Correcting a Submitted Quarter

What this is

If you find a mistake after filing, you do not amend the old submission; you submit the quarter again with the right figures. Because every update is the year to date, the new submission simply replaces what HMRC holds. The earlier submission stays in Past submissions for your records.

How to correct a quarter

1. Fix the figures in your workbook. Keep them cumulative: the year to the end of that quarter. A workbook holding only the three months of the quarter (for example July to September for the quarter ending 5 October) is not a correction: HMRC would replace your year-to-date totals with the quarter on its own.
2. Find Correct & Resubmit beside the latest quarter you have filed for that business. It appears on the Dashboard quarter track, in Quarterly Statuses, on the business’s page from Businesses, and in Past submissions under What HMRC Has on File (also at the top of that business’s Detail). A filed quarter is not offered in the ordinary Upload Quarterly Data list, because that list only shows open quarters. If you have no open quarters at all, that list says so; in your own account it also offers Refresh from HMRC, which checks HMRC again for every business. That check will not bring back a quarter you have already filed, so start a correction from Correct & Resubmit. Accountants see the same action inside the client’s workspace, where it opens the client’s Submit tab.
3. Select Correct & Resubmit. This opens the quarter at Add figures, which first asks How do you keep your records?: A summary of totals or My transactions. Select A summary of totals, then Continue, to send a corrected workbook. The next step, Add your summary of totals, still part of Add figures, offers Upload your spreadsheet or Use our template. If this business last filed a different way, that change is confirmed under the card you chose before the quarter carries on. Upload the corrected workbook, check Smart Map’s mapping, and continue to Review & Submit. For a foreign property correction from the 2026-27 tax year onwards, a Match properties step comes between the mapping and Review & Submit: check each property from your spreadsheet is matched to the right HMRC record, then choose Confirm & Continue. Where a warning on the review names a mapping row, choose Show in mapping beside that row to open the mapping on it, then Back to review if the row was right, or Continue to Review if you change it so your figures are checked again. If you need to fix the workbook and upload it again, you can choose the same file a second time. If an upload of the aligned.tax template gets no answer, or Continue to Review on the mapping does, because your connection dropped for a moment, nothing is lost and no error is shown: you stay on that step with your work and a notice beside Try again, saying that your spreadsheet is still here when it was the template upload, or that your mapping is still here when it was Continue to Review. Choosing Try again without changing anything sends the same request rather than starting a second update, so a first attempt that did reach aligned.tax is returned to you instead of being repeated; changing the mapping first starts that step afresh. Each notice belongs to the step you were on, so moving on clears it. Going Back from the mapping step returns to Add your summary of totals, and your mapping is kept; choosing a different file there replaces it.
4. Confirm the period on the review card is the one you meant to correct. Just above the declaration the card also says which period the figures must cover, using HMRC’s own dates, for example “These figures should cover Q1 and Q2: 6 April 2026 to 5 October 2026, the year so far, not just this quarter.”, and reminds you that you can correct and resubmit this update until you send your next quarterly update, which replaces these figures anyway, or, when there is no later quarter, until you finalise the year. If boxes in this upload were filled from your mapping last time, the card adds “Some boxes were filled from your mapping last time. Check the figures match this quarter before you send.”; if they came from a layout other people have used, it says “Some boxes were filled from a layout other people have used. Check the figures match this quarter before you send.” A correction is exactly where that check matters, so read those boxes against your corrected workbook before you go on.
5. If any figure is lower than in your last update, a Some figures are lower than your last update panel lists each one with its last and new amount. It sits just above the declaration, so the declaration is the last thing you tick before sending. Tick These are corrections to figures I sent before; Submit to HMRC stays unavailable until you do.
6. Tick the declaration and click Submit to HMRC. You can click anywhere in the declaration box to tick it. While that button is unavailable, the lines just above it list everything still outstanding under To submit, you still need to: - tick the declaration above, confirm the lower figures above, fix the problems shown above, and, when the figures were prepared from transactions, either prepare these figures again (above) or return to transactions and prepare the latest figures. Where the figures came from transactions and your role cannot send the update, that block also says “You do not have permission to send this update.” If you press Submit to HMRC before the declaration is ticked, aligned.tax takes you to the declaration, highlights it and adds Tick this box to submit.; choosing tick the declaration above in that list does the same. Where this is a foreign property correction whose figures are not yet linked to an HMRC property, Submit to HMRC opens Match properties instead of sending, so nothing reaches HMRC until each property is matched; if your properties could not be checked with HMRC, the review says so and pressing Submit to HMRC again tries that check once more.
7. Once HMRC accepts the correction, its row in Past submissions is marked Latest; the earlier row remains. The submitted screen also offers View your tax calculation: it asks HMRC for an in-year calculation from the corrected figures and opens that calculation once HMRC has it ready. It sends no new figures to HMRC, and your correction stays filed whatever the calculation does. If HMRC is still working it out, the screen says so and offers Check it on your tax estimate to pick it up there later. If HMRC cannot prepare one, it says “HMRC could not prepare your calculation just now. Your update is still filed. You can try again.” The action is only shown to someone HMRC lets read the calculation, so a supporting agent does not see it.

