Methods

What this is

An independent, anonymous pooled benchmark run by MTD Pulse. Contributors are self-selected, so results are not a representative sample of all UK practices. We show the number of firms on every figure.

What we collect

Per firm, per quarterly-update period: firm type, staff (FTE), MTD ITSA clients and how many were MTD-ready, quarterly updates due, filed by the deadline, filed late and not filed because of HMRC or software failure, main software, typical minutes per update, fee per MTD client per year and fee basis, region, client mix, and optional failure codes. Fees are historic only (already charged, ex-VAT).

Cleaning

• One firm × one period; the latest complete submission wins.
• Hard checks reject impossible values (e.g. more updates filed than due). Unusual values are held and queried; if unresolved after 14 days they are excluded. We never fill in missing values.
• Excluded responses are counted and reported.

Segments and statistics

MTD client bands 1–24 / 25–99 / 100–299 / 300+, firm type, region, client mix and software. We publish the median and the middle 50% (25th–75th percentile). Fees are rounded to £5 and percentages to whole numbers.

Timing

Each wave opens shortly before an HMRC quarterly deadline and closes about 23 days after it. Results publish 30 days after the deadline. Corrections are recorded in a public change log, never made silently.

Suppression rules

• A figure needs at least 5 distinct firms; otherwise it rolls up to a broader group.
• Dominance: hidden if one firm contributes more than 50% of the group's updates or clients.
• Complementary suppression: a second figure is hidden if the first could be worked out by subtraction.
• Groups of 5–9 firms show the median only. We never show a minimum, maximum or any single firm's value. Counts are shown as bands (5–9, 10–24, 25+).
• Software failure rates need at least 5 firms per product, are labelled “agent-reported, unverified”, and vendors have a right of reply.
• The Issue Board lists a problem only once at least 5 firms report it.

Competition law

Data is aggregated, historic and anonymised. MTD Pulse makes no price recommendations and does not set or suggest prices.

Vendors

Vendors cannot pay for rankings and never see raw data. To respond to a figure, email mtdpulse.research@gmail.com.

Change log

No changes yet.