Keeping and checking transaction records

Transactions is a place to keep individual income and expenses, check their categories and prepare a Making Tax Digital Income Tax quarterly update. Availability depends on your account, business and permissions. If it is not available, you can still use the Summary XLSX journey in Quarterly updates. Foreign Property uses Summary spreadsheets.

Choose the right business and year

Open Transactions when it appears in your sidebar. Check the business and the tax year before adding anything. Practices must also check the selected client. Records stay with that business and year when you return from a form. The business list shows each self-employment or UK property business that was trading at some point in the selected tax year, including one whose HMRC record has a cessation date later in that year or after it. A business that stopped trading before the tax year started, or starts after it ends, is not listed for that year.

Transactions can also be opened from a link that names a client and a tax year, and may name a business and a quarter as well. Opened that way, the page applies the client and tax year in the link before showing any records, so you do not see another client’s records by mistake. If it cannot apply them, because you may not have access to them here, it says so and offers Continue with the selected client. If the link also names a business that cannot be found for that client, the page says so and offers to show the business you have selected instead. A quarter in the link is used only when it belongs to the business and tax year being shown; otherwise the whole tax year is shown. A quarter you have already filed, or one a later update already covers, has nothing left to send, so it is used only while you are correcting that quarter; otherwise the page goes back to the quarter due now. The address keeps the client, business, tax year and quarter you are looking at, so a reload or your browser’s Back button returns to the same records. Choosing another business clears the quarter.

Each quarterly update is worked out either from a summary of totals or from your transactions; you choose which at the quarter’s Add figures step. An existing draft stays with its chosen source until you start again or deliberately change source where that option is available. Under the business and tax year, Transactions says that recording payments is one way to work out your update totals, the other being a summary spreadsheet, and which way the business uses for that tax year, with a Change how you add figures link. The link opens Quarterly updates, where choosing the other way at the next quarter asks you to confirm the switch first; see Cumulative Quarterly Updates. See Managing your income sources.

Add transactions

Choose Add transactions. The panel asks you to choose how to add them, or to drop a receipt or invoice below, and reminds you that you check each one before it counts.

There are four ways in, three for a practice:

Add one by hand: Enter manually opens the transaction form on the same screen.
Upload a bank export: Import transactions opens the transaction import, for an XLSX or CSV file from your bank, or your own spreadsheet. You check the columns before importing. For a practice it is your client’s bank export or spreadsheet.
Send by Telegram, for individuals only: a photo of a receipt, or a message with the date and amount, from your phone, arriving here to check. Choose Set up Telegram, or Manage Telegram once it is connected.
Email a receipt: forward it to your receipts address and it arrives here to check. Choose Set up email, or Manage email once it is connected. For a practice, Set up client email gives your client an address to forward receipts to.

A way that cannot be used stays on screen with its button unavailable and the reason beside it, rather than disappearing. The reason may be that adding transactions is not available for this business yet, that your role can view transactions but cannot add them, that sending receipts by Telegram or by email is not available for this account yet, or a step to finish first, for example “Only the account owner can connect a sending account.”, “Finish your taxpayer setup before connecting a sending account.” or “Connect HMRC before connecting a sending account.” A channel that is already connected always opens, so its permissions and Disconnect stay reachable.

Under the ways, after an “or”, is the drop area for documents: Choose files to add a receipt or invoice, or Take photo on a mobile device. We read the details for you to check. On a computer, you can also drag receipts straight onto the transactions list: the drop area covers the whole page, a capture opens and each file is read for you to check. Dropped files must be PDF, JPEG, PNG or WEBP. If you drop a spreadsheet or a CSV file, a message asks you to use Import transactions instead, and if you drop a mixture, only the PDF, JPEG, PNG and WEBP files are added.

Choose Enter manually to open the transaction form on the same screen. Check the description, income or expense direction, actual payment date, amount, category and claim amount. You can type the amount as it reads, for example £1,234.56, and dates are entered day first, for example 21/02/2026. Optional references, supplier or customer names and contact links are under More details.

Income starts with Turnover for a self-employment business or Rental income for UK property. Check the category and change it where needed. These defaults do not require AI categorisation. Uploaded documents are still read for their details, and uncategorised expenses can receive category suggestions. Choosing a category yourself stops further automatic categorisation of that draft.

Some expenses can only be categorised once you say why you bought them. For a meal, the draft asks “Were you travelling for work when you bought this?”. For fuel it asks whether it was for work journeys, and for a phone bill whether the phone is used only for work. Each answer sets the category and how much you can claim: Yes records a claimable cost, No records it as not claimable, and Partly asks for the personal part. The question only appears for self-employment expenses, and you can still change the category and claim below it. When a category could not be chosen automatically, the draft may show Our best guess with the reason it was unsure. This works the same for uploaded documents, typed entries, imported spreadsheets, email and Telegram. Choose Use this category to accept it, or pick another category. A suggested category can show the reason it was suggested. The form you add a transaction in uses the same HMRC category wording as the panel you check it in, so both name and search the same categories.