Once you have chosen the quarter, it and the step you are on are held in the page address, so reloading the page brings you back to the same quarter with any resumable progress intact, and your browser’s Back button steps back through the steps. Coming back to a correction you left part-way through, for example after checking the old figures in Past submissions, reopens the work itself rather than asking again whether to continue: an unfinished mapping opens on the mapping step, and a transaction review opens on its review. A foreign property correction whose figures are not yet linked to an HMRC property opens on Match properties, even where the figures were already checked and ready to send, because it cannot be sent until each property is matched; if those properties could not be checked with HMRC as it reopened, the page says so and offers Try again and Start a new upload. Going Back from an unfinished mapping returns to Add your summary of totals, and Back again to How do you keep your records?; that keeps the work and shows the saved file with Continue mapping or Continue reviewing, and Start again; that holds even when you arrived from a link that opened the work directly, so Back lands on how you add figures rather than taking you out of the quarter. Smart Map matches you have not applied yet are kept as well, so Continue mapping shows the same matches to review rather than asking Smart Map again. Those matches belong to the spreadsheet they were found in: open a different spreadsheet for the quarter and they are put down with the old one, so Smart Map looks at the new file afresh. Start again asks Start this update again? first, and nothing is cleared unless you confirm it; confirming it puts down that quarter’s unapplied matches too. Returning to that step any other way keeps the work in the same way, whether you use your browser’s Back button or choose the step again, and that holds for an unsent transaction import as well as a mapped spreadsheet. A saved spreadsheet that is still being opened counts as work in progress too, so going back while it loads does not clear it and you are still asked before it is replaced. Once an update has been sent, the link to the work behind it is dropped from the page address, so reloading or going back does not go looking for work that has already been used up, and its unapplied Smart Map matches are put down at the same time. Each quarter keeps its own saved place: choosing a different quarter keeps the work you had in progress for the first one, and returning to it picks that work up again. Its unapplied Smart Map matches are kept with it only while its spreadsheet is saved as a draft that can reopen with them; where it was not saved, those matches are put down as you leave the quarter and Smart Map is asked again next time. If how this business files has to be chosen again before the correction can be sent, reopening a spreadsheet correction at Review & Submit takes you to the switch step first, rather than letting the send be refused. If that refusal has already been shown on the review, you stay there with Choose how to continue instead, so the choice stays yours. If mapping work for the quarter you are leaving has not been saved yet, aligned.tax saves it as a draft first; if that save fails, you stay on the quarter and see the error. Leaving the upload page altogether while a mapping is not saved anywhere asks you first, and so does leaving from any step while this tab could not keep Smart Map’s unapplied matches for a quarter, including a quarter you have since moved on from: Leave without saving your mapping? explains that your spreadsheet and Smart Map matches are not saved yet and that you would need to upload and map it again, and offers Stay, Save and leave when there is a spreadsheet to save as a draft, and Leave. If that save fails you stay on the page and see why. A draft keeps your spreadsheet and the matches you have applied, but not Smart Map matches you have not applied yet, and those are only kept in the browser tab you are working in. If this tab could not keep them for any quarter, Save and leave saves the draft and then keeps the question open with “We could not keep Smart Map’s unapplied matches on this device. Your spreadsheet and applied matches are saved as a draft. Apply the rest before you leave, or choose Leave to go without them.”, so you can apply the rest first or choose Leave to go without them. If you return to a quarter with an update that was prepared but not sent, it offers You have an update for this quarter that hasn’t been sent yet. with Continue to review, and Start again for an uploaded spreadsheet. That notice can also appear while you are on the step where you choose your own spreadsheet or the aligned.tax template, for example when another tab saves a draft for the quarter: it stands in for that step’s choices, and the step keeps its own Back to how you add the figures. A link from a reminder email opens Quarterly updates with its tax year already selected, so check the tax year shown at the top of the page is the one you meant to correct before you choose the business and quarter. If the quarter in the link is not among your obligations for the tax year shown, the page says Quarter Not Found, names the tax year that quarter belongs to when it can see it, and offers Choose another quarter to go back to the quarter list.

