Uploading a Spreadsheet

How do I file an MTD quarterly update from a spreadsheet?

You can file a Making Tax Digital for Income Tax quarterly update from the spreadsheet you already keep. With aligned.tax it takes five steps: keep a year-to-date totals sheet, save it as XLSX, upload it, map it to HMRC categories, then review and submit. aligned.tax is free for individuals filing their own quarterly updates. It is HMRC-recognised software, listed by HMRC in Find software that works with Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

1. Keep a year-to-date totals sheet. Keep one running total for each type of income and expense, from 6 April to the end of the quarter you are filing. Your Q2 update covers 6 April to 5 October, not July to October alone. Use the spreadsheet you already have, or download a free aligned.tax summary template.
2. Save it as XLSX. aligned.tax reads spreadsheets saved as XLSX. From Google Sheets, Apple Numbers, LibreOffice or a CSV file, save or download a copy as .xlsx, because renaming a file does not change its format. Keep the file to 20 MB or less.
3. Upload it to aligned.tax. Sign in to aligned.tax and connect it to HMRC if you have not already. Open Quarterly updates, choose the quarter you are filing and upload your XLSX file.
4. Map it to HMRC categories. aligned.tax’s Smart Map suggests the HMRC category for each figure, such as turnover or an allowable expense. Check each match and change any that are wrong. An aligned.tax template filled in without changing its layout needs no mapping.
5. Review and submit. Check every figure against your spreadsheet. Nothing is sent to HMRC until you tick the declaration and submit the update from aligned.tax.

Missed Q1? You do not have to send it on its own. Your next update runs from 6 April, so it covers Q1 too. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.

File my next update now

What this is

Every quarterly update starts with digital records. The five steps above use a summary of totals, from your own spreadsheet or our template. You can also file from the individual transactions you keep in aligned.tax. There is no form to retype the figures into: Making Tax Digital requires a digital link from your records to what is filed.

What you see on screen

Quarterly updates in the sidebar opens File a quarter, “Choose the quarter you want to file”. Each business is a card listing its quarters with the period, due date, and an Upload Data button on each quarter that can be filed. Where the update on a card also covers an earlier quarter you have not filed yet, a note under the dates names that quarter, says HMRC treats it as sent once this update is accepted, and says what the missed deadline means for penalty points in that tax year. On the missed quarter itself, where a later quarter can be sent now, a note says you do not need to send this quarter on its own because that later update covers it too, and that sending it separately first is optional. A quarter whose period a later update you have already sent covers shows Covered, with “Covered by your later update”, and cannot be chosen; pointing at it explains that the update you sent for the later period already covers this quarter, that HMRC can take up to an hour to process that update, and that refreshing your obligations will show this quarter as fulfilled. A note explains that each submission covers from the start of the tax year to the selected period end date.

If no quarter can be filed for the tax year in the header, the cards are replaced by “No open obligations found for this tax year. Refresh your obligations from HMRC to check for updates.”, with Refresh from HMRC beside it. Choosing it reads your obligations from HMRC again for every business; it shows Refreshing… while it works, and any quarters HMRC holds then appear in the list.

Choosing a quarter opens File quarter 1 (or 2, 3, 4) with the period, business name (or the property type, such as UK property, when the business has no trading name), HMRC business ID and due date under the title. The four-step rail is Select obligation, Add figures, Map fields or Categorise payments, and Review & submit. A foreign property update for the 2026-27 tax year onwards has a Match properties step between the mapping and Review & submit, because HMRC cannot take foreign property figures without a property.

How do you keep your records?

Add figures asks How do you keep your records?, with “Pick the one that sounds like you.” There are two answers:

• 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.” Filing for a client, that reads “or have your client send them by email”, because a practice does not use Telegram.

Each answer shows three example rows so you can match it to your own records. Choose one, then Continue. Until you choose, the page says “Choose how you keep your records to continue.” Where transactions can be used, a line under the answers says “Not sure? If each row in your records has its own date, choose My transactions.” Back to quarters returns to the list of quarters, and the page repeats that nothing is sent to HMRC until you confirm.