Save draft keeps unfinished details for later. Wait for Saved before leaving. If saving fails or its result is uncertain, use the displayed retry action and check the result.
Confirm transaction saves and confirms a complete payment directly. There is no second confirmation queue. Uploaded receipts and invoices start with Yes, paid selected, or Yes, received for money in. If the document reads as an unpaid invoice, for example it shows an amount due or payment terms, it starts with Not yet instead, unless you have already changed the draft. Check this either way. Because an invoice can be one you received or one you sent, the draft then asks you to choose whether the money goes out or comes in, with the amount due already filled in where it could be read. If a document date is found, it prefills the payment date with an amber reminder to check it. Correct the date where needed. Confirm only when these details reflect the actual payment. After confirmation, a green message appears in place of the buttons, with Back to transactions. If the payment date falls in another tax year, Confirm transaction is replaced by the choices in the date panel described under Payments dated in another tax year below.
Import transactions opens the transaction import on Transactions, where Upload individual transactions takes an XLSX workbook or a bounded UTF-8 CSV bank or transaction export through Choose an XLSX or UTF-8 CSV spreadsheet. Save or export records held in any other format to XLSX before uploading. Download sample XLSX gives you a one-row-per-transaction example; when the list is scoped to a quarter, its guidance is dated to that quarter. Check the selected rows, date, description and amount columns, then check the categories. If your spreadsheet has no headings above its columns, for example a bank export that starts with its first transaction, open Change columns and answer No to Does your spreadsheet have headings?. Answer Yes and give the row number when the headings are lower down the sheet. When a sheet layout is recognised, the sheets and columns you chose for it are remembered for that business, so the next import of the same layout starts with the same choices for you to check. Common headings such as Receipt/payment date, Payments / Receipts and Customer/supplier are recognised. Rows that total other rows, such as Total, Q1 Result, YTD Q1 Result or Balance c/f, are left out and listed under why rows are left out, and so are rows with no date and no amount, such as a row of £ signs under the headings or a £0.00 row kept for a later month. Each row with a problem says what is wrong directly under the row, and the message above the import button names the rows. Choose Leave this row out (or untick the row) to import the rest, or use Choose another file. An undated brought-forward or opening adjustment, such as Prepayments b/f with N/a as its date, is named as one: add the date it belongs to in your spreadsheet, or untick it. Where your spreadsheet has one Amount column with money out as minus figures, a row showing money in for a payment that is money out on other rows (for example a letting fee entered as +138 when every other letting fee is -138), or whose expenses column is negative, stops the import with a note that the sign may be the wrong way round, so it never arrives as income by mistake. Correct the sign, choose It is money in if it really is money in (for example a refund from the same supplier), or choose Leave this row out. A bank transfer, such as an internet transfer in from an account you also send money to, is not flagged this way, because transfers go both ways between the same two accounts. The import covers the selected tax year rather than one update, so a full-year spreadsheet can be used as it is. Rows dated outside that tax year hold the import until you leave them out, with the count and a Leave out action; where any of them are dated before 6 April 2026, when Making Tax Digital records start, the message says so and asks you to leave them out. The limit is 20 MB. Importing a bank export does not connect a live bank feed. If any row with an amount cannot be recorded, for example it has no description or date, shows an amount in another currency such as €45 or an amount that cannot be read clearly such as 1,2,50, nothing from the file is imported and the message names the sheet and row to correct. Amounts in brackets or with a minus sign are money out, and dates such as 3 Sep 2026 or 21/02/26 are read day first. Dates in Check your import are shown as dd/mm/yyyy. When the file has separate money in and money out columns (for example Paid in and Paid out), a column headed Type, such as the transaction type in a bookkeeping export, is not used, because those columns already say which way the money went. If your spreadsheet has a category column and a row with an amount leaves it blank, Check your import marks that row No category and says how many transactions have no category. They are still imported, but are not counted in the totals until you choose a category. Because your spreadsheet travels with it, the import is given a longer wait than other requests. If it still gets no answer, because your connection dropped or the wait ran out, the step stays as it is with a message saying so and a Try again button that sends the same file and the same choices. An import that did arrive is not added a second time: the same file and choices return the same import.
Set up Telegram and Set up email, or Set up client email for a practice, open the connection steps under the ways. Individual setup uses your own verified sender, and one card’s setup can be open on its own. A practice uses delegated client setup and cannot become the client sender by selecting a client; practices cannot connect Telegram at all, so that card is not shown to them. For a practice, client email setup is offered only where it is switched on for the practice; otherwise the card says why, and in an open transaction the link is not shown at all. Creating the client setup link also needs the agent turned on, and not paused, in Ask Aligned under Your agent; if it is off, the message asks your practice owner or manager to turn it on. The client then confirms their own email address with a code and gives their consent before records are received. The Set up button on the Home checklist step Choose how your receipts reach us opens Transactions with Add transactions already showing the connection steps: both Telegram and email for an individual, and client email for a practice.

Anything still needed is listed above the buttons under “Before you can confirm:”, written as plain instructions such as Add the amount, Choose a category or Choose how much you can claim. Selecting an instruction takes you to that field, opening More details first if the field is in there. If you answered Not yet, the list asks you to confirm it once it has been paid or to change your answer. An instruction that is not about one field, for example a possible duplicate, is listed as text.

While a transaction is open, the other ways are short links under its details: Import transactions, Send by Telegram and Email a receipt, or Set up client email for a practice. A way that cannot be used is left out there, because its card already says why.

Saving a draft needs Bookkeeper access or above. Confirming needs Preparer access or above. With read-only access you can view retained records and evidence but cannot save or confirm them.

Payments dated in another tax year

A transaction belongs to the tax year its payment date falls in, so a payment date outside the selected tax year has to be settled before it can be confirmed. An amber panel names the payment date and the tax year it belongs to, and the usual confirm button is not offered while it is outstanding. The panel behaves the same when you are adding a transaction and when you are checking one in To check.

A date in another tax year you can select: the panel offers to confirm it in that year and names it, for example Confirm in 2027/28, alongside Change the date if the date is wrong. Confirming in that year becomes available once everything else in the list is clear.
A date before your first MTD tax year, which started on 6 April 2026: the payment is not needed in these records. Choose Change the date if the date is wrong, or Remove receipt (Remove entry for a payment you typed in) and confirm that choice; Keep it cancels. Removing it won’t add anything to your records. Removing a receipt that arrived by email or Telegram also closes the message it came from.
A date later than any tax year you can file, or in an earlier tax year that can no longer be selected: the panel asks you to check the date. Use Change the date.

Confirming in the payment’s own tax year moves that draft, with any supporting documents attached to it, into that year. A message says which year it was confirmed in and that you need to switch the tax year to see it; in To check it appears briefly at the bottom of the screen. This confirmation is sent straight away, without the brief Undo. If it cannot be confirmed in that year yet, for example because it is a possible duplicate, it still moves there and the message says what is left to do once you have switched to that year. Confirming several selected drafts together only ever confirms into the selected tax year, so a draft dated in another year has to be dealt with on its own.

Removing a receipt removes it, and any supporting documents still waiting with it, from your lists. It is not used in any update and never becomes a transaction. The original file is kept for your records under the normal retention rules. Removing needs Preparer access or above. A receipt that has already become a transaction cannot be removed this way, so exclude the transaction instead, and a supporting document for another transaction cannot be removed on its own.

Add several files

Use Choose files to attach documents. You can also drag files into the drop area, labelled Drop receipts, invoices or photos here, or use Take photo on a mobile device. The drop area is shown under the ways to add, before you open a transaction; to add another receipt once one is open, choose Add another transaction at the bottom. Desktop browsers show Choose files; opening the camera depends on the mobile browser. The editor accepts PDF documents up to 10 MB and JPEG, PNG or WEBP photos up to 7.5 MB, with up to 10 files at a time. A larger photo is refused straight away with a message asking for a photo under 7.5 MB. Each file becomes a separate draft by default, with its own progress beside it and, once it has been read, the first thing still to do plus how many more remain. Open each item to check its facts and original document. A single receipt opens directly without a list. The same animated AI indicator used by Smart Map appears during upload and document reading. Reading progress and any failure appear above the details. If reading fails, your file is retained: retry reading or complete the details manually.

For more pages or documents supporting one payment, open that payment’s transaction and choose Attach another page or document below its document (on a mobile device, Take a photo is beside it). A short note names the transaction the files will be attached to and says they won’t create separate transactions. Unsaved details are saved before the files are attached; until something has been entered, the link asks you to enter some details first. This is an explicit association: several files are not automatically treated as one payment. If attachment fails, follow Retry attaching to transaction and check the result before confirming.

With several transactions, choose Select multiple, select only the items you have checked, then use the batch confirmation button, labelled Confirm N ready, where N is the number ready to confirm. Incomplete, unpaid or blocked items remain drafts. A draft dated in another tax year is one of these: open it and use the choices in its date panel. Check the outcome for each item; a failed item does not undo the payments already confirmed. For example, you can confirm four checked invoices and leave a fifth unfinished.

