Upgrading and managing your billing

Free users upgrade to MTD Lite on the Choose Your Plan page, while paid subscribers manage everything (card, invoices, cancellation) from Settings. This guide walks through both, plus what happens to your data if you downgrade.

What this covers

This guide explains the two billing journeys: upgrading from Free to MTD Lite, and managing an existing MTD Lite subscription. Which one you see depends on your plan. Free accounts upgrade on the Choose Your Plan page. Paid subscribers get a Billing tab in Settings that opens the Stripe Customer Portal.

For what each plan actually includes, see Plans and pricing.

Note: Card details are always entered on Stripe's hosted checkout, never inside the app. We do not store your card number.

Upgrade from Free to MTD Lite

1. Open the Choose Your Plan page (the upgrade page). You will see a Free card and an MTD Lite card.
2. Choose Monthly or Annual using the toggle. Annual is preselected and shows the saving, so leave it on Annual if you want the lower effective price.
3. Click "Subscribe to MTD Lite" on the MTD Lite card.
4. Complete payment on Stripe's hosted checkout.
5. You are returned to a success page that activates your plan. If the confirmation lags for a moment, simply reloading the success page re-checks the payment with Stripe and switches you over.

Tip: If you are already on MTD Lite, the MTD Lite card shows "Current Plan" (disabled) instead of a Subscribe button. There is nothing to do.

Manage your plan (MTD Lite subscribers)

Once you are on a paid plan, a Billing tab appears in Settings. Free accounts do not have this tab, which is why upgrading happens on the Choose Your Plan page instead.

1. Open Settings and select the Billing tab.
2. Review your current plan and price, and any renewal or cancellation date shown.
3. Click "Manage Billing" to open the Stripe Customer Portal in the same window.
4. In the portal you can update your payment method, view and download invoices, or cancel your subscription. You return to Settings when you are done.

Cancel your subscription

Cancel from the Stripe Customer Portal (Settings, Billing, then Manage Billing). Cancelling keeps your MTD Lite access until the end of the billing period you have already paid for, so you do not lose features the moment you cancel.

Cancel a scheduled downgrade

If a downgrade is scheduled to take effect later, the Billing tab shows a banner with a "Cancel Downgrade" button. Click it to stay on your current plan and stop the downgrade from happening.

What happens to your data if you downgrade

Your data is never lost on downgrade. If a Free plan limit means some records no longer fit your tier (for example more than one income source), those records become read-only rather than being deleted. Your transactions, properties, and history all remain, and they become fully editable again if you upgrade later.

If something goes wrong

• There is no Billing tab in Settings. That tab only appears for paid subscribers. If you are on Free, upgrade on the Choose Your Plan page first, then the Billing tab and the Manage Billing button will appear.
• "Manage Billing" reports no subscription found. This happens when the account has never completed a Stripe checkout, so there is no billing record to manage. Subscribe via the Choose Your Plan page first.
• You paid but the dashboard still shows Free. The confirmation can lag briefly. Reloading the success page re-verifies the paid session directly with Stripe and activates your plan.
• You cannot switch your income type to "Both". Free is limited to one income source (property or self-employment). Managing both property and self-employment together is an MTD Lite feature. Upgrade to MTD Lite, and note your existing records are preserved either way.

For anything not covered here, see Account settings or Getting help.

Frequently asked questions

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