Once the business has an earlier update this tax year, the question also says how that update was worked out, for example “Your last update (to 5 July) came from a summary spreadsheet”, and the matching answer is marked Used last time. If there is a saved draft or an uncertain submission, resolve that first. How you answer for this quarter does not change earlier updates.

Where the tax year is already being filed one way and nothing needs choosing, the two answers are replaced by a single line. Filing from transactions, it reads “You’re filing this year from your transactions”, with “Your figures are added up from the transactions you keep in aligned.tax. You can add more on the next screen.”, a Continue button and Use a summary instead beside it. Filing from a summary, it reads “You’re filing this year from a summary”, with “Your figures come from a summary of totals: your own spreadsheet or our template.”, Continue and Use your transactions instead.

Add your summary of totals

A summary of totals opens its own step, Add your summary of totals: “Year-to-date totals for this update. Save Google Sheets, Numbers or CSV files as XLSX first.” The two cards are:

• Upload your spreadsheet - “Upload the spreadsheet you already use. Smart Map matches your rows to HMRC’s boxes for you to check.” Drop your XLSX workbook on “Drop your spreadsheet here”, or click Choose your spreadsheet. A whole workbook is fine, because you pick the sheets next. An official summary template is recognised even when you upload it here.
• Use our template - “Download it, fill in your totals and upload it here. No matching needed.” Download blank template opens the card and downloads it; Download template is there once the 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 on “Drop the filled template here”.

Whichever you used last time for this quarter is marked Last used. 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; Back returns to the question as well. For a foreign property update this step opens on our structured template and Upload your spreadsheet cannot be chosen: it reads “Foreign property uses our structured template.”

If a template upload gets no answer, because the browser stopped waiting or lost its connection, the step stays where it is and says so in a plain note rather than an error, with Try again beside it. Nothing has been sent to HMRC: your file was still being read. Choose Try again to send the same file again, which is the only safe thing to repeat at this point, and the note waits while that attempt runs. Choosing another file, going back to the records question or moving to another step clears the note.

My transactions

My transactions takes you to Transactions for that business, tax year and quarter, where the records are kept and checked. 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. When the records are ready, File this quarter there brings you back to this update, where you check the records for the quarter and then review and send the figures on Review & submit, the same step a summary spreadsheet uses; nothing is submitted from Transactions. Where you are correcting a quarter you have already filed, the correction goes with the quarter: Transactions keeps that filed quarter in view, and Return to correction there returns you to the correction rather than starting a fresh update.

Arriving from File this quarter, the quarter opens at its transaction review and your browser’s Back button returns to Transactions. Where the switch below is needed first, the confirmation is shown under My transactions on the question instead. Work already prepared for the quarter, or being sent, reopens where it was, and a saved draft or an unsent update is offered in its place, with your saved records beside it. A summary left on Add your summary of totals or in its mapping stays saved. See Keeping and checking transaction records.

Once the figures are prepared from your records, they are reviewed and sent on Review & submit, exactly where a summary spreadsheet is, with the same warnings, declaration and submit button. The step names the business, says the source is your saved checked records, and says that confirmed transactions are included in these period figures and that HMRC receives the category totals shown below. Back to transactions returns to the records for the quarter, Save and close leaves the prepared figures as they are, and Use a spreadsheet instead is there if you would rather file this update from a spreadsheet. There is no Save spreadsheet for audit trail box, because no spreadsheet was uploaded. The declaration starts unticked each time these figures are prepared or reopened, so it is always ticked for the figures in front of you.

The review also shows your starting figures and any corrections to earlier quarters for the business, because they change the year-to-date totals this update sends. Changing them makes the prepared figures out of date, so they are prepared again for you before you submit.

If your records change after the figures were prepared, the review says Prepared figures need updating, with “Your records changed after these figures were prepared. Prepare them again to include the latest changes before you submit.” Choose Prepare again to work the figures out again on this step, which shows Preparing… while it runs, or Back to transactions to look at the records first. Submitting stays unavailable until the figures have been prepared again, and pressing it says “Your records have changed since these figures were prepared. Prepare them again before submitting.” Where the figures listed expenses as one total and that choice is not recorded in what was saved, preparing them again takes you back to your transactions, where you confirm it, and says “These figures list expenses as one total. Prepare them again from your transactions, where you confirm that choice.”

