Reviewing Before You Submit

What this is

Check your figures is the last look before your quarterly figures reach HMRC. It shows exactly what will be sent, field by field, with the totals, the period it covers and the declaration you have to tick. Your quarterly figures are not sent until you click Submit to HMRC on this screen. One exception for foreign property: when a property is marked New and you select Confirm & Continue, that property is added to your HMRC record straight away, before you reach this screen. It stays on your HMRC record even if you leave without submitting, and no figures are sent with it. If you are confirming several properties at once and one of them fails partway through, the properties HMRC has already accepted stop being shown as New and keep the record HMRC created, so trying again links them to those records instead of adding them a second time.

A foreign property update also needs every row of figures matched to an HMRC property before it can go. If you press Submit to HMRC while a row still has no HMRC property, nothing is sent: aligned.tax reads your properties from HMRC and opens Match properties so you can match them. Match the properties there, then check the figures and submit from the review as usual.

If your figures come from saved transactions

Transactions are kept on the Transactions screen. On the records question, How do you keep your records?, the My transactions card opens Transactions for this business and quarter; once the payments are right, File this quarter on the bar there brings you back to the transaction review for the same quarter. If you are correcting a quarter you have already sent, the correction carries over with it, so Transactions stays on that quarter and Return to correction on its bar brings you back to the correction rather than starting a fresh update. Any mapping you had not saved is kept as a draft before you leave, and your browser’s Back button from the review returns to Transactions. If that answer differs from how this business files, the switch confirmation appears on the question first, under My transactions, and the review opens once it is saved. A saved draft or an unsent update for the quarter is offered in place of the question instead, so check that first.

Check the business, tax year, covered period and included records shown in the transaction review. Transactions mode uses current confirmed payments with checked categories, allowable amounts and resolved duplicate status. It has no accounting opening, unless you switched to transactions starting from your last update’s figures (see below). Excluded payments remain visible but do not contribute to the figures. Unresolved possible duplicates prevent preparation until you decide which payments to keep. In Transactions mode, payments still waiting for confirmation also prevent preparation until you choose: “Confirm or exclude them”, or “File without them”. Filing without them leaves exactly those waiting payments out of this cumulative update, and you can include them in a later update once they are confirmed; if the waiting payments change before you prepare, you are asked again. In Cashbook, waiting payments must be confirmed or excluded; there is no option to file without them. See Keeping transaction records for the preparation choices. Fix a missing or unchecked category or allowable amount on an included payment before preparing the figures. If the business has chosen Cashbook, the records must also pass its accounting checks and completed posting requirements. An unpaid invoice kept as evidence is not income or an expense.

Once the figures are prepared, you check and send them on the same Review & submit step as a summary spreadsheet, not on a separate card of their own. The step names the source as Saved checked records, lists the same income and expense fields with the totals HMRC will see, and carries the same declaration. There is no Save spreadsheet for audit trail choice, because no workbook is involved; Save and close and Use a spreadsheet instead sit at the top of the step, and the button that leaves it reads Back to transactions. Starting figures from your last update and Corrections to earlier quarters, described below, are shown on this step too, and changing a correction there prepares the figures again.

If you switched to transactions starting from your last update’s figures, the review shows Starting figures from your last update, both while you check the quarter’s transactions and once the figures are prepared: HMRC’s figures up to the end of that update, with transactions dated after it added on top. Transactions dated on or before that day are labelled Before your starting figures and are not counted on their own. Below it, Corrections to earlier quarters lists any corrections. Use Add a correction, or Add as a correction on a record labelled Before your starting figures, to add something you missed: choose the Category, enter the Amount (use a minus sign to reduce a figure, for example -25.00), the Quarter it corrects and an optional Note, then Add correction. Remove takes a correction off. If a transaction you added as a correction changes afterwards (for example its date, amount or category), or is excluded or deleted, the correction says so, and the figures cannot be prepared or sent until you keep or remove it: Keep correction leaves it in, and Remove takes it off. This stops a payment being counted twice, for example when a transaction you corrected is re-dated after your starting figures and so is now counted on its own. If preparing stops because a correction needs checking, the page takes you to Corrections to earlier quarters; keep or remove the correction there, then prepare the figures again. Once the figures are prepared, adding, keeping or removing a correction prepares them again. If you switched to a summary spreadsheet instead, transactions you had entered stay in aligned.tax and are labelled Not used: this update came from a spreadsheet. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.

If you change from Transactions to Cashbook during a tax year, the next cumulative update needs a reviewed opening dated the day after the last submitted Transactions update ends. In Mid-year opening review, compare each earlier category with the activated opening, including disallowed expense amounts. A preparer can confirm the match there only when the figures agree exactly. The earlier submission stays saved; Cashbook uses the opening and later postings for the new update. Earlier payments marked Covered by reviewed opening remain in the cumulative figures and do not need posting again. If records or the opening change, refresh the comparison and review it again before preparing figures.