Financial spreadsheets, official templates and Foreign Property uploads must be XLSX. Save or export Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice, CSV and legacy XLS files to XLSX before upload. Transaction import is the one exception, taking a bounded UTF-8 CSV export as well as XLSX. Renaming a file does not convert it.

Connect your Telegram account

Telegram takes transaction details and receipt photos from your verified Telegram account. When Telegram setup is available, select Connect Telegram to create a linking code. The screen then shows Connect Telegram in 5 steps, with Open Telegram first, followed by the numbered steps.

Install Telegram if you do not have it, then sign in. The steps link to Telegram on the App Store and Google Play.
Tap Open Telegram above. It opens a chat with our bot, and the step shows the bot’s username so you can check the chat you are opening.
Tap Start at the bottom of the chat. This sends your linking code for you.
The bot does not reply to Start. Come back to this page instead: it checks automatically and changes to Connected within a few seconds.
Once connected, send a photo of a receipt to the bot. It replies to say it has been received, and you check it in Transactions before anything is filed.

The linking code is shown in large letters under the steps. If Start is not shown, type the code, or copy it with Copy linking code, and send it as a message in that bot chat. Nothing else is needed in the message. Each code can only be used once and expires after 15 minutes. The time left is shown under the code. If it expires, select Create a new code and use the new code.

Voice notes through Telegram are not available yet, so the voice transcription permission for Telegram is shown but cannot be switched on.

If Copy linking code or Copy address cannot copy automatically, press and hold the displayed code or receiving email address, or select the text, then choose Copy. Automatic copying may be unavailable on an HTTP page or when your browser refuses clipboard access.

Send receipts by email

Connect one email address from Email a receipt in Transactions > Add transactions: choose Set up email. Choose a memorable name for your receipts address and save it. If the name is already taken, choose another. Save the full address as a contact and send receipts from the email address you verified. Changing the name replaces your previous personal receipts address, so update any saved contact or forwarding rule. The same address works for all your businesses. You can write “File this for Test Business Ltd” or “Business: UK property” in the subject or message. If more than one business could fit and you have not named one, reply to the business question with its number. You can also choose the business in Transactions review. Older business-specific receipts addresses continue to work.

Email and Telegram use the same transaction review and category checks. A forwarded document is read for its labelled payment total, a date printed on it, and whether it records money already paid, so a clear paid receipt can arrive with the amount, date and direction already filled in for you to check. A total written in the message itself with no space after its label, such as Total:£13.70, is not read as the payment, so the reply asks you for the amount: a figure printed straight against its label is read only from a forwarded document or photo. A numeric date printed on a document is read day first, so 21/02/26 is 21 February 2026, and a date whose day and month cannot be real, such as 07/29/26, is not used. A date printed straight after a reference label on the same line, for example “Order ref: 21/02/25”, or printed on its own line directly under such a label, is read as part of that reference rather than the payment date, so it is not filled in for you. A date after “Receipt No.” or “Order #” is read the same way, but a plain Receipt or Order heading labels the document’s own date, so “Order 21/02/25” is read as the payment date for you to check. Anything less certain arrives for review with what could be read already filled in, for you to check. A message that prices something only in another currency, for example “€45 for lunch” or “12.33 usd”, is treated like a document that does: the amount is left blank and the reply asks for the amount in pounds, naming what your message showed. A currency code in your message counts whether you write it in capitals or lower case, except for a code that is also an everyday word, such as “try”, which only counts in capitals. When you are answering a question about the amount, any currency code counts, so reply with the amount in pounds only, for example 12.33. A reference written in the message itself, for example “Ref: INV-1234”, is kept with the record in the same way as one printed on a document, as long as the message gives only one. An invoice that still shows an amount due is held as unpaid, whichever way it arrives, until you say it has been paid; the same applies to a payment dated before 6 April 2026. The reply to your email or Telegram message says why an item was held and lists every detail still needed. Telegram asks for all of them in one message, and you can answer them in one reply, for example 12.33 yesterday out. When you confirm or leave out the item in aligned.tax, the sender gets a short reply, for example Confirmed: £12.33 Burger King, 17 Sep. A document carrying a seller’s wording such as “sale” or “sales tax” is treated differently: a card sale slip may record your own sale, so the amount and date are filled in but you choose whether the money went out or came in. Because an invoice may be one you issued, an unpaid invoice is asked about rather than guessed. Confirming or correcting a category can create a private rule for matching later records in your organisation. You still need to check each suggestion; a new or unclear receipt may need a manual category.

When the bot asks a follow-up question, answer its latest question. If you send a different receipt instead, it is added as a new item and the question stays open for your answer. If that receipt needs details too, the bot asks about it instead, and you can finish the earlier item in Transactions. For money going out, you can reply “expense” or “go out”; for money coming in, reply “income” or “came in”. Check the business and extracted details before confirming the record.

If several receipts are waiting for answers, open Transactions review to check each message separately. The bot’s current replies may not reliably identify which receipt you mean.

Check documents and resume drafts

Open To check to work through everything waiting. Selecting a transaction opens its details beside the list on a wide screen, or in a panel from the bottom of the screen on a narrow one. For a draft, that panel is the quick check: the amount, Money out or Money in, what it was for, whether it has been paid, the payment date, the category and claim, and the supplier or customer. The top of the panel lists everything still needed under “Before you can confirm:”, as plain instructions; selecting one moves you to that field, bringing it into view when it sits below the fold. When nothing is outstanding it says it is ready to confirm. Check it against the document, then choose Looks right, confirm. If the payment date is in another tax year, that button is replaced by the choices described under Payments dated in another tax year above. If the confirmation cannot go through, the transaction stays open with the reasons it was not confirmed listed in the panel, so you can finish it before moving on. A row that is already ready also shows its own Confirm button in the list. Full details opens the complete editor for references, matching, attachments and optional text fields. While that editor is open the list stays in place, but its details panel and the keyboard shortcuts are unavailable until you save or close it. Incoming records that need a business or tax year use Review or Full details to complete that placement first. Typed entries, uploaded documents, imported rows awaiting review and incomplete email or Telegram records appear with a reason showing what still needs checking. For an incoming record without a business or year, check your selection and use the save button naming that business and tax year before confirming.

A line that reached you from a client’s form is shown as Client form in place of its source, both on its row in the list and at the top of its details, and it is shown there while the line is still a draft, before anything has been confirmed. Narrow screens drop the other sources’ labels from the row, but a form line keeps its Client form label at every width.

The panel and the full editor ask the same question about payment. For money out it reads Have you paid this yet?, and for money in Have you been paid yet?:

Yes, paid or Yes, received: enter the date the money actually moved, day first, and check the remaining details before confirming.
Not yet: the draft is kept, shown as Unpaid in the list, and left out of your totals. Find it again under Unpaid. When it is paid, open it, choose Yes, enter the actual payment date and check the other details.
Not sure: keep the draft until you know whether the money moved. It cannot be confirmed as a payment yet.