Confirming a switch

An answer that differs from the way this business files has to be confirmed first. The confirmation opens on the same step, under the answer you chose, and is the same confirmation, with the same server checks, as the switch step a refused submission opens. While it saves, the answers and Back to quarters wait for it and the page says “Saving your choice…”. Once it is saved, 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. Choosing the other answer, or Back inside the confirmation, closes it and leaves the switch unmade. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.

If transaction figures are already prepared for the quarter, open their review and choose Use a spreadsheet instead. Confirm with Use spreadsheet for this update, or choose Keep transaction figures to cancel. This keeps your transactions and previous figures saved; only the spreadsheet totals are used for this update, and you come back to the records question to choose your spreadsheet. You cannot switch once submission has started or while its outcome needs checking.

When transactions cannot be used

If you reload Add figures, or open it straight from a link, aligned.tax has to work out again whether this update can come from your transactions. While it does, My transactions reads “Checking whether you can use your transactions for this update…” and cannot be chosen yet. Wait a moment: the check finishes on its own, and the answer then becomes available or says why it cannot be used. Where the year is already filed from transactions, the single line shows the same message and Continue waits with it.

Where transactions cannot be used for the update, My transactions says why instead. For a foreign property business it reads “Foreign property updates use category totals in our template, so this option is not available. Add the figures with a spreadsheet instead.”; where adding figures from transactions is switched off, it reads “Adding figures from transactions is switched off for now. Use a summary spreadsheet for this update instead.”; and for any other reason it reads “This option is unavailable for this update.” An answer that cannot be chosen carries no Used last time badge, so the reason is the only thing on it to read, and the “Not sure?” line is not shown. Prepare the quarter from a summary spreadsheet; transactions you have already recorded stay saved in aligned.tax. If transactions turn out not to be usable at the moment you choose them, the page says “Transactions cannot be used for this update yet. Choose A summary of totals instead.”

Using our summary template

Only a template you have filled in without changing its layout is read straight from its named fields and skips Smart Map. If rows or columns have been added or changed, aligned.tax says “This spreadsheet has been changed from our template, so we’ll match your figures by their labels and show you everything before anything is sent.” and the file goes to Smart Map. If a row or column the template uses was deleted, the upload stops with Part of the template is broken and no figures are read: choose “Download a fresh template” and copy your figures in, or, for self-employment and UK property, “Match by labels instead”. A foreign property template whose layout has changed stops with “This doesn’t match our foreign property template”; download a fresh template, copy your figures into it and upload that.

The step also has collapsed explanations for the digital-record link and cleaner Smart Map scans. Nothing is sent to HMRC until you review and confirm it. Enter 0 for a nil figure; a blank cell means no data.

After a workbook is read, if it has more than one worksheet you are asked to Confirm worksheets: “Choose the worksheets that belong to this business. You can select more than one.” Hidden worksheets, such as a template’s settings sheet, are not listed. A worksheet is ticked for you only when one clearly fits: the worksheets you chose for this business last time, a worksheet named after the business, or the one summary sheet with recognisable totals. If one worksheet adds up the figures on others, such as the Quarterly Summary in our landlord templates adding up each Property sheet, the summary is ticked and the sheets it adds up are marked Unlikely; you still confirm the choice. Otherwise nothing is ticked and you choose. Smart Map then opens with its suggestions.

A records spreadsheet a client sent you opens its own Check your import, where you choose worksheets and columns before reviewing each payment and its HMRC category. Bank exports and other transaction spreadsheets are imported on Transactions instead: if you come back to the import step of an update, the page reads Import your transactions on Transactions, says that those files are imported for the whole tax year there, and offers Go to Transactions, with Back to stay in the quarter.