Save and close keeps a prepared update for later. On File a quarter, find Saved transaction figures under Continue where you left off and choose Continue to review, which reopens Review & submit and checks the saved figures against the quarter again. If the records changed after the figures were prepared, the review shows Prepared figures need updating: “Your records changed after these figures were prepared. Prepare them again to include the latest changes before you submit.” Choose Prepare again there to prepare them from the latest records without leaving the review, or Back to transactions to look at the records first. Submit to HMRC stays unavailable until the figures are prepared again. You must tick the declaration again before submitting. If the saved figures list expenses as one total, Prepare again cannot repeat that choice on its own: it takes you back to your transactions with “These figures list expenses as one total. Prepare them again from your transactions, where you confirm that choice.”

To change a prepared, unsubmitted update to a Summary spreadsheet, choose Use a spreadsheet instead on the saved-records review. The confirmation explains that your transactions and previous figures stay saved. Choose Use spreadsheet for this update to return to the spreadsheet choices for this quarter, or Keep transaction figures to stay with the prepared figures. The update uses only the spreadsheet totals; it does not combine them with transaction figures.

The swap works the other way round too. If you started mapping a spreadsheet for the quarter and have not finished, the Mapping in progress notice, shown whenever you return to the records question yourself, also offers Use saved records instead, whenever saved records are available for that business and adding figures from transactions is available to you. The mapping step’s Back returns to Add your summary of totals first, so step back once more from there, or use the step list at the top of the page or your browser’s Back button, to reach the question. It tells you that you can file from your saved records instead and that your mapping stays saved. Choosing it opens the saved-records review for the same quarter; Continue mapping is still there if you would rather go back to the spreadsheet. A mapping that is still being read back from your saved place counts as in progress too, so returning to that step while the saved spreadsheet is still loading keeps your mapping and offers it in the same way. If adding figures from transactions has been switched off for now, My transactions cannot be chosen, the question says why beside it, and Use saved records instead is not offered; use a summary of totals for the update instead. If you reload the page, or open the question straight from a link, aligned.tax looks up your saved records for that business again before offering them. While it is looking, My transactions says it is being checked rather than being available; it can be chosen once the check finishes.

An answer that differs from how this business files is confirmed on the question itself: the switch confirmation opens under the card you picked, and saving it carries on with that answer. Its Back closes the confirmation and leaves you on the question, with nothing you had saved lost. While the choice is being saved, Saving your choice… is shown beside Back to quarters and the cards, Continue and Back to quarters wait until it finishes. A save belongs to the confirmation you opened it from, so if you close the confirmation, pick the other answer or move to another quarter before it finishes, it does not carry you on. Once this year’s way is settled, the question is one line rather than two cards, for example “You’re filing this year from a summary”, with Continue and a link to the other way (Use a summary instead, or Use your transactions instead).

The source cannot be changed once submission has started or while its outcome is unknown. If the filing has changed, reopen it and check its status before trying again.

Check filing status appears when a transaction filing is still awaiting confirmation. Open it from Continue where you left off, from the notice shown when you open that quarter, or on Review & submit itself, where it sits on the Outcome needs checking panel for figures prepared from your transactions. It reads Checking… while it looks, and if the status cannot be read the step says “We could not check the status of this update. Try again in a moment.” so you can choose it again. Check the saved filing before choosing another source. If a send from these prepared figures gets no answer from HMRC, the quarter’s own status checks follow it up and show you where the update got to: do not send the figures again. Your drafts and prepared figures are kept.

The review identifies the saved-record source. You still check the figures and explicitly confirm submission; adding records or preparing an update never sends it to HMRC automatically. If records change after preparation, prepare and review the figures again when asked.

What you see on screen

For a Summary spreadsheet, the step is headed Review & Submit, “Check your data and submit to HMRC”, and shows:

