Next Making Tax Digital quarterly update deadline: 7 November 2026.Start filing now

Summary

Everything on the Settings page: your National Insurance number or Agent Reference Number, the HMRC connection, two-factor authentication, practice logo, notifications, data export and account deletion

For Everyone

Account Settings

What this is

Settings is the one page for your account rather than your tax data: the identifier HMRC knows you by, the HMRC connection itself, the mobile number that protects your sign-in, the emails you receive, and the buttons to take your data out or close the account. Individuals reach it from the sidebar; agents from the account menu at the top right.

What you see on screen

The page is titled Settings, “Manage your account and HMRC connection”, and is a column of cards:

  • National Insurance Number (individuals) or Agent Reference Number (agents), with an Edit button
  • HMRC Connection - the current status and a Disconnect from HMRC button
  • Account Information - email address, username and when the account was created
  • Practice logo (agents) - the practice name, whether a logo is saved, Choose logo, and once one is chosen, Save logo and Remove logo
  • Two-factor authentication - the masked mobile number and Change phone number
  • Notification Preferences - switches for Deadline Reminders, Submission Results, Tax Calculations, Upload Confirmations, HMRC Alerts and System Notifications, plus Send Test Email
  • Marketing Communications - a switch for product updates and new features
  • Product tour (individuals) - Take the tour replays the short dashboard walkthrough you saw when you first connected to HMRC
  • Help us improve aligned.tax - a switch for privacy-safe product analytics and masked session playback; spreadsheet contents, tax figures and personal details are never recorded
  • Your Data - Download My Data
  • Danger Zone - Delete My Account

How to

Change your Agent Reference Number

  1. In Agent Reference Number, click Edit.
  2. Enter the ARN: one letter, ARN, seven digits, for example XARN1234567.
  3. Save. aligned.tax checks the ARN against the Agent Services Account you connected and tells you if HMRC does not recognise the pairing. You do not need to reconnect for that.

Below the field the card reports the result: Your HMRC connection and Agent Reference Number are confirmed once HMRC has checked the pairing, or Your HMRC connection is active and your saved Agent Reference Number will be checked automatically until that first check has run.

Disconnect from HMRC

  1. In HMRC Connection, click Disconnect from HMRC.
  2. Confirm in the dialog.

Until you connect again, aligned.tax cannot fetch obligations or submit. Your history stays. Connect again from Home (individuals) or the workspace setup card (agents); see Connecting to HMRC.

  1. In Practice logo, click Choose logo and pick a PNG, JPEG or WebP image no larger than 2 MB. “A wide logo works best.”
  2. Check the preview, then click Save logo.

The logo appears at the top of the private records upload page your clients open from a records request email. With no logo saved, that page shows your practice name. Remove logo goes back to the name. SVG is not accepted.

Change the mobile number used for two-factor authentication

  1. In Two-factor authentication, click Change phone number.
  2. Enter the new UK mobile number and click Send verification code.
  3. Type the code from the text message.

Choose which emails you receive

Use the switches under Notification Preferences. Send Test Email sends one message so you can check delivery. Marketing Communications is separate and off unless you opted in at sign-up.

Take a copy of your data

Click Download My Data. The export is a JSON file with your profile, taxpayer details (including NINO and UTR), submission history and legal acceptance records.

Delete your account

Click Delete My Account in Danger Zone and confirm. Everything is removed: HMRC connections, submissions and taxpayer records. There is no undo. Deleting the aligned.tax account does not change anything held by HMRC.

Things to know

  • The NINO and ARN are validated on entry. NINO: two letters, six digits, one letter; prefixes BG, GB, NK, KN, TN, NT and ZZ are rejected. ARN: one letter, ARN, seven digits.
  • Changing the NINO or ARN does not by itself change what HMRC has authorised. The connection belongs to the Government Gateway account you signed in with. If the identifier no longer matches that account, disconnect and connect again.
  • Practice branding is only ever shown on the records upload page. There is no client portal or client login.
  • Two-factor authentication applies to every account, individual or agent. Remember this device on the code screen stops the prompt on that browser.
  • The HMRC Feedback bell in the header is not a notification inbox. It shows messages from HMRC about your submissions. Emails from aligned.tax are controlled here, in Settings.

FAQ

I have moved practice. Can I change the ARN?

Yes, with Edit in Agent Reference Number. If the new ARN belongs to a different Agent Services Account, disconnect and connect again with that account’s sign-in.

Can I change my email address?

Not from Settings. Contact hello@aligned.tax.

Will deleting my account delete my HMRC submissions?

No. Submissions already accepted by HMRC stay on HMRC’s record. Deleting removes aligned.tax’s copies and its permission to act for you.

Related articles

Authorising your account with HMRC
How an individual connects aligned.tax to HMRC with a National Insurance number and Government Gateway sign-in, what the progress screen checks, and how to reconnect
Connecting to HMRC
How the HMRC connection works for individuals and agents, what happens on the progress screen, and how to reconnect when the authorisation expires
Requesting Client Records
How to request quarterly XLSX records from a client and open received versions in Smart Map
Your First Login as an Accountant
What happens the first time you sign in as a tax agent: the practice workspace, connecting your Agent Services Account and adding your first client
On this page