While you are on Map fields with a spreadsheet and matches that are not saved anywhere yet, leaving the page asks first. It also asks from any step while Smart Map has found matches you have not applied yet and this browser could not keep a copy of them, because leaving would lose those suggestions even once the draft is saved. Leave without saving your mapping? says your spreadsheet and Smart Map matches are not saved yet, and that if you leave now you will need to upload and map the file again. Choose Stay to carry on where you were, Save and leave to keep the work as a draft and then leave, or Leave to go without saving it. If the draft cannot be saved, the question stays open and says why, so you can try again or leave knowing the work will go. The draft keeps your spreadsheet and the matches you have applied, but not Smart Map’s suggestions you have not applied yet, and those are kept in this browser instead. Where this browser could not keep a copy of them, for this quarter or another one you have mapped in this tab, the question stays open after the draft is saved and says “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 remaining matches first, or choose Leave knowing those suggestions will go. The same check runs when you answer the records question with My transactions while a mapping is open, so that work is saved as a draft before Transactions opens. Once those suggestions can no longer be shown, nothing asks about them again: opening a different spreadsheet for the quarter, starting the mapping again, sending the update or discarding the saved draft lets them go, and so does choosing a different quarter unless its saved draft holds that same spreadsheet. Closing the tab, reloading or typing another address brings your browser’s own warning instead. Moving between the wizard’s own steps is not leaving the page, so it is never blocked.

Where Smart Map finds a list of individual payments rather than totals, it says so, because Smart Map maps totals for each category. When transactions are available for the business it offers Import as transactions, which takes you to Transactions so the payments are added up for you rather than mapped by hand; during a correction it opens that quarter’s transactions with the correction carried over, so you can come straight back to it, and otherwise it opens the business’s whole tax year. Where transactions are not available it tells you to choose Map manually and select the cells for each box, and the figures are added up for you. Back from the mapping returns to Add your summary of totals and keeps your mapping until you choose a new file there. See Smart Map.

If Continue to Review gets no answer, the mapping step stays as it is, with your spreadsheet and every match you applied still there, and offers Try again rather than an error. Nothing has been sent to HMRC. Choosing Try again without changing anything carries on from where the last attempt got to, so your saved progress and your saved mapping are not duplicated; if you change the mapping first, the attempt starts afresh. The offer belongs to this step, so leaving Map fields clears it.

If a transaction filing is awaiting confirmation, choose Check filing status first. It appears ahead of saved drafts and the records question, and opens the existing filing without deleting your work.

If a summary spreadsheet submission started but its outcome was never confirmed, the review step shows Outcome needs checking in place of Review & Submit, with “Check submission history before taking any further action”. Check with HMRC reads HMRC’s record for the period; checking never sends the submission again. The answer appears under the button: HMRC has these figures, HMRC did not receive the submission so nothing was filed, or check again after the time shown. If HMRC holds different figures for the period, Send these figures to HMRC again asks you to confirm that these figures should replace the ones HMRC holds. View Submission History and Return to Dashboard (or Return to jobs inside a client workspace) stay available. Once a check has recorded an outcome, that message replaces the panel; where nothing was filed, the review and submit step returns so you can submit again.

Where the figures came from your transactions, that panel offers Check filing status instead of Check with HMRC: it reads the quarter’s own filing record, which can ask HMRC, and reads Checking… while it works. Checking never sends the update again. If the status cannot be read, the step says “We could not check the status of this update. Try again in a moment.” and you can choose Check filing status again; submitting stays locked meanwhile. Where the record shows the update is with HMRC, or that it was sent and HMRC gave no answer, the quarter’s own filing checks take it from there and nothing offers to send it a second time.

If a send gets no answer, because the browser stopped waiting or lost its connection, the update may still have reached HMRC, so nothing is offered that would send it a second time. The review step shows “We’re checking whether HMRC received this update. Please don’t send it again.” while aligned.tax re-reads its own record of the update for about two minutes, and the submit button reads Checking with HMRC… and cannot be used, as do Back and the confirmation dialogs. If the record shows the update was sent, the usual submitted receipt appears, without an acceptance time because HMRC’s answer never arrived. If the check cannot tell either way, the Outcome needs checking panel above takes its place, so you can read HMRC’s own record with Check with HMRC, or, for figures prepared from your transactions, with Check filing status. A send refused because this update has already been sent is checked the same way rather than shown as an error.

