Two Legitimate Routes, One Decision

Every VAT-registered business in the UK has been inside Making Tax Digital since April 2022. There are exactly two compliant ways to satisfy it, and the choice between them is usually made badly — by whoever's advert appeared first, rather than by how the business actually works.

Bridging software takes figures you have already worked out and transmits them to HMRC through a digital link. Full MTD VAT software keeps the underlying records and calculates the nine boxes from them.

Both are HMRC-recognised. Both are fully compliant. They cost very different amounts and solve very different problems.

The Comparison

Bridging software

Your numbers stay in your spreadsheet, and you calculate the nine boxes
Priced per submission — £4.99 with AccLedger
Set up in minutes, with no data migration at all
No bank reconciliation, no invoicing, no expenses
You cannot drill from a VAT box back to the underlying transactions
Works when the deadline is tomorrow

Full MTD VAT software

Your numbers live in the software, which calculates the nine boxes from your transactions
Priced monthly — from £10 with AccLedger
Setup takes hours to days: chart of accounts, opening balances, bank feeds
Bank reconciliation, invoicing and expenses included
Drill from any VAT box into the transactions behind it
VAT ties back to your P&L and balance sheet, so they cannot drift apart
Not the answer if the deadline is tomorrow and you are starting from scratch

What It Costs Over a Year

You file four VAT returns a year. That is the number that should drive the decision.

Pay-per-submission bridging at £4.99: £20 a year
Bridging subscription at £10 to £30 a return: £40 to £120 a year
Bookkeeping subscription used only for VAT: £180 to £360 a year

Paying a monthly subscription for a quarterly task is how spreadsheet bookkeepers end up spending hundreds of pounds a year to file thirty-six numbers. That said, if you are using the subscription for invoicing, bank reconciliation and reporting all quarter, the comparison is not the same one — you are buying a bookkeeping system that happens to file VAT, and it is worth what it saves you in admin hours.

Choose Bridging If Any of These Is True

Your figures are already right. You have a spreadsheet or an ERP that produces the nine boxes, and you only need them transmitted.
You file and nothing else. Small turnover, few transactions, an accountant who does the books once a year.
The deadline is close. There is no scenario in which migrating your books this week is the right response to a return due on the 7th. File first, tidy up afterwards — and see what a late VAT return costs in 2026 if you have already missed it.
You are VAT-registered voluntarily and below the £90,000 threshold. The compliance burden is real; the cost of it should not be.
Your source system is not accounting software. SAP, a booking platform, a till system, an industry-specific package. The right answer is a digital link out of what you already have — for SAP specifically, SAP VAT integration pushes figures from ECC, S/4HANA or Business One straight to HMRC.

The mechanics of the spreadsheet route, and what HMRC requires of it, are covered in can you still file a VAT return from Excel?

Choose Full Software If Any of These Is True

Reconciliation is the real work. If assembling the nine boxes takes a day, the filing was never your problem. MTD VAT software calculates them from your invoices, expenses and bank transactions.
You need to see inside a box. Drilling from Box 6 to the contributing transactions is the difference between answering an HMRC query in ten minutes and in a fortnight.
You run a scheme with moving parts. Flat rate, cash, annual accounting, margin scheme, reverse charge. These are where spreadsheet errors hide.
You sell online. Order-level VAT from a storefront needs to be automated; Shopify accounting handles the invoice-per-order side.
You are a limited company. VAT, corporation tax, payroll and director dividends interact. Keeping them in one place stops the figures drifting apart — see AccLedger for limited companies.
You manage clients. Multi-company filing, review-before-submit and a single audit trail; see AccLedger for accountants.

The Hidden Cost of Choosing Wrong

Picking full software when you needed bridging costs money and, more often, momentum: businesses buy a subscription in a panic, never complete the migration, and file late anyway. Picking bridging when you needed full software costs accuracy — the VAT return stops agreeing with the accounts, and the reconciliation happens once a year in a hurry, usually at the accountant's hourly rate.

The tell is simple. If the numbers are already correct and you just cannot get them to HMRC, that is a transmission problem — buy bridging. If the numbers are the problem, no bridging tool will fix them.

You Are Not Choosing Forever

This is the part most comparison articles miss. The decision is reversible, and it should not be treated as a migration commitment.

With AccLedger the same account does both: file ad hoc at £4.99 a submission for as long as that is all you need, and upgrade to a full plan from £10 a month when the bookkeeping outgrows the spreadsheet. No second account, no export and re-import, no separate product. The pricing page sets out both, and if you are weighing it against the incumbents, the Xero, QuickBooks, Sage and FreeAgent comparisons are the honest version of that argument.

One thing worth planning for either way: from April 2026, sole traders and landlords above the income threshold also fall under MTD for Income Tax, which requires quarterly updates and proper digital records — a spreadsheet-plus-bridging setup that works for VAT will not carry over unchanged.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need bridging software if I already have accounting software? No. If your software is HMRC-recognised for MTD VAT and files directly, bridging adds nothing. Bridging exists for records that live outside such software.

Is bridging software fully HMRC compliant? Yes, provided the figures reach the return by digital link rather than being retyped. HMRC lists recognised bridging tools alongside full accounting packages.

What is the cheapest way to file an MTD VAT return? Pay-per-submission bridging. At £4.99 a return, four quarterly filings cost £20 a year against £180 or more for a monthly subscription used only for VAT.

Can I switch from bridging to full software mid-year? Yes. VAT periods are discrete — you can file Q1 by bridging and Q2 from full bookkeeping. What matters is that each individual return has an unbroken digital link back to its own records.

Which is better for an accountant filing for clients? Full software, in almost every case. Multi-company support, review before submission and a single audit trail across clients outweigh the per-submission saving once you are filing for more than a handful of businesses.

Not sure which you need? File one return for £4.99 and decide later, or see full plans from £10 a month. Same account, same HMRC recognition.

Bridging Software vs Full MTD VAT Software: Which Do You Need?