If the payment is already recorded, open Full details and use the document’s matching controls to find the existing transaction for this business. Matching retains the evidence without adding the money a second time.

On a wide screen you can review without the mouse. The up and down arrows, or J and K, move between transactions. Enter confirms a ready draft and moves to the next, and keeps you on the draft when it could not be confirmed. C changes the category, V opens the document, E opens the editor, S moves to the supplier or customer, T adds a tag, D compares possible duplicates, X excludes or restores a confirmed transaction and N adds transactions. 1, 2 and 3 switch between To check, Confirmed and All transactions, / moves to the search box and Escape returns from the panel to the list. Choose All shortcuts, or press ?, for the full list. Shortcuts do not run while you are typing in a field.

A confirmation is held for a few seconds before it is sent, so Undo in the message at the bottom of the screen, or U, puts the transaction back in To check without anything to reverse. Starting another confirmation sends the previous one straight away, and leaving the page sends anything still waiting. If the open transaction has changes that are not saved yet, Looks right, confirm saves and confirms them straight away, without the brief Undo. Excluding a confirmed transaction offers the same brief Undo.

To confirm several at once, tick the transactions you have checked, or press Space on each row, then choose Confirm with the number ready beside it. Shift and click, or Shift with the arrow keys, selects a range, Ctrl and A selects everything shown, and Escape clears the selection. The bar says how many of the selected still need checking, counting only the ones still to check; those stay as they are. Every selected transaction is checked first: if any could not be confirmed, nothing is confirmed and the message names each one and what it still needs, so you can finish or deselect them. If something goes wrong while confirming, a message names how many failed and the first reason, and the transactions already confirmed are not undone.

The same bar takes two other actions on the rows you have ticked. Exclude N, where N is the number it can act on, leaves those transactions out of your figures at once, with a brief Undo in the message at the bottom of the screen that restores the ones it changed; if it restores fewer than it excluded, the message says so and asks you to check All transactions for the rest. The message and its Undo stay on screen even when excluding leaves no rows on the list. Delete permanently asks you to confirm first, then deletes the rows it can and says how many it deleted, for example “Deleted 2 transactions permanently.”. A selected transaction that is already in an update sent to HMRC stays as it is: the bar says how many, and asks you to use Make correction to change them. Where none of the selected rows can be excluded, or none can be deleted, that button is unavailable and says why, because transactions used in a tax update, added to your accounts or with a receipt attached are kept.

Document reading and category suggestions depend on the services available for your account. While a document is read for the first time, the form waits a few seconds so its details can be filled in for you. Choose Type the details in myself to enter them yourself instead. Anything you type is kept and never replaced by what is read from the document. Check every suggestion against the original: the system has not verified the payment. If reading fails, the original remains retained; enter the facts yourself or use Retry reading document. Your saved edits remain the details you chose. For a typed entry, a failed category suggestion leaves your saved details editable. Choose a category yourself or use Retry category suggestion.

If a receipt lists several item prices but shows one labelled payment total, that total is treated as the payment and filled in for you to check. An invoice’s labelled amount due is treated the same way. The same rule applies however the document arrives: uploaded here, emailed or sent by Telegram. If a document shows an amount in another currency, for example in dollars or euros, or names another currency such as USD, the amount is left blank so you can enter what you paid in pounds. On a document, a total printed straight after its label, such as Total:£13.70, is read the same as Total: £13.70, while a figure printed against another kind of label, such as Ref:12.50 or Items:2, is a code or a count and is not read as the amount. A currency’s name written straight against a figure, such as Dollars:12.00 or Euros=45, names the currency that figure is in, so the amount is left blank for you to enter in pounds rather than read as a code or a count. If a payment label prints a figure that cannot be read as money, for example Payment ???, no other amount on the document stands for that payment, so enter the amount you paid. If the document shows several payment lines that disagree, the same payment line twice, or several amounts with no clear total, the draft says it seems to show more than one payment, so it can’t be added as one transaction. Enter the amount you paid and it is confirmed as one payment of that amount, with every other check still applying. Or choose Remove receipt: removing it won’t add anything to your records, and you can then add each payment yourself, so the same payment is not counted twice. A held receipt that does show one payment also offers Use £12.33 (with that receipt’s amount); choosing it fills in the amount so you can confirm.

The detail panel shows the retained image or PDF under Document, with Open larger, or V, for a bigger view. Original source and the file names switch between a payment’s supporting documents. The paperclip labelled Preview attachments on a row opens the same document without working through the panel. Preview original document remains available in the full editor, and View source remains in the panel. Supported receipt images and PDFs can be previewed in the app; download remains available for the original file. If a preview cannot load, retry to request a fresh link.

If a draft changed elsewhere, check the latest saved details, then choose Use latest saved details or Keep my edits with latest version. Your choice is saved before you continue. Background suggestions preserve your current edits without requiring that conflict choice. If confirmation meets a background update, check the refreshed details and confirm again. If another change still blocks confirmation, review the latest details again and confirm only those.

Check records before filing

The records workspace has To check, Confirmed and All transactions tabs. Before anything has been added, the page shows the Add transactions start instead of a list, and the summary says Nothing to check yet. The summary above the tabs shows how many records you have checked, how many are ready to confirm, how many need a look, how many are possible duplicates, and the income, expenses and profit so far. On a phone each of those figures is a row of its own, with its label beside it, so no figure is cut off. Where records need a look, the summary also lists them, each named by its description and date with the next step for it, for example the category or the payment date it still needs, and a Show me action that opens that record and puts the cursor on the control that fixes it. If a tag filter is hiding that row, Show me clears the filter first and then opens it. Possible duplicates are counted on their own rather than in that list. Unpaid drafts are waiting for payment rather than for a check, so they are left out of that progress count and are shown on a line of their own, saying how many are unpaid and left out of your totals; selecting that line filters the list to those records. Choosing the duplicate count filters the list to those records. Figures include confirmed transactions only once a confirmed total is available; otherwise the summary says the totals include records that still need confirmation. When the list is scoped to a quarter, the tabs, the summary and the filters cover that quarter’s period instead of the whole tax year. Drafts you have saved in that period stay in the list, in those counts and with their filing status, so narrowing to a quarter never hides work you have not finished. Filters contains Unpaid, Find duplicates, Tag and sorting, alongside the existing source and other filters. Source offers Spreadsheet, Telegram, Email, Manual payment, Client form and Document, so you can show only the records that came in one way. If more than 2,000 records are waiting to be checked, they are listed by the date they were added and the other sorting choices are turned off until fewer are waiting; search and filters still cover every record. The list shows the payment date, the transaction with its source and status, the category and the amount. While a transaction is open beside the list, the date and the status move under the description, so the description stays readable and a row’s Confirm, Compare or Review action stays one click away. Narrower screens drop the columns they cannot fit and keep the rest in the detail panel. Choose Edit details in the panel to correct a confirmed, unsubmitted payment’s description, amount, payment date or direction, then Save changes. The payment date is entered day first. Changing money in or out clears the category and claim, so check them again. Choose Edit category to change its category and claim. The panel for a confirmed transaction also shows its source evidence, its correction history, its supplier or customer link, which you can change there, and, where Cashbook is used, whether it is in the books. Saving a category change returns that record to draft for confirmation, so it joins the records that need a look, with Show me to take you to it.