If it is the confirmation before the send that gets no answer, 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.

Where boxes in this upload were filled in for you from a mapping that already existed, the review step says so among the notes above the submit button. If they came from the mapping you used last time, it reads “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 reads “Some boxes were filled from a layout other people have used. Check the figures match this quarter before you send.” It is not an error: it is a reminder to check that each pre-filled box is reading the right cells for this quarter. See Smart Map.

Warnings about the figures are grouped on the review step. 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. Where you mapped your own workbook and that mapping is still open, Show in mapping beside a row opens the mapping step on it, with Checking that field name above the grid. Choose Back to review if the row was right, or change it and choose Continue to Review so your figures are checked again; Back to review is unavailable once the mapping or the spreadsheet has changed. If your browser’s Back or Forward button takes you to a review after the mapping behind it changed, the mapping step opens instead of the review, because those figures no longer match what you mapped: choose Continue to Review to work them out again. Opening a row this way clears the declaration, so tick it again when you are back on the review. See Reviewing Before You Submit.

Where submitting is refused before anything reaches HMRC, and sending again straight away would be refused for the same reason, the review step shows Nothing was sent to HMRC with “Submitting again now would be refused for the same reason. Refresh your HMRC details so we can check this update again.” Submitting stays unavailable until you choose Refresh HMRC details and check again, which refreshes your obligations and the figures on the review so the update can be checked afresh. No figures were filed, so nothing needs correcting at HMRC.

Where the figures came from your transactions and a refusal names what to do next, those steps sit beside the message rather than leaving you to find them. Prepare this update again works the figures out again on this step, and for figures prepared in your transactions it reads Return to transactions and takes you back to the records instead. View past submissions opens Past submissions, so you can see what HMRC already holds for the period before you try again. The buttons belong to the refusal they answer and go once the figures are prepared again.

The refresh only releases the update once it has worked. If part of it did not, the page says “We could not refresh all of your HMRC details. Try again in a few minutes.” and submitting stays unavailable, so the same refusal is not met twice. If the update was refused because the business it was prepared for is no longer active with HMRC, refreshing cannot release it: this update is tied to those business details. The page says “This update was prepared for business details that are no longer active, so it cannot be sent. Choose another quarter, or start this update again so it uses your current business details.” Starting the update again picks up your current business details. Nothing was filed in either case.

Some refusals happen before anything is sent because how this business files has to be chosen first, for example where HMRC already holds an update for the year from other software, or where your last update was worked out the other way. The message is then followed by Choose how to continue, which opens the switch step for a summary spreadsheet, so you are not sent back to the dashboard to find it. Save the switch there and the update carries on at Add your summary of totals. A refusal you have just been shown stays where you can read it: the message and its Choose how to continue button remain on the review until you choose, rather than the switch step opening over them. The offer belongs to the refusal it answers: once you move to another step it is withdrawn, and the switch is confirmed on the records question instead.

If you come back to a spreadsheet update at Review & submit and the switch is needed before it can be sent, the switch step opens in place of the review, because submitting would only be refused. Save the switch, then prepare the quarter’s figures again. Your browser’s Back from the switch step returns you to wherever you opened the quarter from rather than to the review, and a review that still needs the switch sends you to the switch step again.

Where a foreign property update’s figures still hold a row with no HMRC property, the submit button does not send them. aligned.tax reads your properties from HMRC and opens Match Properties to HMRC Records, “Check each property from your spreadsheet is matched to the right HMRC record.”, so nothing reaches HMRC and nothing is confirmed. Match each row 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. If your properties could not be read, the review says “We could not check your properties with HMRC. Please try again.” and pressing the submit button again tries that check once more.