A card naming the update, for example Q1 Self-Employment Update (Cumulative), with Business ID, Business Type, Tax Year, Period Start Date, Period End Date, Expense Mode (Consolidated or Detailed), Accounting Type and Due Date
The income figures and the expense figures, each with the HMRC field name and the amount read from your workbook, and the totals HMRC will see (for self-employment, Total Taxable Income and Total Allowable Expenses)
Any warnings about the figures, grouped in two: anything worth a second look sits under N things to check, which says “You can still submit. Check each one against your spreadsheet first.”; notes that need no action sit under For information, which says “Nothing here stops you submitting.” Each one names the mapping rows behind it and the cells each row reads from, with Show in mapping beside a row while that mapping is still open. Problems that block submission are shown with the figures instead.
If some mapped categories are empty, one quiet line such as “12 categories have no figures this quarter.” instead of a warning for each. Select it to see which categories and the cells each one was read from. An empty category is normal; a warning still appears if every figure is zero, or if there is no income but there are expenses.
Save spreadsheet for audit trail, ticked by default. A click anywhere in its box, not just on the box itself, toggles it.
If any figures are lower than your last update, a Some figures are lower than your last update panel with These are corrections to figures I sent before to tick. It sits just above Before you submit, so the declaration stays the last thing before you submit.
Before you submit: once submitted the data is sent to HMRC and recorded against the tax record for the year. It reminds you of the period the figures should cover, taken from HMRC’s dates for the update, for example “These figures should cover Q1 and Q2: 6 April 2026 to 5 October 2026, the year so far, not just this quarter.” On calendar update periods the dates start on 1 April, except in the first tax year on calendar update periods, when HMRC starts them on 6 April. When some boxes were filled from your mapping last time, it adds “Some boxes were filled from your mapping last time. Check the figures match this quarter before you send.”, or, for a layout other people have used, “Some boxes were filled from a layout other people have used. Check the figures match this quarter before you send.” It also says “Spotted a mistake later? You can correct and resubmit this update until you send your next quarterly update, which replaces these figures anyway.” For the last quarterly update of the year, which has no later update, it says only “Spotted a mistake later? You can correct and resubmit this update until you finalise the year.”, and that HMRC may use the data in its tax calculation
The declaration checkbox: “I confirm this data is accurate and authorise submission to HMRC” (agents: “… and I am authorised to submit on behalf of” the client). A click anywhere in the box around it ticks the declaration. If you press Submit to HMRC before ticking it, the box is highlighted and Tick this box to submit. appears inside it
If Submit to HMRC is unavailable, a short line just above the buttons headed To submit, you still need to:, listing every outstanding thing rather than only the first: ticking the declaration, confirming the lower figures, fixing the problems shown above, or preparing the figures again, which reads prepare these figures again (above) where the review can prepare them for you and return to transactions and prepare the latest figures where it cannot. For figures prepared from transactions, if your role does not allow sending the update, the same place says so as well
Back and Submit to HMRC

Review screen

How to review

Check the card at the top: right business, right tax year, right period. The period starts at the beginning of the year because updates are cumulative: 6 April, or 1 April on calendar update periods after their first tax year.
Read every figure against your workbook. Click Back to change a mapping if one is wrong.
Read any warnings. Problems that block submission until fixed are shown with the figures. Things to check never stop you submitting, and notes under For information are there for you to read only. Each warning names the mapping rows behind it and the cells they read from. Choose Show in mapping beside a row to open the mapping on that row: the mapping step opens with Checking that field name above it, repeating where the row reads from. If the row is right, choose Back to review. If you change it, choose Continue to Review so your figures are checked again; Back to review is unavailable once the mapping or the spreadsheet has changed. Checking a row also clears the declaration, so tick it again when you are back on the review.
Decide whether to keep the workbook. Leave Save spreadsheet for audit trail ticked unless you have a reason not to.
If a Some figures are lower than your last update panel appears, check each figure it lists against your last update and tick These are corrections to figures I sent before. Submit to HMRC stays unavailable until you do.
Tick the declaration and click Submit to HMRC. If the button is unavailable, the line just above it lists everything still needed under To submit, you still need to:, for example tick the declaration above. Pressing Submit to HMRC before you have ticked the declaration takes you to the declaration, highlights it and shows Tick this box to submit., so nothing is sent and nothing is lost. For a foreign property update whose rows are not all matched to an HMRC property, Submit to HMRC opens Match properties instead of sending.

What HMRC accepts

Amounts are numbers in pounds and pence, at most two decimal places. Currency symbols, thousands separators and text such as “N/A” are rejected.
Each amount must be between minus £99,999,999,999.99 and £99,999,999,999.99.
An update whose figures are all zero is valid. A quarter with nothing to report is filed, not skipped.
Only one figure is required for a UK property update: rental income. For self-employment, turnover. Every other category is optional and an empty one is left out.

Consolidated or detailed expenses

Self-employment expenses can go to HMRC as one Consolidated Expenses total, but only while turnover for the business is below £90,000 this tax year and did not reach £90,000 last tax year. Above that, HMRC requires the detailed categories, and sending both a consolidated total and detailed categories is rejected. Expense Mode on the card shows which applies.

UK property categories

Income: Rental Income, Premiums of Lease Grant, Reverse Premiums, Tax Deducted, Other Income and Rent a Room rents received. Expenses: Premises Running Costs, Repairs and Maintenance, Financial Costs, Professional Fees, Cost of Services, Travel Costs, Other Expenses, Residential Financial Cost, Residential Financial Costs Carried Forward and Rent a Room amount claimed.