Each unconfirmed record shows what it still needs, for example Payment date missing or Possible duplicate, or Ready to confirm when the required details are present but you have not yet confirmed them. A payment dated outside the selected tax year shows where it belongs instead, for example In the 2027/28 tax year, Paid before MTD, or Check the date. Filters group unconfirmed records under Drafts. Confirmed means you have checked and accepted the payment facts, category and claim amount. The separate HMRC status, shown in the detail panel, says whether that version was included in a successful quarterly update; Not submitted is normal for a confirmed record awaiting an update. Check each payment against its evidence and resolve possible duplicates before confirming. A retained document, a draft and a confirmed transaction are different stages; none means that HMRC has received an update.

Choose a detailed HMRC category for each expense. Consolidated expenses is a reporting choice when preparing the update, not a category for an individual payment. Ordinary uncategorised expenses start with Claim the full expense selected when you choose a category; check this and change it if any part cannot be claimed. Some categories still require an explicit claim decision. At filing, One expense total requires confirmation that the income source stayed below £90,000 last tax year and is expected to stay below it this tax year. If confirmed income in the update has already reached £90,000, use Expenses by category. The preparation check also tests the cumulative figures. If you previously assigned a payment to Consolidated expenses, give it a detailed category before preparing a detailed update.

For an unfinished record, check the category and claim amount in the panel, then choose Looks right, confirm. Full details provides the same checks in the complete editor. Category suggestions and recently confirmed categories can help you find the right category; Used before identifies your organisation’s category rules. For a confirmed, unsubmitted payment, use Edit category and Save changes, or Correct details in the panel. Submitted payments use Make correction so the saved filing keeps its original version. While a row is open for editing, finish it before changing filters, pages or businesses: a message says to finish editing the row first, and the filters and page controls are unavailable until you save or discard. Draft changes save automatically; Save draft is also available. If your draft input is invalid, correct it or choose Discard unsaved edits to restore the last saved values. An uncertain request must be retried before you leave the row.

Tags are your own labels for grouping transactions, for example by project or by client. Add one in Tags on the open transaction: start typing to find an existing tag, or choose Create tag to add a new one of up to 40 characters. Tags belong to your organisation, so a practice sees the same list for every client, while which records carry a tag stays with that client. Select several transactions and use Add a tag to the selected to tag them together. Selecting a tag on a row, choosing one in Filters, or using the suggestions that appear under the search box shows only the transactions carrying it; Show all, or clearing the Tag filter, returns to the full list. Tags are working labels only: they are not sent to HMRC and do not change a category or a claim.

If a source contains a supplier or customer name, the review can show it as a suggested name. Search your existing contacts, choose the correct customer for money in or supplier for money out, and confirm the link. You can also add a customer or supplier by name and link it in one action. If the contact on that transaction changed elsewhere while you were working, the link is refused: refresh the transaction and choose the contact again. The suggested name alone does not link or create a contact. You can leave it unlinked. A contact link helps identify the payment; it does not change the HMRC category or a submitted update.

The filing label on each saved payment shows whether its current version was included in a successfully submitted HMRC update for the selected business and tax year. Submitted has a green tick and lock. Not submitted means the current version has no verified submission. If you make a correction to a submitted payment, the submitted version stays in the saved filing and your change creates a new version labelled Correction not yet submitted until a later cumulative update includes it. An uncertain filing outcome is shown separately; check the saved filing before treating the payment as submitted. Excluding a payment does not erase the date of an earlier submitted version.

Two more labels come from switching how the year’s updates are worked out. If the update for that period came from a summary spreadsheet, a payment is labelled Not used: this update came from a spreadsheet (or Not used: this update came from other software when the update was sent with other software); it stays saved but was not part of that update. If you switched to transactions starting from your last update’s figures, a payment dated on or before those starting figures is labelled Before your starting figures, because HMRC’s figures already cover it and it is not counted on its own. If it was missed from those figures, choose “Add as a correction” to add it as a correction to an earlier quarter; the label then says it was added as a correction to your starting figures. If you later change that payment’s date, amount or category, or exclude or delete it, check the correction under Corrections to earlier quarters, shown with the prepared figures on Review & submit: the update cannot be prepared until you keep it (Keep correction) or remove it (Remove). Keeping or removing one there prepares the figures again, so the totals you submit reflect your choice. If an earlier version of the payment was included in an HMRC update and you then changed it, the starting figures already include that earlier version, so only the difference is missing: the label says so, and you add the difference yourself with Add a correction under Corrections to earlier quarters.

For an incoming message that should not become a transaction, choose Discard draft where available in To check. Confirm the choice to close that message and remove its unfinished cards from review. No transaction is created. The original evidence and an audit record remain under the normal retention rules.

You can keep adding records before an accounting starting position is ready. In Transactions mode, confirmed and checked records can supply a quarterly update without opening a Cashbook. If you have chosen Cashbook and Set up your Cashbook before confirming appears, use Review accounting setup or ask the authorised person who manages your accounts. Until the Cashbook opening position is set up, Looks right, confirm and Confirm for several selected transactions stay unavailable; the open transaction explains why and offers Set up opening. The same block applies while you are adding transactions: Confirm transaction, and Confirm N ready for several files, stay unavailable, with the reason and the step that sets up the opening shown beside them. Save draft stays available, and choosing that step leaves the transaction you are adding, checking first whether you have unsaved details. Saving a file does not confirm zero opening balances or replace an existing starting position. Confirm zero only if it is genuinely correct for the business. Once an update has been sent for the tax year, a zero opening is not offered for filing: the page says “An update has already been sent for this tax year, so the opening figures are not zero. Choose how to continue this year at your next quarter, then set up Cashbook from there.”

For Cashbook figures, accounting setup, category mappings, eligible dates, open accounting periods and posting permissions can still block a filing. Professional Cashbook tools provide the detailed accounting view when enabled; Transactions remains available for everyday records. If Cashbook is switched off while this business is still set to use it, the Accounting method panel stays on the records workspace and offers Use Transactions instead. Transactions you confirm meanwhile are saved but are not added to Cashbook. An update period that already has Cashbook postings stays protected: its figures cannot be prepared from Transactions.

Review a record in the accounting workspace

If you have access to Advanced accounting, choose Open accounting workspace and check the client, business, book and period. Select an entry to open Evidence and record detail.

For entries created from saved transactions, Evidence shows supported receipt images inside the app and lets you download the retained original when it is available. History shows the original payment and later corrections, including the amounts and dates. Accounting revision identifies the version linked to the accounting entry; Current revision identifies the latest saved version. Use Load older changes if more history is available. Discussion and collaboration history remain separate from the financial changes.

