing and Final Declaration services across your entire applicable client base

• Update pricing structures to reflect additional quarterly work

• Assign team members to handle both quarterly filing and annual declaration workloads

• Preview all changes before applying to prevent errors

Why this matters:

What previously required hours of repetitive data entry from opening individual client files, to updating fields, saving, moving to the next client, now takes minutes. This isn’t just about efficiency; it makes MTD management actually feasible at practice scale.

A practice preparing 100 clients for MTD used to mean 100 separate client updates. Now it’s one bulk operation.

Where to find it:

Client List > Select clients > “Bulk Update”

What we’ve built:

Intelligent task automation that generates quarterly filing tasks automatically based on each client’s service setup dates and HMRC deadlines.

How it works:

• Enable MTD services for a client (via bulk update or individually)

• Configure service dates in the client file

• BrightManager automatically generates quarterly tasks tied to HMRC periods

• Email templates pre-populate for requesting client records

• System handles both traditional annual self-assessment and new quarterly obligations simultaneously

Why this matters:

You don’t need to manually create 400 quarterly filing tasks across 100 clients. The system does it automatically, ensuring nothing falls through the cracks. Your team can focus on actual compliance work rather than administrative task management.

Even for practices that pride themselves on organisation, the volume of quarterly deadlines makes manual tracking unsustainable. Automation isn’t nice to have—it’s essential.

How to activate it:

After enabling MTD services (via bulk update), configure service dates in individual client files to activate automatic task generation.

What we’ve built:

Advanced filtering that lets you segment and communicate with clients based on their MTD status and qualifying income.

What you can do:

• Filter clients instantly by income thresholds (£50k, £30k, £20k)

• Identify which clients enter MTD in Phase 1 (2026) vs Phase 2 (2027) vs Phase 3 (2028)

• Plan systematic rollouts rather than trying to onboard everyone simultaneously

• Target communications to specific cohorts

Why this matters:

Not all your clients enter MTD at once. The phased thresholds mean you need to implement strategically, focusing on 2026 clients now while planning for 2027 and 2028 cohorts.

Smart segmentation prevents the chaos of trying to onboard your entire client base simultaneously. You can phase implementations, manage team workload, and give each cohort proper attention.

What we’ve built:

Engagement letters that automatically populate with MTD service descriptions when you add Quarterly Filing or Final Declaration services to a client’s service list.

What gets auto-populated:

• Clear descriptions of quarterly filing obligations

• Final declaration requirements

• Associated fee structures for additional services

• Compliance timelines and responsibilities

Why this matters:

You can quickly generate updated engagement letters that clearly scope MTD services without manually writing descriptions for each client. The pre-populated content can be customised to match your practice’s tone while saving significant preparation time.

Proper engagement letters are essential for managing client expectations and protecting your practice. This feature ensures they’re comprehensive without being time-consuming to produce.

The Complete Workflow: How It All Works Together

Here’s what MTD preparation looks like in practice with these new features:

Step 1: Identify Your MTD Cohort

Use BrightManager’s filters to see exactly which clients have qualifying income over £50,000 (or the appropriate threshold for your planning timeline).

Step 2: Bulk Enable Services

Select multiple clients, whether that’s 10 or 100+, and use “Bulk Update” to enable MTD services, update pricing, assign staff members, and preview all changes before applying.

Step 3: Configure Individual Timing

While bulk update handles service enablement, you configure service start dates in individual client files. This activates automatic task generation and lets you stagger implementations if needed.

Step 4: Let Automation Take Over

From here, BrightManager automatically generates quarterly tasks as deadlines approach, tracks progress, and maintains oversight of all MTD obligations across your practice.

Step 5: Monitor from Your Command Centre

Use the centralised view to see compliance status across your entire client base. Check who’s current, who needs attention, what deadlines are approaching.

What This Means for Your Practice

Complete visibility replaces guesswork: See all MTD obligations across your entire client base from a single dashboard rather than tracking them in spreadsheets.

Workflows scale without breaking: Managing MTD for 100 clients becomes a matter of bulk operations rather than exponentially increasing administrative time.

Professional standards are maintained: Automated task generation and comprehensive tracking create the audit trail required for professional liability protection.

Teams can focus on value-added work: When administrative overhead is automated, your team has capacity for actual compliance work and advisory services that clients value.

What’s Coming Next

These features are just the beginning. Our development roadmap includes additional MTD capabilities launching through 2026! Stay tuned for more information.

Not using BrightManager? Learn more about it here.

This content may have been developed with the assistance of AI tools. Content is reviewed by a member of the Bright team before publication. Guidance on legislation can be obtained from your industry body.