Where submitting is unavailable for things you can put right, every one of them is listed just above the button, under “To submit, you still need to:”: tick the declaration above (the link takes you to it), confirm the lower figures above, fix the problems shown above, and, for an update prepared from transactions, prepare these figures again (above) where they are reviewed on this step, or return to transactions and prepare the latest figures where they are prepared there. For an update prepared from transactions, the list also says if you do not have permission to send this update, which is about your own access rather than something to correct on this screen. Where this quarter’s figures are lower than your last update, that confirmation sits above the declaration, so the declaration is the last thing to tick before the submit button. If you press the submit button while the declaration is still unticked, the page takes you to the declaration, highlights it and adds “Tick this box to submit.” underneath; ticking the box clears the highlight. A click anywhere inside the declaration box ticks it, and the same is true of the Save spreadsheet for audit trail box.

Once the update has been sent, the submitted screen offers View your tax calculation. Filing for yourself it sits below Back to home and View receipt; filing for a client it sits above Return to Dashboard (or Return to jobs inside a client workspace). It asks HMRC for an in-year calculation from the figures you have just sent, reads Asking HMRC… while it waits, then opens that calculation. It sends no new figures to HMRC, and your update stays filed whatever the calculation does: where HMRC is still working the figures out, the screen says so and offers Check it on your tax estimate to pick it up there later, and where 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.

Correcting a quarter you have already filed

A filed quarter is corrected from Correct & Resubmit, which appears beside the latest filed quarter for the business. Only that latest filed quarter can be corrected here, and not once the tax year has been finalised. If you open a correction for any other filed quarter, the screen stops with This quarter cannot be corrected here and explains why. Where the quarter simply is not the latest filed one, it tells you to open Past submissions and use Correct & Resubmit on the latest quarter shown for that business. Where the tax year has been finalised, no quarter in it can be corrected here, so it tells you the figures change only by amending the year’s return. Saved upload work for that quarter does not get you past this: it is dropped, so you see the explanation rather than your old figures. Because every update is cumulative, correcting the latest quarter is how year-to-date figures are put right. If a correction sends you to Transactions, to add payments or to import a list Smart Map found, the quarter and the correction go with you, so Return to correction there brings you back to the correction you were working on. See Correcting a Submitted Quarter.

If you left a quarter part-way through, for example to check figures in Past submissions, coming back to it in the same browser tab reopens the work itself: an unfinished mapping opens on the mapping step and prepared figures open on Review & submit, without asking again whether to continue. Returning from there to Add figures keeps the work, whether you use Back, your browser’s Back button or the Add figures step in the rail at the top: it shows the file with Continue mapping or Continue reviewing, and Start again. A saved file that is still being opened counts as work in progress too, so going back while it is being read cannot clear it. Starting again asks for confirmation before clearing saved progress, and nothing is cleared unless you confirm it. Where the quarter could also be filed from your saved records, Use saved records instead appears alongside, with “Using saved records keeps this mapping saved, so you can come back to it”, so an unfinished mapping is never the only way to file the quarter. The same choice appears on the saved-draft notice, which stands in for the records question, and for the controls on Add your summary of totals when a draft arrives while that step is open, where it reads “You can file from your saved records instead. Your mapping stays saved.”; the summary step keeps its own Back underneath. Foreign property has no saved-records option. If figures for that quarter were submitted and accepted by HMRC after the progress was saved, the saved progress is dropped and the quarter opens fresh, so work that HMRC already has is never offered for submission again. Saved progress for a quarter that has since been filed is only offered while that quarter can still be corrected: once a later quarter is filed for the business, or the tax year has been finalised, the saved work is dropped and a correction link for that quarter shows This quarter cannot be corrected here instead of reopening the old figures. If you return to a quarter that has an update prepared but not sent, it offers “You have an update for this quarter that hasn’t been sent yet.” with Continue to review, and Start again for an uploaded spreadsheet. A foreign property update whose figures still hold a row with no HMRC property is offered in the same way, whether you left it before Match properties or confirmed your properties there and left before sending: it appears on that notice, and under Continue where you left off marked Ready to review, and Continue to review opens Match properties rather than the review, because those figures cannot be sent until every row holds an HMRC property. If your properties could not be read from HMRC as it reopened, the page says so and offers Try again and Start a new upload. Each quarter keeps its own saved place. If you open a quarter from a link, such as Upload Data on your Home page or a reminder email, and its saved work reopens past Add figures, your browser’s Back button lands on Add figures with that work still open rather than leaving the quarter. If you go back to File a quarter and pick a different quarter, the work for the quarter you leave is kept for it (unsaved mapping work is saved as a draft first; if that save fails you stay on the quarter), and the new quarter starts with its own, so one quarter’s workbook and mappings can never be used for another quarter. Once you have chosen a quarter, the page address keeps that quarter and the step you are on: if you reload or come back to the same address, you return to that quarter with its saved progress rather than to the quarter list, and your browser’s Back button steps back through the steps. When you open Quarterly updates from the sidebar as an individual, it starts on File a quarter; if you left work in a quarter, that quarter is reopened on top of the list, so Back returns you to File a quarter. A quarter you only opened is not reopened.