If evidence is unavailable or access has expired, follow the message in the drawer. A correction keeps the earlier versions; it does not replace the original file.

File a quarter from Transactions

A quarterly update bar on Transactions names the quarter to file next for this business, for example “Q2 UK property: 6 Apr to 5 Oct 2026”. That is the quarter due now: the earliest open quarter, or a later one whose update would cover it, and where nothing can be sent yet, the next quarter to open. Under it, the bar says how many transactions that quarter holds and how many still need checking, for example “8 transactions, 2 still to check” or “No transactions yet”, and when the update is due, for example “Due 7 Nov 2026” (or “Was due” when it is overdue). A draft you have saved in that quarter counts as one still to check, so the bar and the list agree. While the list still shows the whole tax year, Show them narrows it to that quarter. On a wide screen the bar sits under the page heading; on a phone it sits after the list and stays at the bottom of the screen while there is a quarter to file.

File this quarter hands over to the quarterly update for that business and quarter and opens the quarter’s transaction review, where you check the figures and submit. Nothing is submitted from Transactions. Where you cannot file it, the button stays unavailable with the reason beside it: “A Preparer or above must file this quarter. You can still add and check transactions.”, the message that adding figures from transactions is switched off for now, or, for a quarter HMRC has not opened yet, “HMRC accepts this update from 26 December 2026.” While your quarters are being loaded the bar says “Checking your quarters…”, and if they cannot be loaded it shows the reason with Try again.

If you came here from Correct & Resubmit to add or check a filed quarter’s records, the bar keeps that quarter in view and says you are correcting it, for example “You are correcting Q1. Add or check its transactions here, then return to the correction to send it again.” In place of File this quarter it offers Return to correction, which takes you back to the correction and checks its figures again. On a phone that bar stays at the bottom of the screen while you work. Choosing another quarter, showing the whole tax year or choosing another business ends the correction here, so start again from Correct & Resubmit with your past submissions.

Where more than one quarter is available, Quarter lists them, each with its due date or “filed”, so you can work on a quarter other than the one offered. Only the quarters HMRC accepts an update for today are listed, alongside the one being shown, so a quarter whose submission window has not opened yet is not offered there. You do not have to file in order, and an earlier quarter you have not sent never locks a later one. A quarter you have already filed, or one a later update already covers, says so instead of offering the button: “Q1 is filed.” or “Q1 is covered by your Q2 update.”, with a link to Past submissions. If there is nothing to file, the bar says “No quarter to file right now”.

Choosing a quarter narrows the list to that quarter’s period. Because updates are cumulative, that period is the tax year so far, so above the list you see “Showing Q2, year to date: 6 Apr to 5 Oct 2026”, with the quarter’s own months marked This quarter and a note that each update covers the tax year so far. Show the whole tax year returns to every record for the year. Changing the quarter, or going back to the whole year, starts the list again, so no page or filter is carried over from the previous view. While a quarter named in a link is being checked, the list says “Loading this quarter’s transactions…”.

Prepare the quarterly update

Open Quarterly updates in the sidebar to start the filing journey, or choose File this quarter on Transactions, described above, to go straight to a quarter’s transaction review. In Quarterly updates, choose the HMRC-backed update for the business and check its period. If there are no quarterly updates to send for the tax year you have selected, the page says so. On your own account it offers Refresh from HMRC, which checks every one of your businesses with HMRC again; it reads Refreshing… while it runs.

The quarter then asks one question, How do you keep your records?, with “Pick the one that sounds like you.” and two answers, each showing a few example rows:

A summary of totals: one figure for each type of income and expense, already added up, like a profit and loss report. Upload your spreadsheet or fill in our template.
My transactions: each payment in or out, with its own date. Add them by hand, from a bank export, or send them by Telegram or email, and we add them up for you. For a practice, your client sends them by email.

Choose an answer, then Continue. Until you choose one, the page says “Choose how you keep your records to continue.” Where transactions can be used, a note under the answers says that if each row in your records has its own date, you should choose My transactions. Once a business has an update, the question says how that last update was worked out and marks the matching answer Used last time. Back to quarters returns to the list of quarters, and the page repeats that nothing is sent to HMRC until you confirm.

A summary of totals opens its own step, Add your summary of totals, for year-to-date totals for this update. Upload your spreadsheet takes the spreadsheet you already use, and Smart Map matches your rows to HMRC’s boxes for you to check. Use our template gives you Download blank template (or Download template once that card is open): put figures in the yellow cells, do not add or remove rows or columns, save the completed file as .xlsx, then drop it back in. Whichever you used last time is marked Last used. Google Sheets, Numbers and CSV records must be saved as XLSX first. Under the cards, “Got a list of payments with dates instead?” offers Use My transactions, which returns to the question with My transactions already chosen, and Back returns to the question too. For a Foreign Property update this step uses our structured template, so uploading your own spreadsheet is unavailable there.

Because your spreadsheet travels with it, sending a completed template is given a longer wait than other requests. If it still gets no answer, because your connection dropped or the wait ran out, this step stays as it is with a message saying so and a Try again button that sends the same file again, rather than a browser error. If saved work or an update already being sent for this quarter turns up while this step is open, for example from another tab, that notice takes the place of the two cards and the step keeps its own Back to the records question.

My transactions takes you to Transactions for that business, tax year and quarter. Keep and check the records there, then choose File this quarter, which brings you back to this update and opens the quarter’s transaction review. Any mapping work that is not saved yet is saved as a draft before you leave, so a part-finished summary waits where you left it. Arriving from File this quarter, the quarter opens straight at its transaction review and your browser’s Back button returns to Transactions; work already prepared, or being sent, reopens where it was instead. While you are correcting a quarter you have already filed, going to Transactions carries the correction with it, so Transactions keeps that quarter in view and offers Return to correction in place of File this quarter.

Once the way this year’s updates are worked out is settled, the question becomes a single line: “You’re filing this year from your transactions” or “You’re filing this year from a summary”, with what that means, Continue, and the other way beside it as Use a summary instead or Use your transactions instead.

An answer that differs from the way this business files has to be confirmed first. The confirmation appears on the same step, under the answer you chose, and is the same confirmation as the separate switch step, with the same checks. While your choice is being saved, the two answers and Back to quarters wait for it, with “Saving your choice…” beside Back. Once you have saved it, the page carries on with the answer that needed it: a summary goes to Add your summary of totals, and My transactions opens the quarter’s transaction review when you came from File this quarter, or takes you to Transactions. If you close the panel, choose the other answer or move to another quarter before the save finishes, the page leaves you where you are instead of carrying you on with the answer that panel was for. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.

