TapTax vs VitalTax
Keep the spreadsheet, or replace it
VitalTax is an Excel add-in that sends your spreadsheet figures to HMRC. It is graded not included on keeping digital records, because your workbook is the record. That single design decision is the whole comparison, and it is a genuine choice rather than a shortcoming.
Estimate your self-employed tax in seconds
See what you would owe for the year, then file the real figures with TapTax in a couple of taps.
Total turnover before expenses
Under £1,000 we use the trading allowance automatically
Estimated tax bill
£6,872
15.3% effective rate for 2026/27
- Income tax
- £5,286
- Class 4 NI
- £1,586
Take-home pay
£32,128
after tax, NI and expenses
This is an estimate using HMRC-confirmed rates for 2026/27, not your official tax calculation. TapTax is MTD-compatible, so you can connect to HMRC and file the real figures in a couple of taps.
These two products are not competing for the same job, and any comparison that pretends otherwise is misleading you.
TapTax replaces the spreadsheet. VitalTax preserves it. HMRC's directory records the difference precisely: VitalTax is graded ready on bridging software and not included on software that creates digital records. Your workbook is the record. The add-in sits inside Excel and sends the figures to HMRC.
That is a legitimate design and a legal one. MTD requires digital records, not any particular vendor's records, and a spreadsheet has always qualified. So the real question this page has to answer is not which product is better, it is whether your spreadsheet deserves to survive MTD.
- VitalTax was £30 a year excluding VAT for one taxpayer when we checked in August 2026, rising to £54 for two, £72 for three and £198 for unlimited, with the first quarterly submission free.
- HMRC grades it not included on keeping digital records and ready on bridging, so your Excel workbook is the record and you own its accuracy and backups.
- It is graded ready on 9 of the 16 tax-return items with 7 more in development, and ready on all three income sources including foreign property.
- The Android and iOS flags on its listing come from Office rather than a dedicated VitalTax app, on our August 2026 research.
- TapTax keeps records natively with open banking, AI categorisation and receipt capture, does not do bridging by design, and is going through HMRC's recognition process.
- Bridging software
- A tool that reads figures from a spreadsheet and submits them to HMRC through the MTD interface, without replacing the spreadsheet. It exists because MTD requires digital records and digital submission, but does not require you to abandon a workbook you already keep. The digital link between your records and the submission must be preserved, which in practice means the figures travel from cell to HMRC without being retyped. Bridging is a legitimate and permanent route to compliance, not a transitional measure.
How HMRC's own directory grades VitalTax
HMRC publishes a feature grid for every listed product using its own three-state scale of ready now, in development, or not included. We scraped all 127 listings on 9 August 2026.
VitalTax
£30/yr ex VAT for 1 taxpayer, £198 unlimited(checked August 2026)
- Free version: no
- Android; Apple iOS: yes
- Sole trader income: yes
- UK property income: yes
- Foreign property income: yes
- Keeps digital records: no
9/16 tax-return items ready, 7 more in development.
HMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 9 August 2026. Feature flags are vendor-declared. Vendor site
An Excel add-in. Graded not included on keeping digital records, so your workbook is the record. First quarterly submission free; no free tier beyond that.
HMRC lists what each vendor declares. Feature flags, mobile-app support in particular, are vendor claims rather than verified facts, and listings change. Check with the vendor before you buy. Data: HMRC find-MTD-software service (tax.service.gov.uk), scraped 9 August 2026.
The rest of the row is strong. Bridging ready, agent software ready, standard and calendar update periods ready, all three business income sources ready including foreign property, and 9 of the 16 tax-return items ready. Besides the record-keeping grade, which is the whole design, the only other absences are a free version and HMRC Assist. For a product doing one narrow job, that is a thorough listing.
The 23 products that cannot keep your records
Bridging is a much bigger part of this market than the coverage suggests.
70of 127 (55%)offer bridging from a spreadsheetHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 9 August 2026That is direct evidence about intent rather than about software: a majority of listed products expect a meaningful share of MTD-mandated people to keep using a spreadsheet. Within that group there is a subset that does bridging and nothing else.
