How to file a VAT return from a spreadsheet

If you keep your VAT records in Excel or a CSV, you don't need to move to accounting software to comply with Making Tax Digital. You need a small piece of "bridging software" that reads the figures from your spreadsheet and submits them to HMRC digitally. Here's how the whole process works.

1. Keep digital records

MTD requires your VAT records to be kept digitally — a spreadsheet counts, as long as the figures flow into your return without manual retyping. The totals for each VAT period should be in your sheet as formulas or entered values: VAT due on sales, VAT reclaimed on purchases, total sales and purchases excluding VAT.

2. Connect your software to HMRC

Bridging software connects to your HMRC account through the Government Gateway. You sign in on HMRC's own website and give the software permission to see your VAT obligations and submit returns — your Gateway password is never shared with the software itself. The permission lasts 18 months and can be revoked from your HMRC account at any time.

3. Upload and map your spreadsheet

Each quarter, you upload your spreadsheet and tell the software which cell holds each figure — "my VAT due on sales is in cell B4". Good software remembers the mapping, so from the second quarter onwards it's just: upload, check, submit. This cell-mapping step is what makes the process a compliant "digital link": the numbers travel from your records to HMRC without being retyped.

4. Review, declare, submit

The software shows all nine boxes of your return (calculating box 3 and box 5 for you), you confirm the legal declaration, and it submits to HMRC. You get back a receipt with a form bundle number — keep it, it's your proof of filing.

DueFile does exactly this — upload a .csv or .xlsx, map your cells once, file in minutes. Free for your first year during early access.