Things to know

The figures are the year to date. A Q2 review shows 6 April to 5 October in full. If it shows only Q2’s own totals, your workbook is not cumulative; see Cumulative Quarterly Updates.
There is no time limit on this screen. If you leave, the draft is kept and offered as Continue where you left off on File a quarter. Save and finish later on the mapping step saves the draft and returns you to the start of that quarter, where the saved draft is offered again. Once you have chosen a quarter, it and the step you are on are held in the page address, so reloading or reopening that address brings you back to the same quarter and its progress rather than to the list of quarters, and your browser’s Back button steps back through the steps. Each quarter keeps its own saved place, so choosing another quarter keeps the work for the first. Coming back to a quarter you were working on, by reloading, following the sidebar link, using your browser’s Back button from another page, or picking the quarter again, reopens the work itself instead of asking whether to continue it: a saved transaction review opens on that review, prepared transaction figures open on Review & submit, and a spreadsheet you were still mapping opens on the mapping. When you arrive from a fresh link, such as a quarter on your home page, and the work reopens beyond the choice of how to add figures, your browser’s Back button from it lands on the records question with the work still open, rather than leaving the quarter; reloading the page keeps the entry you came back to. Continue reviewing or Continue mapping, with Start again beside it, is offered when you return to the records question yourself, whether by stepping back with Back, through the step list at the top of the page or with your browser’s Back button, and nothing is cleared unless you choose Start again and confirm it there. That holds for transaction work in progress as well as a spreadsheet you were mapping, and for a mapping that is still being read back from your saved place, so a click while it loads cannot clear it. Smart Map matches you have not applied yet are held in the browser tab you are working in, so Continue mapping, and reopening a draft you saved from that tab, show the same matches again without Smart Map having to read the spreadsheet afresh. They belong to the spreadsheet they were found in, so opening a different spreadsheet for the quarter, choosing Start again, or sending the update puts them down; leaving the quarter with Choose a different quarter puts them down too, unless the draft you saved holds that same spreadsheet, in which case reopening the draft brings them back. On that method step, an update prepared or uploaded for the quarter but not sent is offered as You have an update for this quarter that hasn’t been sent yet. with Continue to review, and Start again for an uploaded spreadsheet. The same notice appears on Add your summary of totals if work for the quarter turns up while that step is open, for example a draft you saved in another tab: it stands in for the spreadsheet choices, and the step keeps its own Back so you can return to the records question. A link from a reminder email opens Quarterly updates with the tax year that reminder is about already selected, so check the tax year, business and quarter shown before you continue.
A foreign property update stays open until its properties are matched. If you leave a foreign property update before Match properties, or confirm your properties there and leave before sending, the update is still offered on File a quarter under Continue where you left off, marked Ready to review with Continue to review. Choosing it opens Match properties rather than the review, because figures that hold a row with no HMRC property cannot be sent. Match the rows there, then check the figures and submit. Nothing has gone to HMRC in the meantime, and your figures are unchanged.
Leaving the page with work that is not saved asks first. Leave without saving your mapping? explains that the spreadsheet and Smart Map matches are not saved yet, and offers Stay, Save and leave, which saves the spreadsheet and the matches you have applied as a draft before going, and Leave, which goes without them. If the save fails, the warning stays open with the reason. It also stays open when this tab could not keep Smart Map’s unapplied matches, saying “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 rather than losing them without knowing. While a quarter has unapplied matches this tab could not keep, the warning comes up wherever you leave from, including the review, and the matches at risk may belong to another quarter you were mapping rather than the one on screen; it stops once they are applied or the spreadsheet they belong to is put down.
Saved progress is never offered after the quarter has been submitted. Once HMRC has accepted an update for that quarter, aligned.tax drops the progress you had saved before it, including progress saved by a page that closed while the submission was being accepted. The link to that saved work is also taken out of the page address once the update is sent, so reloading or stepping back afterwards does not go looking for work that has already been used up. You open the quarter afresh instead, so you cannot send work that has already gone to HMRC a second time by accident. Saved work for a filed quarter that can no longer be corrected is dropped as well. To change what HMRC holds, prepare and submit new figures for the quarter. When you arrive from a reminder email, saved progress is only offered while that quarter is still open.
A quarter you missed does not have to be sent first. Updates are cumulative, so a later quarter’s update also meets the quarters before it and you are never made to file in order. When you pick a quarter, a quarter whose update would also cover an earlier one you have not sent says so, for example “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 whether the missed deadline can still earn a penalty point in that tax year. 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.” Sending the missed quarter by itself first is still allowed if you prefer. Once a later quarter has been sent, the earlier quarter it covers shows Covered in place of the upload action, with “Covered by your later update”, and there is nothing left to send for it.
A reopened update may need you to choose how this business files first. If you reopen a prepared spreadsheet update at Review & Submit and aligned.tax now needs that choice made for the quarter, it takes you to the separate step for choosing how this business files before you can submit, because sending would only be refused. Make the choice there and the update carries on to Add your summary of totals, where you add your spreadsheet or the template again, then prepare and check the figures. Your browser’s Back button from that step goes back to wherever you opened the quarter from, not to the review it would only leave again.
Only the latest filed quarter can be corrected. HMRC accepts replacement year-to-date figures for the latest quarter it holds for a business in a tax year, so Correct & Resubmit is offered beside that quarter only. Where it is not available, the action is shown dimmed with the reason beside it, and opening the quarter for correction anyway is refused before any upload work. Any progress you had saved for a quarter that can no longer be corrected is dropped rather than reopened, so you see the reason instead of old figures.
A correction keeps hold of its quarter when you go to Transactions. If you leave a Correct & Resubmit to look at or tidy up your records, the quarter and the correction go with you, so Transactions stays on that quarter and the way back to the correction is offered there. Without a correction in progress, going to Transactions opens the whole business year as before.
Every update covers the whole period. aligned.tax always sends the update up to the end of the quarter you chose. There is no option to send a shorter, part-period update, so you do not set an end date yourself. A draft you saved earlier reopens on the whole period too, even if a shorter period was saved with it.
Check the source of the totals. Summary figures come from mapped workbook cells. Transactions figures come from current confirmed records for the covered period; Cashbook figures come from eligible completed postings.
The declaration is yours. Agents confirm they are authorised to submit for the named client; HMRC holds the agent responsible for the accuracy of what is sent.