Progress saved before a submission is never offered to you again. If HMRC accepted figures for that quarter after the progress was saved, for example because the page closed while the submission was being accepted, aligned.tax discards the saved progress and opens the quarter fresh. Saved progress for a filed quarter that can no longer be corrected, because a later quarter is already filed or the year has been finalised, is discarded in the same way, so you are told why the quarter cannot be corrected rather than being shown old figures again. If you open a link to saved work that has since been sent, it tells you “This update has already been sent to HMRC. You can see it in Past submissions.” When you arrive from a reminder email, saved progress is only offered while that quarter is still open. A correction therefore always starts from your corrected workbook, not from work that has already been sent.

A correction always covers the whole quarter, from the start of the tax year to the end of that quarter. You cannot correct a shorter period inside it. This holds when you come back to saved progress that is still resumable as well: the period is restored as the whole quarter, whatever was saved earlier.

If the send gets no answer

If your browser stops waiting or loses the connection while the correction is being sent, aligned.tax does not treat that as a failure, because the server may have reached HMRC. The review shows “We’re checking whether HMRC received this update. Please don’t send it again.”, Submit to HMRC reads Checking with HMRC… and stays unavailable, and aligned.tax re-reads its own record of the update for about two minutes. If that record shows the update was sent, you go to the usual submitted screen, though the receipt has no HMRC reference or acceptance time, because HMRC’s answer never reached aligned.tax. If it still cannot tell, you end on Outcome needs checking below. Pressing Submit again on an update that has in fact gone is handled the same way: aligned.tax checks its record rather than showing a refusal. Where the figures were prepared from your transactions, that follow-up is the update’s own filing-status check, and you can run it yourself with Check filing status on the review; once the check shows the update as sent, or as still being sent, the quarter moves to its own outcome screen.

That check belongs to the quarter you sent from. If you move to another quarter while it is running, it stops there and nothing from it appears on the quarter you have opened, so check the first quarter’s outcome in Past submissions rather than waiting for a message on the new one.

If only the step that records your declaration went unanswered, nothing reached HMRC, and the message says so: “We did not get an answer in time. Nothing has been sent to HMRC. Try submitting again.”

If the outcome is uncertain

If the screen says Outcome needs checking, do not send the figures again straight away. For a summary spreadsheet upload, use Check with HMRC on that panel: aligned.tax reads HMRC’s record for the period and records the answer. Checking never sends the submission again. You can run the same check from that submission’s receipt in Past submissions.

Where the figures were prepared from your transactions, that panel offers Check filing status instead. It reads aligned.tax’s own record of the update, which is followed up with HMRC where that is needed, and it sends nothing again. If the status cannot be read, the step says “We could not check the status of this update. Try again in a moment.” and you can choose Check filing status again.

