Mapping your expense categories to MTD categories

When you submit your Income Tax (MTD) figures to HMRC, your expenses need to be broken down into HMRC's own expense categories. Squeegee does this by letting you tag each of your expense categories with the HMRC category it belongs to.

How to map a category

1. Go to Bookkeeping → Expense Categories.
2. Find the category you need to map. If you're working from the warning on your Income Tax (MTD) submission, the categories listed there are the ones that still need mapping.
3. Click the three dots on the right of the category, then Edit. (The window is titled "Add Expense Category" even when you're editing an existing one — you're in the right place.)
4. Make sure a Finance account is selected. The MTD field stays greyed out until one is.
5. Choose the right option under Select MTD Expense Category, then save.

Repeat for each category in the list. Once they're all mapped, go back to your submission and the warning will be gone.

Got a lot to do at once? The Import button on the Expense Categories page accepts a spreadsheet with an mtd_category column, which is quicker than editing them one at a time.

What happens if you don't map them

Nothing breaks. Anything unmapped is added to Other Expenses on your submission, so your total expenses and your profit are still correct — they're just not broken down the way HMRC expects.

You'll see a warning listing exactly which categories were lumped in that way, and how much, so you can decide whether to map them before submitting.

Do I actually need to do this?

It depends on your turnover.

Turnover below the VAT registration threshold (currently £90,000): HMRC lets you report your expenses as a single total, so leaving categories unmapped is fine. Everything lands in Other Expenses and your submission is still valid.

Turnover at or above the threshold: HMRC expects the full category breakdown, so it's worth mapping everything.