Once an update has been sent, the address no longer points at the saved work it used up, so reloading or going back does not report that work as missing. If you open an older link to saved work that has since been sent, the page says “This update has already been sent to HMRC. You can see it in Past submissions.” instead of reopening it.

Following the link in a quarterly reminder email opens the quarter that reminder is about and sets the header Tax Year to the year that quarter belongs to, so you do not have to choose the year yourself. From a reminder link, saved progress is only offered while that quarter is still open; if the quarter has been filed since you saved the work, it opens fresh. If the reminder is for a tax year that is not available for upload, the page shows Tax year unavailable with “This reminder is for a tax year that is not available for upload. Return to your workspace to check your quarterly updates”, and Go to workspace takes you there.

If a link names a quarter that is not among your obligations for the tax year shown in the header, the page shows Quarter Not Found. Where that quarter belongs to another tax year, it names the year and asks you to switch the tax year at the top of the page; otherwise it asks you to choose the quarter again, and to refresh your obligations from HMRC if it is still missing. Choose another quarter drops the link and shows the quarter list, and Change quarter stays available as usual.

If you’re an accountant

The upload is always for the client shown in the header switcher. Change client first, then open Quarterly updates. See Working in a client’s context.

Where no quarter is showing for the client, the message is about that client and points you to their client page, with View client status, rather than offering a refresh.

Changing the tax year in the header clears the previous quarter selection. Choose an obligation in the new year before continuing; figures from the old year are not carried into it.

How to upload

1. Check the Tax Year in the header, and for agents the client switcher.
2. Open Quarterly updates and click Upload Data on the quarter you are filing.
3. On Add figures, answer How do you keep your records? with A summary of totals or My transactions, then Continue. An answer that differs from the way this business files asks you to confirm the switch first, on the same step.
4. For a summary, choose Upload your spreadsheet or our template on Add your summary of totals, then drop your file on that card.
5. For your own workbook, tick the worksheets that belong to this business if asked, and Smart Map opens with its suggestions. See Smart Map.
6. For My transactions, keep and check the records on Transactions, then choose File this quarter there to come back to this update, check the records for the quarter, and review the prepared figures on Review & submit.
7. On the review, read anything under Things to check, using Show in mapping where a warning names a mapping row, and check any box the review says was filled from an existing mapping.