23of 127 (18%)do bridging only, with no digital record-keepingHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 9 August 2026| Product | Free | Sole trader | UK property | Foreign property | Mobile app | Return items |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AbraTax MTD for Income Tax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 15/16 |
| VitalTax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Android; Apple iOS | 9/16 |
| Otis Tax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 4/16 |
| Absolute Excel Income Tax Filer | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 10/16 |
| MTD Sheets | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| Aligned.tax MTD for Spreadsheets | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| Property Income eReturn | Not included | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Android; Apple iOS | 0/16 |
| 123 e-Filing MTD for Income Tax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 10/16 |
| Abridge (MTD for Excel/Sheets) | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Android; Apple iOS | 15/16 |
| Acorah Software Products Ltd (TaxCalc) | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| MTD Companion for macOS | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 16/16 |
| TaxUpdates | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 15/16 |
| flonancial | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Not listed | 0/16 |
| suiteSheets | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Not listed | 0/16 |
| @1TaxFiler | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| Andica MTD ITSA Software | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| 100PcMTD | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| MTD Companion for iPhone & iPad | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Apple iOS | 16/16 |
| @Taxd MTD | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Not included | Not listed | 0/16 |
| Acctax (Online) Ltd | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| 1 1 MTD Bridge | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| CHM ITSA BRIDGE | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 0/16 |
| Taxtool for Income Tax | Not included | Ready now | Ready now | Ready now | Not listed | 3/16 |
VitalTax is on that list, and the practical consequence is worth stating without drama. Nothing is checking your workbook. There is no double-entry underneath it, no reconciliation against a bank feed, no system that notices a formula reaching one row short of the data. Spreadsheets fail quietly, and MTD asks you to file from one four times a year rather than once.
If the spreadsheet is genuinely well kept, none of that is a problem and the software should not be blamed for a discipline it never claimed to supply. If it is not, bridging locks the weakness in.
The remaining products keep records natively.
104of 127 (82%)keep digital records nativelyHMRC MTD for Income Tax directory, scraped 9 August 2026We set out what bridging actually costs across the whole category, including the per-taxpayer versus per-licence distinction that makes headline prices misleading, in our guide to MTD spreadsheet templates and bridging costs. It also includes a free MTD-ready template if you decide the spreadsheet route is the right one.
The mobile flag, explained rather than repeated
VitalTax's listing declares Android and Apple iOS. Read alone, that suggests a phone app.
Our August 2026 research found the explanation: VitalTax is an Excel add-in and runs wherever Office runs, including the Office mobile apps. So the declared platforms belong to the host application. It is not a false claim, and the add-in genuinely does work on a phone in that sense, but a spreadsheet on a five-inch screen is a different proposition from an app built for the screen.
This matters because the mobile question in MTD is not really about filing, it is about capture. Expenses arrive as a card payment at a merchant's counter, a fuel receipt in a van, a parking charge between jobs. The tool that catches those at the moment they happen decides how much work is left at quarter end.
Bridging solves the submission. It does not solve the bookkeeping, and under MTD the bookkeeping is now due four times a year instead of once.
Pricing in detail, checked August 2026
| TapTax Free | TapTax Starter | TapTax Pro | VitalTax | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cost, one taxpayer | £0 | £4.99/mo | £9.99/mo | £30/yr ex VAT |
| Approx. annual cost inc VAT | £0 | £49 | £99 | £36 |
| Two taxpayers | £0 | £98 | £198 | £54/yr ex VAT |
| Three taxpayers | £0 | £147 | £297 | £72/yr ex VAT |
| Unlimited taxpayers | n/a | n/a | n/a | £198/yr ex VAT |
| Free element | Permanent free tier | n/a | n/a | First quarterly submission |
| Keeps digital records | Yes | Yes | Yes | Not included (HMRC grade) |
| Bridging from a spreadsheet | No, by design | No, by design | No, by design | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Return items ready | 6 to 8 of 16 (our estimate) | 6 to 8 of 16 (our estimate) | 6 to 8 of 16 (our estimate) | 9 of 16 (HMRC grade) |
| Sole trader income | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| UK property | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Foreign property | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Calendar quarters | Yes | Yes | Yes | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Agent software | No | No | No | Ready (HMRC grade) |
| Open banking import | Yes | Yes | Yes | No; figures come from Excel |
| Receipt capture | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Mobile | iOS and Android apps | iOS and Android apps | iOS and Android apps | Via Office mobile |
| HMRC directory status | Not listed; recognition in progress | Not listed; recognition in progress | Not listed; recognition in progress | Listed |
VitalTax pricing is from our own vendor research as checked in August 2026 and is stated excluding VAT as published. Feature grades in its column are HMRC's, from the 9 August 2026 scrape. TapTax pricing is our own published pricing. The TapTax annual figures are its published annual-plan prices, £49 for Starter and £99 for Pro, rather than twelve times the monthly rate.
