Submitting to HMRC

What this is

Clicking Submit to HMRC on the review screen sends the year-to-date figures to HMRC’s Making Tax Digital service. When HMRC confirms acceptance, aligned.tax shows the Quarter is filed screen and the update appears in Past submissions. That receipt is your proof of filing.

What you see on screen

After Submit to HMRC the button reads Submitting… while HMRC responds. On success:

• Quarter 1 is filed (or the quarter you sent), with the time HMRC accepted it and the receipt reference, and what is due next
• A note that the receipt is your filing confirmation and that it can take up to an hour for the obligation to show as fulfilled
• Back to home and View receipt
• View your tax calculation, below those buttons, when HMRC lets you read the calculation
• What you just did: the spreadsheet or saved-record source you used, the fields confirmed with the income and expense totals, and the update submitted to HMRC
• For a first update, a Setup complete banner with the next deadline

If HMRC rejects the update, the review screen stays open with HMRC’s error and what to change. Nothing is recorded as filed.

How to submit

1. On Review & Submit, deal with anything above the declaration first. If a Some figures are lower than your last update panel is showing, tick These are corrections to figures I sent before; Submit to HMRC stays unavailable until you do. Then tick the declaration, which sits just above Submit to HMRC. A click anywhere in that box ticks it, not only on the box itself.
2. Click Submit to HMRC. While the button is unavailable, the lines just above it list everything that is still needed at once, under To submit, you still need to: - for example tick the declaration above, confirm the lower figures above, fix the problems shown above, return to transactions and prepare the latest figures, or, for figures prepared from your transactions on this screen, prepare these figures again (above). For figures prepared from transactions, if your role in the practice cannot send updates, it also says You do not have permission to send this update. If the declaration is not ticked, pressing Submit to HMRC takes you straight to it: the page scrolls to the declaration, outlines it and adds Tick this box to submit. Clicking tick the declaration above in that list does the same. Tick the box and the outline clears. For a foreign property update whose figures still hold a row with no HMRC property, Submit to HMRC opens Match properties instead of sending, and nothing goes to HMRC.
3. Wait for Quarter is filed. Do not click again or close the page while it says Submitting… or Checking with HMRC….
4. Click View receipt to see the full breakdown, or Back to home.

