What Is This Feature?
If you own and rent out overseas properties, HMRC’s Making Tax Digital (MTD ITSA) requires you to report your foreign rental income separately by country. BrightBooks now supports Foreign Property Business, letting you configure, track, and submit quarterly rental income returns for your overseas properties with full country-level reporting.
Who Is This For?
- Landlords with rental income from properties outside the UK
- Sole Traders with foreign property businesses separate from UK Property or Self-Employment
- Users who need to comply with HMRC’s country-specific reporting rules
How To Use the Foreign Property Business Feature in BrightBooks
Step 1: Select Foreign Property Business Type
- Go to Settings > MTD for ITSA > MTD Tax Setup.
- Under MTD Income Tax - Business Type Selection, choose Foreign Property (Landlord).
Important:
- Only one MTD business type may be selected per business registration.
- Foreign Property is mutually exclusive to Self-Employment and UK Property.
- Visual indicators and help text will clarify the Foreign Property selection and country tracking requirements.
Step 2: Complete Foreign Property Configuration
- Enter the date your business started receiving foreign property income (mandatory, format dd/mm/yyyy).
- BrightBooks automatically retrieves your Foreign Property Business ID from HMRC to confirm setup.
- View accounting period type (Standard or Calendar quarters) as provided by HMRC.
Step 3: Setup Country Tracking Using Divisions
- The system enables Divisions functionality automatically when you select Foreign Property.
- Load the standard HMRC country code list into Divisions for accurate reporting.
- Select countries where you hold foreign rental properties from the provided list. Each country is treated as a division for reporting purposes.
Note:
- If your business already uses Divisions for other purposes, Foreign Property setup will be blocked.
- You will see a message:
"Foreign Property setup requires Divisions to be configured for country tracking. This business already has Divisions enabled for another purpose. Please contact support or use a separate business for Foreign Property income."- In this case, use a separate business profile for your Foreign Property income or contact BrightBooks Support.
Submitting Quarterly Returns for Foreign Property
BrightBooks submits your foreign rental income returns quarterly using the HMRC Property Business API v6.0, with each country division reported separately:
- Follow the same submission pattern as for Self-Employment and UK Property MTD ITSA returns.
- The system sends country-specific income and expense summaries to HMRC using the correct country codes.
- You can submit multiple countries’ rental income in one go via the Divisions integration.
Best Practices
- Do not mix Foreign Property with other business types within the same BrightBooks business registration.
- Use Divisions carefully to represent countries where you have foreign rental income.
- Ensure you complete and save the country list accurately to comply with HMRC country-level reporting requirements.
- Contact BrightBooks Support if you encounter Divisions conflicts or need to split business profiles.
- Submit your quarterly returns on time using BrightBooks to remain compliant and avoid late filing penalties.
New Feature: Generating Detailed Quarterly Return Supporting Reports(Foreign Property)
Who is this for?
If you manage a UK business as a sole trader and have income from foreign property rentals, this applies to you. Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment (MTD ITSA) will be mandatory from 6 April 2026 for qualifying taxpayers.
What does this feature let you do?
As a BrightBooks user with a foreign property rental business,
You can generate a detailed quarterly return supporting report directly from your MTD ITSA submission menu,
So that you can see all the transactions backing up your HMRC submission for that quarter.
How to generate your supporting report
1. Accessing the report
- If your business has MTD ITSA enabled and foreign property selected,
- Go to General Ledger > MTD ITSA,
- Find your foreign property quarterly return,
- Click on the three dots (inline menu), where you will see a Print option labeled "Print Supporting Transaction Detail Report".
2. Report automatically fills in your details
- When you click Print, the report automatically uses information from your submission such as:
- Tax Year
- Quarter (Q1, Q2, Q3 or Q4)
- Quarter Type (Standard Tax Year Quarters or Calendar Year Quarters)
- Date Range calculated based on the above
3. Understanding the quarter dates
-
If your submission uses Standard Tax Year Quarters, your quarters will be:
- Q1: 6 April – 5 July
- Q2: 6 July – 5 October
- Q3: 6 October – 5 January
- Q4: 6 January – 5 April
- If your submission uses Calendar Year Quarters, your quarters will be:
- Q1: 1 April – 30 June
- Q2: 1 July – 30 September
- Q3: 1 October – 31 December
- Q4: 1 January – 31 March
4. What information appears in the report header?
When you generate the report, the top section includes:
- Your Business Name
- Tax Year
- Quarter (e.g., Q1)
- Quarter Type (Standard or Calendar)
- Period Dates (From - To)
- Property Type: Foreign Property
- Submission Status (Draft, Submitted, or Accepted)
- Submission Date (if submitted)
- Date the report was generated
- Name of the user who generated it
5. What is included in the summary?
At the end of the report, you’ll see totals for:
- Income (all income categories combined)
- Expenses (all expense categories combined)
- Net Profit or Loss
- Plus a note confirming these figures match your official MTD ITSA summary
6. How to view and save your report
- After clicking Print, your report opens in a new browser tab as a PDF preview.
- From there, you can print it or save it as a PDF for your records.
7. When is the Print option available?
- The Print option is available whether your submission is:
- In Draft form (not yet submitted),
- Submitted to HMRC, or
- Accepted by HMRC.
Contact BrightBooks Support for assistance related to Foreign Property setup and quarterly submissions.