Business Detail

What this is

The business detail page shows everything HMRC holds for one income source and the quarters it owes for the selected tax year. It is also the one place to choose between standard and calendar update periods, which must be done before the first quarterly update of the year.

What you see on screen

Open it with View Details on the income sources page. The page shows the trading name and type at the top, then:

• Business Details - Business ID, Type, Trade (HMRC’s own description, self-employment only), Update Periods (Standard, Calendar or Not confirmed, with a Change link until the first update of the year is filed), Accounting Type (Cash Basis or Accruals (Traditional)), Trading Since and, for a closed business, Ceased
• Business Address - the address HMRC holds
• Obligations for the selected tax year - how many are fulfilled, open and overdue, and a row per quarter with its period, due date, status and an Upload Data button on the quarter that can be filed

If HMRC cannot find the business, the page says “This business was not found. It may belong to a different client” with a Back to Businesses button.

How to

Choose standard or calendar update periods

1. In Business Details, next to Update Periods, click Change.
2. In the Update Periods dialog choose Standard update periods (“Follow the tax year, 6 Apr - 5 Apr split into four periods”) or Calendar update periods (“Follow calendar months: Apr-Jun, Jul-Sep, Oct-Dec, Jan-Mar”).
3. Click Save Changes. aligned.tax records the choice with HMRC.

The dialog reminds you: “Change must be made before your first quarterly update”. Once a quarter has been filed for the year the row shows Locked - submissions exist for the year.

Start a quarter from here

Click Upload Data on the open quarter. The upload journey opens with that business and quarter chosen.

Things to know

• Everything in Business Details comes from HMRC. To correct a name, address or accounting type, update it with HMRC; aligned.tax shows the change after Refresh from HMRC on the income sources page.
• Calendar update periods suit a 1 April to 31 March accounting period. HMRC’s guidance is that all other accounting periods, including the standard tax year, use standard update periods. Calendar periods change the dates each quarter covers but not the deadlines.
• The accounting type decides which figures HMRC expects. Cash basis and accruals use different HMRC fields; Smart Map and the review screen follow whichever HMRC holds for the business.
• Quarters are cumulative whatever the period type: every update covers from the start of the year to the end of that quarter. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.
• The obligations here follow the tax year in the header. Change the year to see another year’s quarters.

FAQ

Why can I not change the update periods?

A quarterly update has already been filed for this business in the selected tax year, so HMRC has fixed the periods for the year. The choice opens again for the next tax year.

The business shows as ceased. Do I still need to file?

Only for periods up to the cessation date. HMRC stops issuing obligations after it.

The page says the business was not found.

HMRC returned nothing for this Business ID. Go Back to Businesses, check the client selected in the header (agents), and click Refresh from HMRC.