If something goes wrong

A total looks wrong. Click Back and use View in the Smart Map dialog to see which cell each figure came from. The usual culprits are a totals row that double counts, or last year’s column mapped instead of this year’s.

A category is missing. No cell was mapped to that HMRC field. Go Back and map it from Fields.

A warning says a figure cannot be negative. Some HMRC fields do not accept negative values. Check whether the sign is intended; if it is, the figure belongs in a different field.

A warning says an expense is negative, for example “Consolidated Expenses” is -£2,500. A negative expense lowers your total expenses and raises your profit. That can be right, for example when refunds are more than your costs. If your spreadsheet shows costs as minus figures, change that row to a positive amount in your spreadsheet and upload it again.

For information: Large Loss Compared With Income. Your loss, or under High Profit Compared With Income your profit, is more than 80% of your income (turnover plus other income). A loss can be correct, for example when you are starting up or had a quiet quarter, and it does not stop you submitting. If it looks wrong, check the rows it names: each should be for this business only and cover the whole period this update is for. Taking another business’s rows from a spreadsheet that holds several businesses is a common cause.

Submit to HMRC opens Match properties instead of sending. Your foreign property figures still hold a row with no HMRC property, and HMRC cannot take figures without one. Nothing was sent: aligned.tax reads your properties from HMRC and opens Match Properties to HMRC Records, so you can match each row from your spreadsheet to the right HMRC record and choose Confirm & Continue. You then come back to the review, where the figures are unchanged, tick the declaration and submit.

It says your properties could not be checked with HMRC. Matching needs your property list from HMRC, and that read did not come back, for example because the connection dropped. Nothing was sent. On the review, the message is “We could not check your properties with HMRC. Please try again.” and pressing Submit to HMRC again repeats the check. When it happens while a saved foreign property update is being reopened, the message appears at the top of the page with Try again, which reopens the same update, and Start a new upload beside it. Your figures and your saved work are kept either way.

Adding your spreadsheet says “We didn’t hear back from aligned.tax.” On Add your summary of totals, the message “We didn’t hear back from aligned.tax. Your connection may have dropped for a moment. Your spreadsheet is still here.” means no answer arrived while your workbook was being sent, for example because the connection dropped. This happens long before any submission, so nothing has gone to HMRC. Choose Try again beside the message to send the same spreadsheet again; if the first attempt did arrive after all, aligned.tax uses that upload rather than adding a second one.

The mapping step says “We didn’t hear back from aligned.tax.” The message “We didn’t hear back from aligned.tax. Your connection may have dropped for a moment. Your mapping is still here.” appears in the bar at the bottom of the mapping step when Continue to Review got no answer. Your mapping is kept exactly as it was, and nothing has gone to HMRC. Choose Try again beside it, available once the mapping is complete and any Smart Map matches are applied, and only the part that did not finish is repeated, so you do not end up with two updates for the quarter. If you change the mapping before trying again, it starts that step afresh.

The review says Prepared figures need updating. Your records changed after these figures were prepared, so the figures on screen are no longer the latest: “Your records changed after these figures were prepared. Prepare them again to include the latest changes before you submit.” Choose Prepare again to prepare them from the latest records on this step, or Back to transactions to look at the records first. Submit to HMRC stays unavailable while this panel is showing, and pressing it says “Your records have changed since these figures were prepared. Prepare them again before submitting.” If preparing again cannot be done from here, the message says so and points you back to your transactions: that happens when the saved figures list expenses as one total (“These figures list expenses as one total. Prepare them again from your transactions, where you confirm that choice.”), and when preparing fails (“We could not prepare these figures again. Go back to your transactions and prepare them there.”). Tick the declaration again once the new totals are on screen.