If adding figures from transactions is switched off for now, My transactions is unavailable and says so, asking you to use a summary spreadsheet for this update instead. That holds when you come back to a step you had already started, so a saved step never offers transactions once they are switched off. When you reload this step, or open it straight from a link, your records for that business are checked again: while that check runs, My transactions says it is being checked rather than calling itself unavailable, and it becomes available as soon as the check finishes. For a Foreign Property update, My transactions says that foreign property updates use category totals in our template, so the option is not available, and asks you to add the figures with a spreadsheet instead. If transactions cannot be used for the update at all, choosing them says “Transactions cannot be used for this update yet. Choose A summary of totals instead.”

If you come back to the import step of a quarterly update, for example after resuming or replacing an import, the page says Import your transactions on Transactions: bank exports and transaction spreadsheets, XLSX or CSV, are imported for the whole tax year there. Choose Go to Transactions, then File this quarter there to come back and check this update, or Back to stay in the quarter. While you are correcting a filed quarter, Go to Transactions carries the correction with it and Transactions offers Return to correction instead. A records file sent to you by a client still opens its own import check here.

Once you have chosen an update, the page keeps that choice if you reload it: returning to a quarter you had started reopens it where you left off, without asking again whether to continue. When you open a quarter from a link, such as one on Home, and it reopens saved work past the records question, that question is kept behind it, so your browser’s Back button lands there with the work still open rather than leaving the quarterly update. If you go back from the figures to the records question, however you get back to it, with the page’s own back control, your browser’s Back button or the step shown at the top of the page, it shows Transaction review in progress with the records it holds, so you can choose Continue reviewing to pick it up where you left it, on the page and with the filters it had, or Start again to clear that review and the saved progress for the quarter. If the records have changed since you left that page, the review opens on the first page with the same filters rather than losing its controls. Progress saved before a submission is not offered again once HMRC has accepted that update, so a quarter that has already been sent opens afresh rather than reopening work you cannot submit twice. That also covers a sent quarter that can no longer be corrected, because a later quarter has been filed or you have finalised the tax year: the saved work is dropped, so the page explains why the quarter cannot be corrected instead of reopening figures you cannot send. If saved work named in a link has already been sent, the page says the update has already been sent to HMRC and that you can see it in Past submissions. If you go back and choose a different quarter, the work you had in progress for the previous quarter is kept for that quarter, and the quarter you have opened starts with its own. If you return to a quarter that has an update prepared but not sent, it offers Continue to review. The records question, Add your summary of totals and the switch confirmation all count as Add figures in the step list at the top of the page, and Back from the mapping screen returns to Add your summary of totals with your mapping kept.

You do not have to file your quarters in order, and an earlier quarter you have not sent never locks a later one. Each update covers the tax year from 6 April, so the next update you send also covers a quarter you missed. Where that applies, the quarter you are about to send carries a note saying which earlier period it also covers, and the missed quarter carries a note saying that sending it on its own is optional. A quarter whose period a later update has already covered has nothing left to send: in place of its usual button it shows Covered, with a note that it is covered by your later update, and choosing it explains the same thing.

To correct a quarter you have already filed, start from Correct & Resubmit on the latest filed quarter for that business, shown with your past submissions. Only that latest filed quarter can be corrected, and a tax year you have finalised can no longer be corrected here. If the filing journey is opened to correct any other quarter, it says the quarter cannot be corrected and explains why: where the quarter is not the latest filed one, it sends you back to Correct & Resubmit on the latest quarter shown for that business, and where you have finalised the tax year, it asks you to amend that year’s tax return with HMRC instead.

If you arrive from a link in a reminder we sent you, the page selects the tax year that reminder is about, so check the business and the quarter before you continue. Opened that way, saved progress is only restored for a quarter that is still open; a quarter that is no longer open starts afresh. If the reminder is for a tax year that is not available for upload, the page says Tax year unavailable and offers Go to workspace, where you can check your quarterly updates. If a link names a quarter we cannot find in the selected tax year, the page says Quarter Not Found: where that quarter belongs to another tax year, the message names that year and asks you to switch the tax year at the top of the page, and otherwise it asks you to choose the quarter again, or to refresh your obligations from HMRC if it is still missing. Choose Choose another quarter to leave the link behind and pick from the list of quarters.

If a spreadsheet mapping is still in progress for the quarter, the page offers Continue mapping alongside Use saved records instead and Start again. A saved workbook that is still being read counts as in progress, so those choices are there before the reading finishes and a click meanwhile cannot clear the mapping. Use saved records instead opens your saved records for that quarter and keeps the mapping saved, so you can come back to it.

While you are on Map fields with mapping work that is not saved anywhere yet, because Smart Map has found matches you have not applied or your browser could not keep that step’s progress, leaving the page warns you first and offers to save the mapping as a draft before you go. Saving it leaves that draft to come back to when you next open the quarter, in place of the work your browser was holding, and the matches Smart Map found that you had not applied are kept in this browser tab, so reopening the mapping here shows the same matches again without another Smart Map request. When this browser tab could not keep those unapplied matches, they are held on this page alone, so the warning follows them: leaving asks you first from any step of the quarterly update, not only on Map fields, and it covers every quarter you have worked on in this visit, so a quarter you have moved on from can be the one holding you. If the draft is saved but this browser tab could not keep those unapplied matches, the warning stays open and says so: your spreadsheet and the matches you have already applied are saved as a draft, so apply the rest before you leave, or leave the page without them. If the draft itself cannot be saved, the warning stays open and says why, for example that there is no spreadsheet to save yet, or that your mapping could not be saved and you should try again in a moment. The warning stops once there are no unapplied matches left to lose: applying them, replacing that quarter’s spreadsheet, opening a different spreadsheet for it, starting the mapping again, discarding its saved draft or sending its update all put them down. Leaving the quarter to choose a different one puts them down too, unless a saved draft holds that same spreadsheet, in which case reopening the quarter shows the same matches again.

Sending your finished mapping on for review also carries your spreadsheet, so it is given a longer wait. If it gets no answer, because your connection dropped or the wait ran out, Map fields stays as it is with the mapping you have and offers Try again. Trying again with the same spreadsheet and the same mapping repeats only the part that did not finish, so your mapping is not saved twice; changing the mapping first sends it afresh.

When you use a spreadsheet and some boxes were filled in from your mapping last time, or from a layout other people have used, the review before you send lists that alongside the period and asks you to check the figures match this quarter.

The Accounting method is Transactions by default. This sums current confirmed payments in the update period (or, if you switched to transactions starting from your last update’s figures, adds the payments dated after those figures, and any corrections listed under Corrections to earlier quarters, to HMRC’s figures) with checked categories, allowable amounts and resolved duplicate status. Excluded payments stay visible but do not contribute to the figures and do not stop preparation. An unresolved possible duplicate in the update period does stop it: preparing says how many need a decision, so compare them and keep both or mark one as a duplicate, then try again. Records still waiting to be confirmed also stop it: preparing says how many are unconfirmed and what they come to, then offers Confirm or exclude them, which takes you back to the records waiting to be checked, or File without them, which prepares the figures from the confirmed payments only. Records you file without are left out of this cumulative update, and you can include them in a later update once they are confirmed. File without them needs the same permission as preparing the figures. Unfinished drafts and unpaid documents are not included until they become confirmed payments. A missing or unchecked category or allowable amount on an included payment must be resolved before preparing figures. The optional Cashbook choice is available only where accounting tools are enabled and uses completed accounting postings. Choosing Cashbook does not rewrite a previously prepared or submitted update.