The per-taxpayer maths is where VitalTax gets interesting and where a straight monthly comparison misses the point. Two spouses with rental income each need their own MTD submissions. On a per-user subscription that is two accounts. On VitalTax it is £54 a year excluding VAT for the pair, or roughly £27 each, and three taxpayers works out around £24 each. The unlimited tier at £198 is priced for practices rather than people. TapTax's free tier is still £0 per person, so the comparison only bites at paid tiers.
Where VitalTax genuinely wins
Continuity, price at multiples, and completeness.
If you have a workbook you trust and a routine that works, VitalTax lets you keep both and adds a submission route for £30 a year excluding VAT. Nothing migrates, nothing has to be re-learned, and the file you have used for years stays the file you use. That is worth real money to anyone whose records are genuinely well kept, and it is the reason bridging exists as a permanent option rather than a transitional one.
It is ahead of TapTax on return items, 9 against roughly six to eight, and ready on all three income sources including foreign property. It is graded ready on agent software, which TapTax is not. It handles multiple taxpayers cheaply. And it is listed with HMRC today, while TapTax is not.
Where TapTax fits better
The records themselves, and the year that produces them.
TapTax does not do bridging and never will, because the design assumption is the opposite one: the reason quarterly filing hurts is not the submission, it is arriving at a deadline with three months of uncategorised transactions. So open banking pulls transactions in as they happen, AI categorisation proposes the treatment, receipt capture works from the camera at the counter, and CSV import with presets for 16 UK banks covers accounts a feed does not reach. The quarterly update becomes a review of work already done rather than an evening of typing.
There is also a free tier, which VitalTax has no equivalent of beyond a free first submission, and native apps on both stores rather than Excel on a phone.
None of that helps if your spreadsheet is already excellent. It helps a great deal if the spreadsheet is the thing you keep meaning to update.
If you want to see the numbers before choosing, the sole trader tax calculator covers the trading side including Class 4 NIC, and the rental income calculator applies the finance-cost restriction limiting mortgage interest relief to a 20% credit.
Who should choose which
Has a spreadsheet that already works. VitalTax. £30 a year excluding VAT to keep a system you trust is a good trade, and switching costs are real even when they are not financial.
Two or three taxpayers in one household. VitalTax, on price. £54 for two and £72 for three excluding VAT undercuts almost every per-user subscription, with MTD 4 Income Tax at £20 each the notable exception.
An accountant or bookkeeper with a client book. VitalTax's unlimited tier at £198 a year excluding VAT, with agent software graded ready. TapTax has no agent product.
Wants Excel but does not have a good workbook yet. Start from a template rather than a blank sheet, then decide. Ours is free and MTD-shaped, in the bridging guide.
Dreads the quarterly rhythm more than the filing. TapTax. Bridging preserves the workflow that makes quarters painful; automatic capture is what changes it.
Wants to pay nothing. TapTax's free tier, or one of the genuinely free listed products in our free MTD roundup. VitalTax gives away the first quarterly submission only.
Must file a live submission this week. VitalTax, or another listed product. TapTax's recognition is in progress and we will not tell you otherwise.
The bottom line
VitalTax is a well-specified tool for a clearly defined job: get the figures out of Excel and into HMRC, cheaply, for one taxpayer or twenty. On HMRC's grades it does that job with all three income sources, calendar quarters, agent support and 9 of the 16 return items, which is better than most products manage at any price.
What it does not do, and does not claim to do, is keep your records. That is the choice you are actually making. If your spreadsheet is good, keep it and buy the bridge. If your spreadsheet is a January ritual, MTD is about to ask for it four times a year, and a bridge over a weak workbook is still a weak workbook.
TapTax is built for the second case: records kept automatically, categorised as they arrive, reviewed on a phone, submitted in a couple of taps. We are behind VitalTax on return items, we do not do bridging, and TapTax is MTD-compatible and going through HMRC's recognition process rather than listed today.
The full field, with HMRC's real grades rather than anyone's marketing, is in the MTD software directory.
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