Making Tax Digital · Sole traders
How to find and check your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
ONLY£15A MONTHYou do not need to guess your tax reference or pay a third party simply to look for it.
You do not need to guess your tax reference or pay a third party simply to look for it. A UTR identifies your Self Assessment record. Finding the correct one is a useful first step when setting up tax software or speaking to an accountant.
Where to look
A UTR is normally a ten-digit number. HMRC's UTR guidance explains where to find it, including your Personal Tax Account, the HMRC app and earlier tax documents. Check that a document relates to your personal Self Assessment record rather than a company or partnership.
| Identifier | What it identifies |
|---|---|
| Personal UTR | Your Self Assessment tax record |
| National Insurance number | Your individual National Insurance identity |
| Company registration number | A company on the Companies House register |
| Government Gateway user ID | A sign-in credential, not a tax reference |
If you have never registered for Self Assessment, follow the correct registration process. Creating a software account does not itself create a UTR, establish MTD eligibility or replace HMRC registration.
Check safely
Use the official account or correspondence rather than a search advertisement offering instant retrieval. Do not publish a UTR in a support forum. A valid-looking ten-digit number is not proof that it belongs to the right taxpayer.
Worked example: the company reference mix-up
Priya is both a sole trader and a director. She finds a ten-digit reference on a Corporation Tax letter and starts entering it into her personal setup. The length looks right, but the tax record is wrong.
She checks her Personal Tax Account and uses the Self Assessment UTR instead. She also keeps her National Insurance number available for the MTD process, which uses different information at different stages.
Share the information needed for the task
Tax records need to be useful without containing unnecessary personal detail. Keep payment references sufficient to reconcile the accounts, and hold sensitive client notes in the appropriate restricted system. Financial software should not become a second, informal store for clinical notes or identity documents.
Use individual accounts and the access controls available for the service. Remove access when a working relationship ends. A secure product can still be misused through shared sign-ins, forwarded access links or files sent to the wrong person.
For Open Banking, distinguish account-information access from payment initiation. Read the consent screen and check the authorised provider. Account-information permission does not itself authorise moving money, but Open Banking as a whole also includes separately authorised payment services. The FCA explains these different services.
If you need an assurance about encryption, hosting, retention or security testing, ask for the current documented answer. Terms such as “bank-grade” do not tell you which controls apply to a particular service. Choose a workflow whose permissions and responsibilities you understand, and protect the email or phone account used to recover access.
Choose software by the work it needs to do
Start with your actual income sources and records. A sole trade, a UK property business and foreign property can involve different requirements. A product suitable for one set of circumstances is not automatically suitable for every annual-return item you might have.
HMRC's software guidance allows different approaches, including software connected to existing spreadsheets. Check the complete workflow: importing or recording transactions, reviewing the quarterly summary, submitting it, making corrections and completing the annual return.
Try a representative sample that includes a refund, a private transaction, a cash item and an awkward bank description. Ask how the system handles a missing period and how you export records if you leave. These questions are more informative than a long feature list.
Software support and professional tax advice are different services. Confirm who answers each kind of question, when help is available and what the quoted fee covers. Avona.app's entry-level self-service price is £15/month; professional services and additional product capabilities should be checked against the current scope rather than assumed to be included.
Where this fits into Making Tax Digital
For 2026/27, the first mandatory phase generally covers individuals whose combined qualifying self-employment and property income was more than £50,000 in 2024/25, subject to exemptions. Qualifying income normally means income before expenses. It is a different figure from taxable profit. Check the qualifying-income rules.
Once within MTD, keep the required digital records and send quarterly summaries for each relevant business. The summaries are cumulative from the start of the reporting year. They do not contain your entire personal tax position, and sending one does not itself create a quarterly tax-payment demand.
HMRC does not require accounting or tax adjustments before each quarterly update. Those adjustments and the other information needed for the annual return still have to be completed at the appropriate stage. Keep a review list so a matter deferred until year end is not forgotten. Read HMRC's quarterly-update guidance.
Software can organise the information, but the business facts remain essential. Review the figures you approve rather than assuming that a successful import has also settled every tax question.
If the reference is still missing
Follow HMRC's recovery instructions and allow for its verification process. Check names and addresses on older records. If an accountant helps, use the authorised relationship rather than sharing your login credentials. Treat a software validation message as a prompt to check the source, not as a substitute for it.
Take the next step
Avona.app offers a self-service route from £15/month. Bring your records together, review the figures and choose a workflow that fits your business. For professional help, discuss the scope and total price of Avona Concierge, managed by chartered accountants, before choosing a service.