Things to know

• The receipt reference is HMRC’s. It is shown on the success screen and kept with the submission in Past submissions, where you can also download the receipt as a PDF.
• You can see what the update means for your tax. Below Back to home and View receipt, the submitted screen offers View your tax calculation. It asks HMRC for an in-year calculation from the figures you have just sent, and reads Asking HMRC… while it waits, then opens that calculation once HMRC has it ready. It sends no new figures to HMRC, and your update stays filed whatever the calculation does. If HMRC is still working it out, the screen says so and offers Check it on your tax estimate to pick it up there later. If HMRC cannot prepare one, it says “HMRC could not prepare your calculation just now. Your update is still filed. You can try again.” The action is only shown to someone HMRC lets read the calculation, so a supporting agent does not see it. See Your Tax Estimate.
• Boxes filled from a saved mapping are pointed out. If some boxes in this upload were filled from your mapping last time, the review screen says Some boxes were filled from your mapping last time. Check the figures match this quarter before you send. If they came from a layout other people have used, it says Some boxes were filled from a layout other people have used. Check the figures match this quarter before you send. Nothing is blocked; it is a reminder to check the figures belong to the quarter you are filing.
• Foreign property figures are matched to an HMRC property before they can be sent. From the 2026-27 tax year, a foreign property update has a Match properties step between your summary of totals and Review & submit, because HMRC cannot take figures without a property. If a row of figures still has no HMRC property, Submit to HMRC reads your properties from HMRC and opens Match Properties to HMRC Records rather than sending: match each row from your spreadsheet to the right HMRC record and choose Confirm & Continue, then come back to the review, where the figures are unchanged, tick the declaration and submit. Reopening a saved foreign property update takes you to Match properties as well, even where its figures were already checked and ready to send, because sending would only be refused.
• Figures prepared from your transactions are reviewed on the same screen. Whether you prepare a summary spreadsheet or prepare the figures from your transactions, the last step is the same Review & submit screen, with the same declaration and the same Submit to HMRC. For prepared figures the source line reads Saved checked records, the spreadsheet retention choice is not offered, and the button beside Submit to HMRC reads Back to transactions. When you are correcting a quarter you have already filed, that button, and the ways into your transactions on the panels below, carry the correction with them: Transactions opens with the quarter you are correcting still in view and offers the way back to it, so you do not have to start the correction again. Otherwise they open your transactions for the whole business and tax year. Check filing status on that screen reads what aligned.tax holds for this quarter and never sends the update. If your records change after the figures were prepared, a Prepared figures need updating panel says so and offers Prepare again and Back to transactions, and Submit to HMRC stays unavailable until the figures have been prepared again. Reopening prepared figures asks you to tick the declaration again before sending.
• Fulfilment lags acceptance. HMRC accepts immediately but can take up to an hour to mark the obligation fulfilled. Home and Quarterly Statuses show Filed or Fulfilled after a refresh once HMRC has caught up.
• Coming back to an update reopens it. While a quarter is still open, returning to part-finished work in the same browser tab puts you back at the step you left, without asking first. If you would rather begin again, go back to Add figures. That part of the journey holds two steps: How do you keep your records?, where you choose A summary of totals or My transactions, and then, for a summary, Add your summary of totals, where you choose Upload your spreadsheet or Use our template. Back from the mapping returns to Add your summary of totals, and Back there returns to the question. Every route back keeps the work you have saved: the wizard’s own Back, your browser’s back button, and clicking Add figures in the row of steps along the top. When you arrive from a link that reopens saved work further on, such as a quarter opened from Home, your browser’s back button lands on the records question with the work still open rather than leaving the wizard; reloading the page keeps the place it already had. A Transaction review in progress or Mapping in progress panel there names the work you have saved and offers Continue reviewing or Continue mapping, Start again, and, for a saved mapping, Use saved records instead. If saved work for the quarter arrives while you are already on Add your summary of totals, for example because you were working on the same quarter in another browser tab, the same panel takes the place of Upload your spreadsheet and Use our template on that step, which keeps its own Back to the records question. Opening the quarter with File this quarter on Transactions goes straight to that quarter’s transaction review, and your browser’s back button from there returns to Transactions; a summary you had part-way through, whether on Add your summary of totals or its mapping, is left saved where it was, while work already prepared or being sent reopens where it was. That hand-off is used once, so going back to the question or reloading the page does not take you into the review again. Matches Smart Map suggested but you had not applied yet are kept in the same browser tab, so Continue mapping shows the same suggestions again rather than asking Smart Map afresh, for as long as that same spreadsheet is the one your saved work holds. Opening a different spreadsheet for the quarter, choosing Start again, or discarding the saved work drops them, so Smart Map looks at the spreadsheet you open next afresh. Leaving the quarter to pick another one keeps them only while the saved work still holds that spreadsheet. A saved spreadsheet that is still being read counts as work in progress too, so going back while it loads does not clear it. If how this business files has to be chosen before the quarter can be sent, reopening a spreadsheet update at the review screen takes you to the switch step rather than the review, because sending would only be refused; your browser’s back button then returns you to wherever you opened the quarter from.
• Saved progress ends at acceptance. Once HMRC has accepted an update for a quarter, the part-finished work aligned.tax had saved for it is cleared, so you are never offered figures that have already been sent. Matches Smart Map had suggested but you had not applied are dropped with it. The link that named that saved work is dropped from the address at the same time, so going back in your browser after filing does not report the work as missing. If you reopen that quarter, for example because the page closed while HMRC was accepting the submission, you start again from choosing figures rather than returning to the review you had open. Opening an older link to work that has already gone to HMRC says so: This update has already been sent to HMRC. You can see it in Past submissions. Saved work for a filed quarter that can no longer be corrected, because a later quarter has been filed or the year has been finalised, is cleared as well: opening it explains that the quarter cannot be corrected here rather than reopening the old figures. A link in a reminder email works the same way: it picks up saved progress only while that quarter is still open, and otherwise starts you again from choosing figures.
• You can correct the latest filed quarter. A later submission for the same period replaces the figures HMRC holds, and aligned.tax offers Correct & Resubmit on the most recent filed quarter for a business and tax year. Earlier quarters, and a year that has been finalised, are not corrected here. See Correcting a Submitted Quarter.
• A missed quarter is covered by the next update. You do not have to file quarters in order: a later update also meets every earlier quarter in the same tax year, so an earlier open quarter never blocks it. When you choose a quarter, the list says so: a quarter whose update also covers earlier open quarters names them, says HMRC treats them as sent once this update is accepted, and says what the missed deadline means for penalty points in that tax year, while a missed quarter says you do not need to send it on its own because the later quarter’s update covers it too. HMRC will not accept a period that ends before the last one you filed, so once a later quarter has been sent, the earlier one is shown as Covered, with Covered by your later update, and cannot be chosen. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.
• Agents submit under their own authorisation. The declaration on the review screen names the client; the receipt is stored against that client.
• For a Summary submission, your workbook is kept as the digital record unless you unticked Save spreadsheet for audit trail. A click anywhere in that box changes the setting. A saved-transaction filing uses the retained records and their source evidence.

