Managing Your Income Sources

What this is

This page lists the businesses and property income sources HMRC holds for the taxpayer under Making Tax Digital. They are the things you file quarterly updates for. aligned.tax does not create them; it shows what HMRC has and lets you ask HMRC again.

What you see on screen

Individuals open My businesses in the sidebar; the page is titled My Businesses, “Your registered businesses with HMRC for Making Tax Digital”. Agents see the same list on the Businesses tab of a client’s page.

The page shows:

• Last synced with the time of the last HMRC refresh, and a Refresh from HMRC button
• A card for each income source with the trading name (or the property type), the income type (Self Employment, UK Property or Foreign Property), the HMRC Business ID with a Copy button, and a View Details button

If the account is not connected to HMRC, the page says Not connected to HMRC and offers Connect to HMRC instead of a list.

If you have direct accountant access

A taxpayer’s direct invitation gives access to their information under the permission shown in the header. The sidebar calls this area Income and expenses. The page is titled Businesses, “View the businesses registered with HMRC and the saved figures shared with you. You can view these but not change them.”

You see the same cards as the taxpayer, with the Last synced time and a View Details button on each card, all read-only. View only does not allow uploads or corrections. With Manage my records, use Transactions or Cashbook when available to work on the same retained records.

You do not need an HMRC connection of your own, because the businesses are read through the taxpayer’s grant. If no cards appear, the page explains that businesses appear here once the account owner or their agent has synced them from HMRC.

The HMRC connection, refresh and business-registration steps in this article describe the taxpayer or authorised practice journey. Neither direct permission grants an HMRC connection or filing access. See Accountant access in Settings.

How to

Refresh the list from HMRC

1. Click Refresh from HMRC.
2. Wait for Last synced to update.

Do this after registering a new business with HMRC, after a business has ceased, or when a source you expect is missing.

If HMRC turns the request down, a Refresh failed message gives HMRC’s answer rather than reporting a fault in aligned.tax. The most common answer is that HMRC did not authorise the request, which HMRC gives without saying why. If you are filing for yourself, first check the National Insurance number in Settings (check the last letter). If it is right, connect again and sign in with the Government Gateway login you used to sign up for Making Tax Digital; this also fixes it if you connected before your sign-up was finished. If you have not signed up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax yet, do that on GOV.UK, then connect again: connecting to HMRC is not the same as signing up. Then refresh again. Agents see the same answer written for a client’s record, and should also check they are authorised for the client selected in the header.

Open a business

Click View Details on its card. The business detail page shows its accounting type, update periods, address and the quarters for the selected tax year.

Choosing whether a quarterly update comes from a spreadsheet or from saved transactions is not done on this page. See Keeping and checking transaction records.

Things to know

• Income sources are registered with HMRC, not in aligned.tax. If one is missing after a refresh, the registration is missing at HMRC’s end. Register it with HMRC first.
• Three income types are supported: self-employment, UK property and foreign property. Each has its own quarterly obligations and its own HMRC fields. Foreign property is supported for the 2026-27 tax year onwards.
• The Business ID is HMRC’s identifier for the source. aligned.tax uses it when submitting; you never need to type it, but support may ask for it.
• One card per source, not per property. A UK property business is one income source however many properties it contains.
• Agents: the list follows the client switcher. If the cards look wrong, check which client is selected in the header.

FAQ

A business I closed still appears. Why?

HMRC still holds it. A ceased business keeps its record and shows a cessation date on the detail page. Obligations stop from the cessation date.

Can I add a business here?

No. Businesses come from HMRC’s records. Register with HMRC, then click Refresh from HMRC.

Why does the page say the business was not found?

The detail page asks HMRC for the business by its Business ID. If HMRC returns nothing, the business may have been removed at HMRC’s end or belong to a different client than the one selected. Go back, check the client switcher and refresh.