Submit to HMRC is unavailable. The line just above the buttons lists everything still needed, under To submit, you still need to:, with a line for each one rather than only the first:

tick the declaration above. Select it in that line and the page takes you to the declaration checkbox. Pressing the unavailable Submit to HMRC button does the same thing: the page scrolls to the declaration, highlights it and shows Tick this box to submit. inside it. Tick the box, by clicking anywhere in it, and the highlight clears.
confirm the lower figures above. Tick These are corrections to figures I sent before on the Some figures are lower than your last update panel.
fix the problems shown above. One or more figures are still failing a blocking check.
prepare these figures again (above), or return to transactions and prepare the latest figures. The figures prepared from your saved records are no longer current. Where the review can prepare them itself, the Prepared figures need updating panel above the figures offers Prepare again; otherwise use Back to transactions and prepare them again there.

The button becomes available once nothing in that list is left. For figures prepared from transactions, if your role does not allow sending the update, the same place says You do not have permission to send this update., and ticking the declaration will not make the button available.

The button is also held back while an update is being sent, while aligned.tax is checking whether HMRC received one (below), and after a refusal that would repeat (below).

A refusal offers the next step beside its message. When aligned.tax refuses to send figures prepared from your transactions and the refusal names what would clear it, the steps appear as buttons beside the message rather than leaving you to work them out: Prepare this update again, which prepares the figures from your records again on this step, and View past submissions, which opens Past submissions so you can see what HMRC already holds for the quarter. Where the review cannot prepare the figures itself, that first button reads Return to transactions and takes you back to the transaction review. The buttons belong to the message, so they go once you move off the step or prepare the figures again.

The review says it is checking whether HMRC received this update. A send got no answer, for example because the connection dropped, so aligned.tax cannot yet tell whether HMRC has the update. It says “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 it reads its own record of the update for about two minutes. Do not try to send the figures again. If the record shows the update as sent, you go to the submitted screen as usual, although the receipt may be without HMRC’s time and reference because the answer never arrived. If it does not, the Outcome needs checking panel appears and you settle it from there. Pressing Submit to HMRC for an update that had already gone is treated the same way, so trying again cannot file the quarter twice. The check belongs to the update it started for: if you move to another quarter while it is running, it stops rather than following you, and nothing from it is shown against the quarter you have opened. Open that quarter again, or Past submissions, to see where its update got to.

The review says you did not get an answer in time. The message “We did not get an answer in time. Nothing has been sent to HMRC. Try submitting again.” means only the step that records your declaration went unanswered, before anything reached HMRC. Nothing was filed, so press Submit to HMRC again.

The review says Nothing was sent to HMRC. aligned.tax refused to send the update for a reason that would come up again straight away, so nothing reached HMRC. The panel says that submitting again now would be refused for the same reason, and Submit to HMRC stays unavailable until you choose Refresh HMRC details and check again. That reads your details from HMRC again and checks the update against them, and the button comes back once the refresh has worked and the reason has gone. If your HMRC details cannot all be refreshed, the screen says so and you can try again in a few minutes. If the refusal was that the update was prepared for business details that are no longer active, refreshing cannot make that update sendable: the screen says the update cannot be sent, and you either choose another quarter or start this update again so it uses your current business details.

The page says This Quarter Is Already Covered. You chose an open quarter whose period an update you have already sent covers. HMRC will not accept an update that ends before the latest one it holds, so there is nothing to send: “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.” Refresh your obligations from HMRC and the quarter shows as fulfilled. In the quarter list it shows Covered rather than an upload action. If the figures in that update were wrong, correct the latest quarter you have filed; see Correcting a submitted quarter. The message says how this business files has to be chosen first. Confirming or sending a spreadsheet update is refused when aligned.tax needs that choice made for the quarter, for example because HMRC already holds an update for it that was sent from other software, or because your last update for the year was added another way. Nothing was sent, and submitting again without settling it would be refused for the same reason. Choose how to continue appears with the message: select it to go straight to the step for choosing how this business files, instead of going back to your workspace to find it. Once the choice is saved, the update carries on to Add your summary of totals: add your spreadsheet or the template again, prepare and check the figures, then submit. The button belongs to that message, so it goes once you move off the step.

The page says Tax year unavailable. You followed a reminder link for a tax year that is not available for upload. Choose Go to workspace and check your quarterly updates there.

The page says Quarter Not Found. The link you followed names a quarter that is not in the tax year currently shown. If the quarter belongs to a different tax year, the message names that year: switch the tax year at the top of the page to it. Otherwise choose Choose another quarter to pick the quarter from the list, or refresh your obligations from HMRC and look again.