If something goes wrong

Nothing seems to happen when you click Submit to HMRC. The button is unavailable until the review screen has everything it needs, and the list just above it names everything outstanding at once, under To submit, you still need to:. If the declaration is not ticked, the click takes you to the declaration and marks it with Tick this box to submit. If the outstanding step is prepare these figures again (above), use Prepare again on the panel above the declaration. If that list ends with You do not have permission to send this update, your role cannot send updates for this client, so someone with sending rights needs to finish it.

HMRC rejected the submission. The message names the rule. The common ones, and what to do, are in HMRC Error Codes and What They Mean. Fix the workbook or the mapping and submit again.

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. If you leave before sending, the update is still offered when you come back and reopens at Match properties rather than the review.

“We could not check your properties with HMRC. Please try again.” 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, 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.

“Your records have changed since these figures were prepared.” A change to your records after the figures were prepared makes them out of date, and nothing is sent. Choose Prepare again on the Prepared figures need updating panel to prepare them from your current records, then review and submit. If those prepared figures list expenses as one total and aligned.tax cannot tell whether that choice still applies, it says These figures list expenses as one total. Prepare them again from your transactions, where you confirm that choice. and takes you back to your transaction review, where you confirm it.

“We could not check the status of this update. Try again in a moment.” Check filing status could not be read this time. Nothing has changed and nothing has been sent; choose Check filing status again in a moment.

“This quarter cannot be corrected here.” A correction is only for the latest filed quarter of that business and tax year, and not once the year’s return has been sent to HMRC. The message explains which of those applies and what to do next. If a later quarter has been filed, open Past submissions and use Correct & Resubmit on the latest quarter shown for that business. If the year’s return has been sent, the figures change only by amending the return, so the quarterly update cannot be corrected on its own. Any part-finished work aligned.tax had saved for that quarter is cleared at the same time, so the old figures are not reopened.

HMRC was busy or could not be reached. The message says HMRC did not process the submission and that nothing was filed. This happens when HMRC is limiting requests (HTTP 429) or the connection to HMRC failed before it processed anything. Wait a few minutes, then submit again.

Your spreadsheet or your mapping got no answer. Sending a completed aligned.tax template on Add your summary of totals, and carrying a finished mapping on to the review with Continue to Review, both wait longer than other steps, because the spreadsheet itself travels with the request. If one of them still gets no answer, or the connection drops, you stay on the step you were on, with the spreadsheet and the mapping you already had, and are offered Try again rather than a message from your browser. Nothing has gone to HMRC at this point in the journey, because the figures have not been sent yet. Try again on the template upload sends the same file again. Try again on the mapping, left exactly as it was, repeats only the part of that step which did not finish, so work the first attempt had already saved is not duplicated; changing the mapping first starts the step afresh. Each of these offers belongs to the step it appeared on, so leaving that step clears it.

“We’re checking whether HMRC received this update. Please don’t send it again.” If the send itself gets no answer, because the connection dropped or nothing came back in time, aligned.tax cannot know whether the update reached HMRC, so it neither reports a failure nor sends anything again. That message stays on the review screen while it re-reads its own record of the update, for up to about two minutes, and Submit to HMRC reads Checking with HMRC… and stays unavailable until the check finishes. If the record shows the update was sent, you get the Quarter is filed screen as usual, but without the acceptance time or the receipt reference, because those come from HMRC’s answer to the send; open Past submissions for the filed update. If it still cannot tell, the check ends on the Outcome needs checking panel below. Pressing Submit to HMRC again for an update that has already gone starts the same check rather than reporting an error, so nothing is sent twice. If you leave that quarter while the check is running, by opening another quarter or going back in your browser, the check stops there and nothing from it is reported on the quarter you move to; open Past submissions, or reopen the quarter you were filing, to see what became of it.

“We did not get an answer in time. Nothing has been sent to HMRC. Try submitting again.” The declaration aligned.tax records just before sending got no answer, so nothing reached HMRC. Submit again.

The page timed out, lost connection or says Outcome needs checking. Do not submit again while the result is uncertain. If you had closed the page and the quarter now starts from choosing figures rather than offering the review you had open, HMRC has accepted an update for that period; open Past submissions to see what was filed. For a Summary upload, the Outcome needs checking panel offers Check with HMRC. That reads HMRC’s record for this period and never sends the submission again. It then tells you one of these:

• HMRC has these figures and the submission is recorded as accepted.
• HMRC did not receive the submission, so nothing was filed and you can submit it again.
• HMRC may not show it yet, with a time to check again after.
• HMRC holds different figures for this period, so whether this submission arrived cannot be told. Send these figures to HMRC again then appears, and asks you to confirm before those figures replace the ones HMRC holds. You can instead contact support, quoting the reference shown.

If the check itself cannot reach HMRC, nothing has changed; try again in a few minutes. View Submission History on the same panel opens Past submissions, where a missing receipt does not prove that HMRC rejected the update. For figures prepared from your transactions, that quarter’s own status check follows the send up instead: use Check filing status on the review screen, or reopen the quarter, which comes back at the filing’s status check.