• If HMRC has the figures, the submission is recorded as accepted. Choose View Submission History to read the receipt.
• If HMRC did not receive it, nothing was filed. The Review & Submit card stays available so you can submit the quarter again. In Past submissions the attempt shows Not received by HMRC rather than Rejected, because HMRC did not reject anything.
• If HMRC does not show it yet, the message tells you when to check again. HMRC can take a few minutes to show new figures.
• If HMRC holds different figures for the period, aligned.tax cannot tell whether this submission arrived. You can choose Send these figures to HMRC again, which replaces the figures HMRC holds with these ones after you confirm, or contact support and quote the reference shown. Only send again if these are the figures you want HMRC to have.

If HMRC was busy or could not be reached when you submitted, the message says that nothing was filed. Wait a few minutes, then submit again.

A reviewer cannot run this check. aligned.tax says only someone who can submit for that client can check it with HMRC, so ask whoever files for the client. If the outcome is still uncertain after the check, contact support before trying again.

If the original source was saved transactions

Correct the records through the authorised transaction or accounting workflow, then prepare and review an updated filing for the permitted HMRC period. To do that from the correction, choose My transactions at Add figures: because the quarter is being corrected, this opens the quarter’s transaction review on the same page rather than Transactions, and you carry on to Review & Submit from there.

Figures prepared from your transactions are reviewed and sent on that same Review & Submit step as a corrected spreadsheet is, and the card at the top shows Source: Saved checked records with the period you are correcting. The step says “Confirmed transactions are included in these period figures. HMRC receives the category totals shown below.” Beside it you can use Save and close to leave the prepared figures as they are, and the step’s back button reads Back to transactions.

If your records change after the figures were prepared, a Prepared figures need updating panel says “Your records changed after these figures were prepared. Prepare them again to include the latest changes before you submit.” and offers Prepare again, which prepares them on the spot without leaving the review, and Back to transactions. Submit to HMRC stays unavailable while that is outstanding, and the list above it names it; pressing Submit anyway says “Your records have changed since these figures were prepared. Prepare them again before submitting.” If the prepared figures list expenses as one total and aligned.tax cannot tell whether that choice was confirmed, preparing them again takes you back to your transactions, where you confirm it: “These figures list expenses as one total. Prepare them again from your transactions, where you confirm that choice.”

A corrected payment is labelled Correction not yet submitted until an update includes it. If the correction sends you to Transactions to add or check that quarter’s transactions, the quarterly update bar there carries the correction with you: it says you are correcting that quarter, and to add or check its transactions there and then return to the correction to send it again. Choose Return to correction in that bar to go back to the correction’s own review of the quarter’s figures. If you open Transactions for that quarter on its own instead, the bar says the quarter is filed, with a link to Past submissions, rather than offering File this quarter, so start the correction from Correct & Resubmit. Where transactions cannot be used for the update, My transactions is unavailable and says why. From Add your summary of totals you can also choose Use My transactions to go back to the question with that answer already chosen.

A record correction does not automatically change a submission HMRC already holds. An adviser with Manage my records can correct your saved records, but their direct invitation does not permit them to submit the corrected update. Filing still requires your own access or the relevant practice and HMRC permissions. Resolve any uncertain submission outcome before starting again, and review a fresh preparation if the source records changed.