Opening saved work says it has already been sent. The message “This update has already been sent to HMRC. You can see it in Past submissions.” means the saved work in that link was submitted, so there is nothing left to continue. Open Past submissions to see what HMRC holds for the quarter. To change it, prepare and submit new figures for that quarter.

The screen says This quarter cannot be corrected here. You opened a filed quarter for correction, but it is not the quarter HMRC will accept a correction for. The reason is shown with the message, and so is the step that fits it. If a later quarter is already filed for that business and tax year, HMRC only accepts a correction to the latest filed quarter, so open Past submissions and use Correct & Resubmit on the latest quarter shown for that business, correcting the year-to-date figures there. If the tax year’s return has been sent to HMRC, its quarterly updates cannot be corrected on their own: the message says so and names amending the return as the route to changing the figures. If the quarter has not been filed yet there is nothing to correct, so upload it as a normal quarterly update. Any work you had saved for that quarter is dropped, so you see this explanation rather than your old figures.

The review says Outcome needs checking. An earlier attempt may have reached HMRC, so the figures and the declaration are held back until the result is settled. Do not send the figures again straight away. For Summary spreadsheet figures, use Check with HMRC on that panel: aligned.tax reads HMRC’s record for the period and records what it shows, and checking never sends the submission again. HMRC may show that it has these figures, so the update is recorded as accepted; that it did not receive the submission, in which case nothing was filed and the review and the declaration come back so you can submit it again; that it is too soon to tell, with a time to check again after; or that it holds different figures for the period, where you can either Send these figures to HMRC again, after confirming that these are the figures HMRC should hold, or contact support quoting the reference shown. View Submission History stays available throughout. Transaction and Cashbook filings carry their own checks instead, so for figures prepared from your transactions the panel offers Check filing status in place of Check with HMRC. It reads Checking… while it looks; 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 it again.

A spreadsheet submission says you already have saved transaction figures. Return to Quarterly updates and continue the saved filing. To use a Summary spreadsheet for an unsubmitted preparation, choose Use a spreadsheet instead from its review and confirm the change. Uploading another file alone cannot replace those saved figures. Neither source is deleted and the totals are not combined. If a filing outcome needs checking, check its submission history before trying another source.

The screen says “Adding figures from transactions is switched off for now. Use a summary spreadsheet for this update instead.” Transactions are not available for new figures at the moment, so My transactions cannot be chosen, that message is shown beside it, and Use saved records instead is not offered. Use a summary of totals for this update instead. Transactions you have already entered stay in aligned.tax, and a figure already prepared and submitted from transactions is unaffected.

My transactions says it is being checked. You reloaded the page, or opened the records question from a link, so aligned.tax is looking up your saved records for that business again. Wait a moment and the card can be chosen if that business has saved records. This is not the same as transactions being switched off, which says so plainly.

The question says transactions cannot be used for this update yet. The message “Transactions cannot be used for this update yet. Choose A summary of totals instead.” means aligned.tax has not matched this update to a business it keeps transactions for, so it cannot hand over to Transactions. Add the figures as a summary of totals for this update.

The records question is showing Saving your choice… Your answer needed how this business files to change, and that choice is being saved. The cards, Continue and Back to quarters wait until it finishes, then the question carries on with the answer you picked. If you close the confirmation with its Back, pick the other answer, or move to another quarter while it is saving, the question stays where you left it rather than carrying you on.

You went to Transactions during a correction and the quarter seems to have been lost. It has not. A Correct & Resubmit carries its quarter and the correction over, so Transactions opens on that quarter with the way back to the correction offered there. If you are not correcting a quarter, Transactions opens the whole business year instead, and you come back to the quarter from Quarterly updates.

The screen says “HMRC’s figures changed since you checked this update. Review it again before sending.” Just before sending a self-employment or UK property update, aligned.tax reads HMRC’s figures again. They changed after you checked this update, for example because an update was sent from other software, so nothing was sent. Review the update again before submitting. If the message offers Prepare this update again or View past submissions beside it, use those: the first prepares the figures again on this step, and the second shows you what HMRC already holds for the quarter.

Confirming foreign properties stopped part-way through. Some of the properties may already have been added to your HMRC record. Those are kept and no longer show as New, so confirm again: the ones HMRC already holds are linked rather than added a second time. No figures are sent by confirming properties.

The update already has an active filing source. Continue the saved filing, or withdraw its source before preparing different figures.

The quarter opens from the start even though you saved your place. Check Past submissions for that quarter. If an update was accepted after you saved your progress, the saved progress is deliberately dropped so that work already sent cannot be submitted again. Saved work for a filed quarter that can no longer be corrected, because a later quarter is filed or the tax year’s return has been sent to HMRC, is dropped for the same reason. A quarter opened from a reminder link also starts afresh once it is no longer open.