“Nothing was sent to HMRC”, with Submit unavailable. Some checks run just before the update leaves aligned.tax, and a few of them would refuse the same update again however many times you pressed Submit to HMRC. When that happens the review screen keeps a panel headed Nothing was sent to HMRC, saying that submitting again now would be refused for the same reason, and Submit to HMRC stays unavailable. Choose Refresh HMRC details and check again. That re-reads your obligations and rebuilds the review from what HMRC holds now. Submit to HMRC is offered again only once that refresh has worked and the reason for the refusal has gone; otherwise the panel stays and you are told why:

• We could not refresh all of your HMRC details. Try again in a few minutes. Part of the refresh did not come back, so nothing has changed and the panel stays as it was.
• This update was prepared for business details that are no longer active, so it cannot be sent. A refresh can bring the business back, but as a new record, so this particular update can never be sent. Choose another quarter, or start this update again so it uses your current business details.

You are asked to choose how to continue before the update can be sent. aligned.tax checks how this business files for the year before it confirms or sends an update. The update is refused, and nothing is sent, if your last update was worked out a different way, or if HMRC holds an update for this business that was sent from other software and so there is nothing to build on. The message names which of those applies. For a spreadsheet update it also offers Choose how to continue, so you do not have to go looking for the setting: that takes you to You’re switching to a summary spreadsheet, which names what your last update was and explains that your spreadsheet will replace the year-to-date figures, and that transactions you have already entered stay in aligned.tax but will not be used for this update. Tick that to agree, then choose Continue. A spreadsheet update then carries on at Add your summary of totals, where you choose Upload your spreadsheet or Use our template and prepare the figures again, without being asked once more how you keep your records. The message and its Choose how to continue button stay on the review screen until you choose, even though reopening that update later would take you straight to the switch step. Back on that step leaves the choice unsaved, and leaving the message withdraws the offer, so you would see it again the next time the update is refused. When the choice comes up at the records question instead of after a refusal, because the answer you picked differs from how this business files, the same confirmation opens on that question under the card you chose, with the same checks: agreeing there carries the quarter straight on, and Back closes it and leaves you on the question.

A saved transaction filing is awaiting confirmation. Reopening the quarter takes you to Review & submit with the figures that were prepared, where Check filing status reads what aligned.tax holds for that quarter before anything is sent. If the update was already going to HMRC, or HMRC gave no answer to it, the quarter comes back at that filing’s own status check instead. Check the existing filing before choosing another source; any saved draft is kept.

A reminder link shows Tax year unavailable. A link in a reminder email carries the tax year that reminder was about. If that tax year is not one you can upload figures for, aligned.tax shows Tax year unavailable instead of the upload steps. Nothing has been lost and nothing has been sent; choose Go to workspace and open the quarter you need from there.

A link shows Quarter Not Found. A link can name a quarter that is not in the tax year you have selected. If that quarter belongs to another tax year, the message names it and asks you to switch the tax year at the top of the page. If it is not among your obligations for the selected year at all, the message asks you to choose the quarter again, and to refresh your obligations from HMRC if it is still missing. Choose Choose another quarter to clear the link and pick from the list. Nothing has been sent.

There is no quarter to submit. If Quarterly updates shows no open quarters for the selected tax year, choose Refresh from HMRC on that message. It reads your obligations from HMRC again for every business, and the button reads Refreshing… while it does.

“HMRC’s figures changed since you checked this update. Review it again before sending.” For self-employment and UK property, aligned.tax reads HMRC’s figures again just before sending. They changed after you checked the update, so nothing was sent. Review the update again, then submit. When figures prepared from your transactions are refused and there is a clear next step, the message carries it: Prepare this update again prepares them from your current records without leaving the review, and View past submissions opens Past submissions so you can see what HMRC already holds. Where the figures have to be prepared in your transaction review instead, that first button reads Return to transactions.

HMRC says the period is invalid. The dates for a whole quarter come from the obligation HMRC issued. Refresh obligations from Home or Quarterly Statuses and choose the quarter again.

A quarter says “This quarter is already covered by the update you sent”. A later quarter of the same business and tax year has already been sent, and its update covers this one, so there is nothing to send. HMRC can take up to an hour to show the quarter as fulfilled; refresh obligations after that.

FAQ

Is the submission final?

For that quarter, yes, until you submit again. A later submission for the same period replaces it, as long as it is the latest quarter you have filed for that business and year. The year is finalised separately, after the fourth quarter, in a step that is not yet part of aligned.tax.

How do I know HMRC really received it?

The receipt reference on the success screen comes from HMRC. Quarterly Statuses shows Fulfilled with a received date once HMRC has processed it.

Do I get an email?

If Submission Results is switched on in Settings, aligned.tax emails a confirmation when a submission succeeds or fails.