Authorising your account with HMRC

What this is

Before aligned.tax can fetch your quarters or send an update, HMRC has to record that you allow it. You give that permission by signing in at HMRC once, from inside aligned.tax. This page is the individual’s version; agents connect an Agent Services Account instead, see Connecting to HMRC.

What you see on screen

On first sign-in the setup wizard’s Connect your HMRC account step shows:

• A line saying to Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax first (the link opens GOV.UK’s sign-up guidance), using the same user ID and password you use for Self Assessment, then connect with that login
• A National Insurance number field, with the hint “It’s on your payslip, P60, or any letter from HMRC”
• What happens next: sign in at HMRC; we fetch your businesses and deadlines; you come back here, ready to file
• A Connect to HMRC button, which stays unavailable until the number is in the right format. Pointing at it says what is missing: “Enter your National Insurance number to continue” or “Check the format of your National Insurance number”
• An I’ll do this later link

The same step is reachable later from Home’s Connect to HMRC button. When an existing authorisation has expired, the page is titled Reconnect to HMRC, your number is already filled in, and the button reads Reconnect to HMRC. The same applies when Home or Settings asks you to reconnect to grant new permissions aligned.tax now needs: the fresh sign-in replaces the earlier authorisation. Once you have filed an update, Home shows a notice whenever you are not connected, with a Reconnect to HMRC button that opens this page. On that page the button is available as soon as you have typed something, and if the number is not in the right format the reason appears under the field when you click.

After HMRC sends you back, aligned.tax checks your MTD status, business details and obligations. While the checks run you see Connecting to HMRC and the progress steps. When they finish, the heading reads Your HMRC account is connected, or Your HMRC connection needs attention if something did not complete. Select Continue to dashboard to reach Home. View HMRC checks shows the individual results if you need them. If a result needs attention, it is listed on the confirmation, the checks open automatically, and a Try again button appears next to the continue button. When HMRC’s answer was that the request is not authorised, a Fix the HMRC connection panel appears above those results. It says HMRC didn’t accept the connection for this National Insurance number and doesn’t say why, and gives three steps to try in order, all visible at once: Check your National Insurance number (the saved number with Edit, which checks again with HMRC when you save and says whether HMRC accepted it, still didn’t accept it, or could not finish the check, and This number is right, which moves you to step 2), Connect again with the login you used to sign up (a fresh HMRC sign-in with the user ID and password you used to sign up for Making Tax Digital, the same ones you use for Self Assessment, which also fixes it if you connected before your sign-up was finished) and Sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (a GOV.UK link and its own Connect again).

If you followed a link from a deadline reminder email before signing in, the button reads Continue to your quarterly update instead, and takes you straight to the quarter the reminder was about rather than to Home.

How to connect

1. Enter your National Insurance number: two letters, six digits, one letter, for example AB 12 34 56 C.
2. Click Connect to HMRC. If the number is not in the right format, nothing is sent to HMRC and the reason appears under the field. Correct it and try again.
3. On HMRC’s site, sign in with your Government Gateway user ID and password. Answer any identity questions HMRC asks.
4. When HMRC asks whether to let aligned.tax act for you, give permission.
5. Wait for the checks to finish, then select Continue to dashboard, or Continue to your quarterly update if you arrived from a reminder email. If HMRC has no Making Tax Digital registration for you, the confirmation says so even though your HMRC account is connected. Open View HMRC checks for the recorded results.

Things to know

• Your password goes to HMRC, not to aligned.tax. aligned.tax only ever receives an authorisation token, and stores it encrypted.
• Your National Insurance number is stored encrypted and only shown masked, for example “HMRC connected for AB1***56C” in the header.
• The authorisation expires 18 months after you connect. From 17 months, Home and Settings show a reminder with the date to reconnect by and a Reconnect to HMRC button, because HMRC asks you to sign in again every 18 months and repeats its 2-step verification when you do. Reconnecting starts a fresh HMRC sign-in straight away; your history is kept. If the authorisation does expire, the header says Not connected and you are asked to reconnect.
• You can disconnect yourself from Settings with Disconnect from HMRC. Until you connect again aligned.tax cannot fetch obligations or submit. Disconnecting removes the saved connection from aligned.tax only; to remove aligned.tax’s access at HMRC as well, use HMRC’s Manage authorised applications page, which the dialog links to.
• Not signed up for MTD yet? The connection still completes, but the header status explains that HMRC holds no Making Tax Digital registration for you, and you cannot file until you sign up with HMRC. See Who Needs to Comply.

If something goes wrong

The number is not accepted when I click Connect. The message under the field says what is wrong, usually “Enter a valid National Insurance number (e.g. AB 12 34 56 C)”. Check you have two letters, six digits and one final letter. Prefixes BG, GB, NK, KN, TN, NT and ZZ are never valid, and show as an invalid prefix. The same message appears when you leave the field, before you click.

The button stays disabled. In the setup wizard, the number is not yet in the right format, or the field is empty; point at the button to see which. On the page reached from Home, the field is still empty, or your account type has not been chosen yet. Enter your National Insurance number and the button becomes available.

HMRC will not let me sign in. Use the links on HMRC’s sign-in page or GOV.UK’s HMRC online services help. aligned.tax cannot reset a Government Gateway password.

HMRC sent me back with an error. For example, you cancelled on HMRC’s page or its identity check did not pass. The attempt is cleared and you return to the connect page with your National Insurance number still filled in and the message “The HMRC sign-in was not completed, so nothing has changed. You can try again when you are ready.” The code HMRC gave is shown under it. Select Connect to HMRC again when you are ready.

A check did not complete. The confirmation names what needs attention. “Not signed up” means HMRC has no MTD registration for that account. If HMRC refused the request as not authorised, the Fix the HMRC connection panel gives the three steps in order: check or edit your National Insurance number (check the last letter); connect again with the login you used to sign up for Making Tax Digital, which also fixes it if you connected before your sign-up was finished; or sign up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on GOV.UK, then connect again. The panel also appears on Home and in Settings until a later check succeeds. For a connection error, select Try again in a few minutes, or Return to Get Started to begin the connection again. You can still use the rest of aligned.tax in the meantime.

I signed in with the wrong Government Gateway account. Disconnect from Settings, then connect again with the right one. If you also want to remove aligned.tax from the wrong account’s authorised applications, sign in to HMRC as that account and remove it in Manage authorised applications.

FAQ

Do I need a Government Gateway account?

Yes, one registered for Self Assessment. Create one at gov.uk if you do not have one.

Does reconnecting change anything?

No. It refreshes the permission. Your businesses, obligations and submissions stay as they were.

Can I connect two HMRC accounts?

No. One aligned.tax individual account connects to one HMRC account.