Lanco

Reporting

Lanco provides reporting features to help you comply with HMRC's Making Tax Digital requirements and analyze your business performance. The reporting section helps you prepare data for tax submissions and understand your business finances. The primary feature is the Making Tax Digital (MTD) report, which generates compliant exports for HMRC reporting.

Making Tax Digital (MTD) Report

The MTD report provides a summary of your income and expenses in a format suitable for Making Tax Digital submissions to HMRC.

What is Making Tax Digital?

Making Tax Digital is a UK government initiative that requires sole traders and landlords to keep digital records and submit tax information to HMRC using compatible software.

From 6 April 2026, sole traders and landlords with qualifying income over £20,000 must use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax. This means you need to:

  • Keep digital records of your income and expenses
  • Submit quarterly updates to HMRC
  • Use software that works with Making Tax Digital

For more information, see HMRC's Making Tax Digital guidance.

How Lanco Supports MTD Compliance

Lanco helps you maintain digital records of your freelance income and business expenses. The MTD report feature provides a digital link (as defined by HMRC) that exports your data in a format compatible with MTD bridging software like AbraTax.

Important: Lanco is not MTD-compatible software itself. You'll need to use the CSV export from Lanco with MTD bridging software (such as AbraTax) to submit your quarterly updates to HMRC.

Accessing the MTD Report

To view your MTD report:

  1. Click MTD Report in the menu
  2. The report displays your total income and total expenses for the default date range (last 3 months)
  3. Adjust the date range using the date picker to match your reporting period

Understanding the Report

The MTD report shows:

Total Income:

  • The sum of all invoices (regardless of payment status) for the selected date range
  • Displayed by currency if you work with multiple currencies
  • Based on invoice creation dates

Total Expenses:

  • The sum of all business expenses for the selected date range
  • Displayed by currency
  • Broken down by expense category

Expenses by Category:

  • A detailed breakdown showing how much you spent in each expense category
  • Categories include: Travel, Meals, Accommodation, Equipment, Software, Office Supplies, Professional Services, Marketing, and Other
  • Sorted by amount (highest to lowest)

Selecting a Date Range

The MTD report defaults to the last 3 months, but you can adjust the date range to match your reporting needs:

  • Use the date range picker to select custom start and end dates
  • Use preset options for common periods (last month, last 3 months, last 6 months, etc.)
  • Align your date range with HMRC's quarterly reporting periods

HMRC Quarterly Periods:

  • 6 April to 5 July
  • 6 July to 5 October
  • 6 October to 5 January
  • 6 January to 5 April

Exporting the MTD Report

To export your data for MTD submission:

  1. Select the appropriate date range for your reporting period
  2. Click Export MTD Report
  3. A CSV file will be downloaded with the filename format: mtd-report-YYYY-MM-DD-to-YYYY-MM-DD.csv

The exported CSV contains:

  • Total income for the period
  • Expense breakdown by category
  • Total expenses
  • All amounts in your organization's primary currency

Using the Export with MTD Software

Once you've exported the CSV:

  1. Open your MTD bridging software (e.g., AbraTax)
  2. Import the CSV file
  3. Review the imported data
  4. Submit your quarterly update to HMRC through the bridging software

The CSV export provides a compliant "digital link" as defined by HMRC, ensuring your data transfer meets Making Tax Digital requirements.

Multi-Currency Considerations

If you work with multiple currencies:

  • The MTD report displays totals for each currency separately
  • The CSV export only includes amounts in your organization's primary currency
  • You may need to manually convert or account for foreign currency transactions when preparing your tax submission

To set your organization's primary currency, go to your organization settings.

General Reporting Tools

In addition to the MTD report, Lanco provides reporting tools throughout the application to help you analyze and export your data.

CSV Exports

You can export data to CSV format from multiple pages in Lanco:

Invoices:

  • Navigate to the Invoices page
  • Use the date filter to select your desired time period
  • Click Export CSV to download all invoices for the selected period
  • The CSV includes invoice details, amounts, status, and client information

Expenses:

  • Navigate to the Expenses page
  • Use the date filter to select your desired time period
  • Click Export CSV to download all expenses for the selected period
  • The CSV includes expense details, amounts, categories, and dates

These CSV exports are useful for:

  • Importing data into accounting software
  • Creating custom reports in spreadsheet applications
  • Maintaining offline backups of your financial records
  • Sharing data with accountants or bookkeepers

Date Filters with Presets

All main reporting pages (Invoices, Expenses, Time Logs) include date range filters with convenient presets:

Available Presets:

  • Last 7 days
  • Last 30 days
  • Last 3 months
  • Last 6 months
  • Last 12 months
  • Custom date range

Using Date Filters:

  1. Click the date range picker on any reporting page
  2. Select a preset for quick filtering, or choose custom dates
  3. The page will update to show inline metrics for the selected period
  4. View totals, breakdowns, and summaries specific to your chosen timeframe

Inline Metrics:

When you apply a date filter, you'll see real-time metrics including:

  • Invoices page: Total invoiced amount, paid vs unpaid breakdown, invoice count
  • Expenses page: Total expenses, breakdown by category, expense count
  • Time Logs page: Total hours logged, billable value, breakdown by project

These filters help you quickly analyze specific time periods without needing to export data or navigate to separate reporting pages.

Combining Filters

On most pages, you can combine date filters with other filters:

  • Filter by client to see metrics for a specific client within a date range
  • Filter by project to analyze project performance over time
  • Filter by status (for invoices) to see paid vs unpaid amounts

This flexibility allows you to drill down into your data and get the specific insights you need.