Things to know

• HMRC’s figures are checked again just before sending. For self-employment and UK property, if they changed after you checked the update, nothing is sent and you see “HMRC’s figures changed since you checked this update. Review it again before sending.”
• A refusal that would simply repeat locks Submit until the update is checked again. When aligned.tax stops a submission for a reason a second attempt would hit as well, a Nothing was sent to HMRC panel says that submitting again now would be refused for the same reason, and Submit to HMRC stays unavailable. The same lock applies when the update is being prepared for review, so you may meet it on the way to Review & Submit rather than only when you press Submit. Choose Refresh HMRC details and check again in that panel: it refreshes your HMRC details and the review, and sends nothing to HMRC. Submit becomes available again once that refresh and the check have both worked. If your HMRC details could not all be refreshed, you see “We could not refresh all of your HMRC details. Try again in a few minutes.” and Submit stays unavailable. If the refusal was that the business this update was prepared for is no longer active, the update cannot be sent at all: “This update was prepared for business details that are no longer active, so it cannot be sent. Choose another quarter, or start this update again so it uses your current business details.”
• A refusal of figures prepared from your transactions offers the next step beside it. Where the refusal names one, the message is followed by Prepare this update again, which prepares the figures from your transactions once more without leaving the review, and by View past submissions where the refusal points at an update you have already sent. Where the figures were not prepared as totals, that first button reads Return to transactions and takes you back to the quarter’s transaction review.
• A refusal because how this business files must be chosen first offers you that step. A spreadsheet correction can be refused because HMRC holds an update for that business that was sent from other software, or because your last update was worked out a different way. The message names what stopped it, says nothing was sent to HMRC, and asks you to choose how to continue at the quarter’s Add figures step. Choose Choose how to continue in that panel to open the switch step without leaving the correction; once you confirm the choice there, a spreadsheet correction carries on at Add your summary of totals, without asking again how you want to add the figures. Submit to HMRC is not locked by this refusal, and you can meet it on the way to Review & Submit rather than only when you press Submit. See Uploading a Spreadsheet and Cumulative Quarterly Updates.
• Only the latest filed quarter can be corrected. Correct & Resubmit is offered for the latest quarter you have filed for that business and tax year. A correction link for an earlier quarter, or one opened before a later quarter was filed, is refused as soon as you choose the quarter, before any upload work: “This quarter cannot be corrected here”, with the reason “A later quarter is already filed for this business and tax year. HMRC only accepts a correction to the latest filed quarter, so correct the year-to-date figures by resubmitting that quarter.”, and it points you to open Past submissions and use Correct & Resubmit on the latest quarter shown for that business. The same rule is checked again on the server, so nothing is sent.
• Reviewers do not see Correct & Resubmit. Only someone who can upload for the business can start a correction.
• You cannot go back further than your last filed period. HMRC rejects a submission whose period ends before the latest one it holds (“you cannot submit for an earlier period than your last submission”). If Q3 is filed and Q2 was wrong, correct the year-to-date figures by submitting Q3 again.
• A quarter you missed does not have to be sent on its own. An unsent earlier quarter never blocks a later one, so there is no order to work through. In the Quarterly updates quarter list, a quarter you can still send says what it covers: where an earlier quarter is still unsent, its card adds “This update also covers Q1, which you have not sent. Updates are cumulative, so HMRC treats it as sent once this update is accepted.”, followed by a line about the missed deadline, which for the 2026-27 tax year says there is no penalty point and for later years says HMRC may still give one. The missed quarter’s own card says “You do not need to send this quarter on its own. The Q2 update covers it too, because updates are cumulative. Sending it separately first is optional.” Neither note stops you choosing either quarter.
• A quarter you never sent is shown as covered, not as something to correct. In the Quarterly updates quarter list, an open quarter whose period an update you have already sent covers shows Covered in place of an upload action, with “Covered by your later update”. Choosing it says “This quarter is already covered by the update you sent for the period to 5 October 2026. Updates are cumulative, so HMRC treats this quarter as sent once it has processed that update, which can take up to an hour. Refresh your obligations to see it as fulfilled.” There is nothing to correct on that quarter: if the figures were wrong, correct the latest quarter you have filed.
• Corrections after the year is finalised are part of an amendment. Once the year’s return has been sent, a correction on its own is refused before anything is sent, with the reason “This tax year’s return has been sent to HMRC, so its quarterly updates cannot be corrected on their own. The figures can only change by amending the year’s return.” While the year’s return is being amended, Correct & Resubmit is offered again on the latest filed quarter, and the corrected figures become part of the amendment.
• The receipt for the correction is a new receipt. Keep both if you need to show what changed and when.
• Agents: the correction is filed under the same authorisation and appears against the client in the workspace.

FAQ

Will HMRC penalise a correction?

Correcting a quarterly update is normal and expected. Late-submission points relate to missing the deadline, not to corrections. See The Penalty-Free Period.

Can I delete a submission?

No. HMRC has it. Submit the quarter again with the correct figures; the new figures replace the old ones.

I submitted the wrong business.

Submit the right business’s quarter with its correct figures. For the business that received the wrong figures, submit its quarter again with its true year-to-date figures (zeros if it had nothing to report).