FAQ

Can I save the review and come back later?

Yes, until the quarter is submitted. The draft is kept and shown on File a quarter as Continue where you left off. Reloading the page keeps you on the quarter you were working on and reopens the work itself, rather than asking whether to continue it. Once HMRC has accepted an update for that quarter, the saved progress is dropped and the quarter opens afresh, and saved work for a filed quarter that can no longer be corrected is dropped too. Arriving from a reminder email, saved progress comes back only while that quarter is still open.

Are the figures inclusive of previous quarters?

Yes, always. Each update replaces what HMRC holds for the year so far.

What happens if I submit with a warning showing?

Advisory warnings do not block submission; blocking ones make Submit to HMRC unavailable until fixed, and the list above the button says so. The screen tells you which is which: nothing under Things to check or For information stops you sending the update.

I pressed Submit to HMRC and nothing happened. Was anything sent?

If the declaration was not ticked, nothing was sent: Submit to HMRC is unavailable, so pressing it sends nothing. The page takes you to the declaration instead, highlights it and shows Tick this box to submit. Tick the box, by clicking anywhere in it, then press Submit to HMRC again. If the button reads Checking with HMRC…, a send got no answer and aligned.tax is reading its own record of the update: wait for it to finish rather than sending again. If the review says Outcome needs checking instead, an earlier attempt may have reached HMRC, so use Check with HMRC, or Check filing status for figures prepared from your transactions, rather than sending the figures again.

I pressed Submit to HMRC on my foreign property update and it opened Match properties. Did it send?

No. Figures that hold a row with no HMRC property cannot be sent, so aligned.tax reads your properties from HMRC and opens Match properties instead of submitting. Match each row to the right HMRC record, choose Confirm & Continue, then check the figures on the review and submit. If you leave before sending, the update is still offered under Continue where you left off and reopens at Match properties.

My connection dropped while I was adding my figures. Is it safe to try again?

Yes. When a step that carries your spreadsheet or your mapping gets no answer, aligned.tax says so and keeps your work, with Try again beside the message. Nothing has reached HMRC at that point, and trying again repeats only what did not finish, so you cannot end up with two updates for the quarter. This is not the same as Checking with HMRC… or Outcome needs checking on the review, which are about a submission that may already be with HMRC and must not be sent again.

Where do I check and send figures prepared from my transactions?

On the same Review & submit step as a spreadsheet update. The step shows the source as Saved checked records, the same income and expense fields and totals, your starting figures and corrections where you have them, and the same declaration. Save and close keeps the prepared update for later, Use a spreadsheet instead swaps the source while nothing has been sent, and Back to transactions returns you to the transaction review.

I am correcting a quarter and need to fix a record. Do I lose the correction if I go to Transactions?

No. The quarter and the correction go with you, so Transactions stays on that quarter and offers the way back to the correction when the records are right. Outside a correction, Transactions opens the whole business year and you return to the quarter from Quarterly updates.

Why can I not just press Submit again after a refusal?

Because the same refusal would come back. When aligned.tax refuses to send an update for a reason that would repeat, the Nothing was sent to HMRC panel appears and Submit to HMRC waits until you choose Refresh HMRC details and check again, so the update is checked against HMRC’s current details before it goes. Submit stays unavailable if the refresh does not clear the reason, and an update prepared for business details that are no longer active cannot be sent at all: start it again so it uses your current business details. Where the refusal is that how this business files has to be chosen first, use Choose how to continue on the message to make that choice, then prepare and check the figures again. For figures prepared from your transactions, a refusal that names its next step offers it beside the message, such as Prepare this update again or View past submissions.

I missed a quarter. Do I have to file it before the next one?

No. Updates are cumulative, so one later update covers the quarter you missed as well, and the quarter you pick says what it also covers. Sending the missed quarter on its own first is optional, and whether the missed deadline can still earn a penalty point depends on the tax year, which the note on the quarter spells out. Once a later update has been sent, the missed quarter shows Covered and there is nothing to send for it.

Can I correct a quarter after a later one has been filed?

Not that earlier quarter. HMRC only accepts a correction to the latest filed quarter for a business and tax year, and the figures are year to date, so resubmit the latest quarter with the corrected year-to-date figures. Once the tax year’s return has been sent to HMRC, its quarterly updates cannot be corrected on their own, and the figures change only by amending the return.

I started mapping a spreadsheet but would rather use my saved records. Do I lose the mapping?

No. Return to the records question, by stepping back with Back (from the mapping step that is Add your summary of totals first), through the step list at the top of the page or with your browser’s Back button, and choose Use saved records instead on the Mapping in progress notice. It opens the saved-records review for the same quarter and your mapping stays saved, so Continue mapping is still there if you change your mind. If adding figures from transactions is switched off for now, that choice is not shown and the update has to come from a summary of totals.