Figures prepared from your transactions open on Review & submit, the same step a summary spreadsheet is reviewed and sent on, with the source shown as Saved checked records. The prepared figures name the period in full dates and show Entries included with the number of entries. Each total is listed under its category name, in pounds and pence. A partly disallowable payment adds a separate tax adjustment entry, so the count of entries can be higher than the number of transactions behind it. Corrections to earlier quarters sits with the figures on this step, and Back to transactions returns to the records.

The declaration above the submit button has to be ticked before anything can be sent, and you can tick it by selecting anywhere inside its box. When the review cannot be submitted yet, everything still needed is listed just above the submit button under “To submit, you still need to:”, so you see every reason at once rather than one at a time: tick the declaration above, confirm the lower figures above, fix the problems shown above, and return to transactions and prepare the latest figures. For figures prepared from your transactions on this step, that last one reads prepare these figures again (above). If you do not have permission to send this update, that is said there too. Where the declaration is the reason, selecting those words takes you to it, and pressing the submit button itself does the same rather than doing nothing: the page moves to the declaration, outlines it and adds “Tick this box to submit.” inside the box. Ticking the declaration clears that highlight. If an attempt is refused before anything reaches HMRC, the review says Nothing was sent to HMRC and submitting stays unavailable, because sending it again straight away would be refused for the same reason. Confirming the figures reads the same way: a refusal at that step leaves submitting unavailable too, for the same reason. Where the refusal is because how this business adds its figures has to be chosen first, for example HMRC holds an update sent with other software or your last update was worked out the other way, the message names that cause and offers Choose how to continue, which takes you to the switch step; once you have saved the switch, prepare the figures again. Where a refusal of prepared transaction figures names what to do next, those steps appear beside the message: View past submissions, which opens your past submissions so you can check what HMRC already holds, and Prepare this update again, which prepares the figures afresh here, or Return to transactions where they have to be prepared there. If you reopen a spreadsheet update at this review and the switch already has to be chosen first, the page takes you to the switch step as it opens, rather than waiting for the send to be refused; your browser’s Back then returns to wherever you opened the quarter from, and a refusal already shown stays on the review with its Choose how to continue button until you choose. While a previous send’s outcome is still being checked, the review stays where it is. Otherwise choose Refresh HMRC details and check again to refresh your HMRC details and have this update checked again, then submit. If not all of your HMRC details could be refreshed, the page says so and asks you to try again in a few minutes. If this update was prepared for business details that are no longer active, refreshing cannot make it sendable: the page says so and asks you to choose another quarter, or to start this update again so it uses your current business details.

A Foreign Property update has one more step, Match properties. Every figure has to name one of your HMRC property records before it can be sent, so where the prepared figures do not yet, submitting checks your properties with HMRC and opens that step instead of sending. Nothing is sent to HMRC at that point. Check that each property from your spreadsheet is matched to the right HMRC record, then choose Confirm & Continue to go on to the review and submit from there. Where a property has to be added to HMRC, tick the confirmation that authorises it first. Cancel leaves this upload and returns you to the start of the update. If your properties cannot be checked, the step says so, for example “We could not check your properties with HMRC. Please try again.”, and submitting again tries the check again. An update you left before Match properties, or that was confirmed without it, reopens at Match properties when you come back to it from a link, rather than at the review.

If the send itself gets no answer in time, because your connection dropped or the wait ran out, HMRC may still have received the update, so nothing is reported as failed and sending stays locked. The review says “We’re checking whether HMRC received this update. Please don’t send it again.”, the submit button reads Checking with HMRC… and both it and the back control are unavailable while your own record of the update is checked again for about two minutes. For figures prepared from your transactions, this panel offers Check filing status in place of the HMRC check used for a summary spreadsheet: choosing it reads that update’s own status again, and says so if it could not be read, so you can try again in a moment. If you leave that quarter before the check finishes, for example with your browser’s Back button, the check stops there and the quarter you open instead is left as you find it, so check the quarter you sent in Past submissions. If that shows it as sent, the submitted screen appears as it would after a normal send, without HMRC’s acceptance time or reference, because they did not reach us. If it still does not, the review ends on the Outcome needs checking panel, which keeps sending unavailable until the outcome has been checked with HMRC. If only your declaration went unanswered, nothing reached HMRC: the review says “We did not get an answer in time. Nothing has been sent to HMRC. Try submitting again.”, and you can submit again.

Once HMRC has accepted the update, the submitted screen offers View your tax calculation below its other actions. Choosing it asks HMRC for a calculation of your tax so far for that tax year, reading Asking HMRC… while it waits, then opens those figures on your tax estimate. Your update stays filed whatever the calculation does: if HMRC is still working on it, the screen says so and offers Check it on your tax estimate to open it in a moment, and if HMRC could not prepare it, the screen says “HMRC could not prepare your calculation just now. Your update is still filed. You can try again.” Where your access to the person this update is for does not let you read the calculation, for example as a supporting agent, this action is not shown.

To use Cashbook for a later cumulative update in the same tax year, first submit and reconcile the earlier Transactions update. Set up a Cashbook and activate an opening dated the next day. Review the earlier submitted amounts against the opening by category, including any disallowed expenses, in Mid-year opening review on the filing journey. A preparer must confirm the exact match before Cashbook figures can be prepared. Earlier transaction payments remain in their saved filing and show Covered by reviewed opening when that approval still matches. They are not posted into Cashbook again and do not need a separate Cashbook update. Later Cashbook payments must have completed postings.

The Cashbook opening workbook has an optional Tax adjustments sheet. For a disallowed expense already included in the earlier update, enter its signed amount in the Amount column beside the matching Target key, using the same sign as the submitted category. Leave unused rows blank. These amounts are tax adjustments to the opening, so do not add balancing Cashbook entries for them. Check the opening balances and tax adjustments together before activation.

From the review of prepared, unsubmitted saved-record figures, choose Use a spreadsheet instead if this quarter should use a Summary spreadsheet. Choose Use spreadsheet for this update to confirm, or Keep transaction figures to cancel. Your transactions and previous figures stay saved. The spreadsheet totals replace the source for this update; the two sources are not combined. Switching is refused once submission has started or while its outcome is unknown. The same review can also send you back to Transactions for that business, tax year and quarter to add more records.

Saved drafts and uncertain submission outcomes take priority over a new default. If a preparation is out of date because records changed, its saved review shows Prepared figures need updating, with Prepare again to prepare the latest figures there and Back to transactions to check the records first. Submitting stays unavailable until you have, and the message says your records changed after these figures were prepared. Then check the new source, figures and period before confirming. Adding, importing, matching or confirming records never submits an update automatically.

See Reviewing before you submit and Submitting to HMRC.