Things to know

• Your figures come in as XLSX here. Summary spreadsheets and all official templates must be XLSX. Save or export from Google Sheets, Apple Numbers or LibreOffice as XLSX. Older XLS files are not accepted, and renaming a file does not change its format. Bank and transaction exports, including bounded UTF-8 CSV files, are brought in through transaction import on Transactions rather than on this screen.
• 20 MB is the limit. Larger workbooks usually contain sheets that are not needed; export just the relevant sheet.
• The same file can be chosen again. If a file is refused, put it right and pick the same file from the dropzone; it is read again.
• Only an open quarter can be filed. A missed earlier quarter does not have to be filed first: the later update covers it. The missed quarter says sending it on its own is optional, the later quarter names what it also covers, and both say what the missed deadline means for penalty points in that tax year. A period that has not ended is not offered, and a quarter that a later update you sent already covers shows as Covered.
• If no quarter is showing, refresh. Choose Refresh from HMRC beside the “No open obligations found for this tax year” message to read your obligations from HMRC again.
• You are asked how you keep your records once. Answer it, and the quarter carries on with that answer: a summary goes to its own step for your spreadsheet or our template, and transactions are kept and filed from Transactions. Where the year already has a way, the question becomes a single line with Continue and the other way beside it.
• Figures from your transactions are reviewed on the same screen as a spreadsheet. Review & submit carries the prepared totals, the warnings, the declaration and the submit button, with Back to transactions, Save and close and Use a spreadsheet instead beside them. No spreadsheet was uploaded, so there is no audit-trail box to untick.
• A foreign property update has to be matched to HMRC’s properties before it can be sent. From the 2026-27 tax year, Match properties sits between your summary of totals and Review & submit: match each property from your spreadsheet to the right HMRC record and choose Confirm & Continue. Where a row of figures still holds no HMRC property, the submit button opens Match properties instead of sending, and an update you left before or after that step is offered again under Continue where you left off and reopens at Match properties rather than the review.
• A correction goes with you to Transactions. Leaving a Correct & Resubmit for Transactions keeps that quarter and the correction, so Return to correction there returns you to the correction rather than starting a fresh update.
• Prepared figures go out of date when your records change. Prepared figures need updating offers Prepare again on the review, or Back to transactions to look at the records first, and submitting waits until the figures have been prepared again.
• Starting figures and corrections to earlier quarters sit on the review. They change the year-to-date totals this update sends, so changing one prepares the figures again before you submit.
• A switch is confirmed where you chose it. The confirmation opens under the answer that needs it, says “Saving your choice…” while it saves, and then carries on with that answer. Choosing the other answer, or Back inside it, leaves the switch unmade.
• A refusal that needs the switch offers it. Where confirming or submitting is refused because how this business files has to be chosen first, the message stays on the review with Choose how to continue beside it, so you can open the switch step there and then.
• A refusal of prepared figures names its next step. Prepare this update again (or Return to transactions) and View past submissions sit beside the message, so you do not have to find them.
• Only the latest filed quarter can be corrected. Use Correct & Resubmit on that quarter; an earlier filed quarter, and any quarter in a tax year that has been finalised, cannot be corrected from this screen, and saved work for one is dropped rather than reopened. Once the year has been finalised, the figures are changed by amending the tax return for the year with HMRC.
• Transactions are not offered for every update. When they are not, My transactions says why, carries no badge, and the quarter is filed from a summary spreadsheet; your saved records are not affected.
• After a reload, the transactions answer is checked again. It says it is checking, then becomes available or says why not once the check finishes.
• An upload that gets no answer offers Try again, on the step you were on. A template upload shows the note on Add your summary of totals, and a Continue to Review that gets no answer shows it on Map fields, with your mapping as you left it. Nothing has been sent to HMRC either way, and Try again repeats only what did not finish, so your work is not saved twice.
• Leaving with unsaved work asks first. It asks on Map fields with a spreadsheet that is not saved anywhere, and from any step while this browser could not keep Smart Map’s matches you have not applied yet. Leave without saving your mapping? offers Stay, Save and leave and Leave; where the draft cannot be saved, or those matches still have no copy, the question stays open and says so. Moving between the wizard’s own steps is never blocked.
• A draft keeps your applied matches, not the unapplied suggestions. Apply the Smart Map matches you want before you leave, so none of them depend on this browser keeping them for you.
• Dates with the day and month swapped are pointed out. On Map fields, a warning that names the worksheet and column, saying some dates there “may have the day and month swapped”, appears when one column mixes real dates that could have been read month-first with text dates that can only be day-first, such as 15/05/2026. This usually happens when a CSV file is opened in Google Sheets set to the United States. Totals your spreadsheet works out from those dates, such as quarter totals, may be wrong, and those totals are what is sent to HMRC. The warning does not stop you continuing, so put it right first: in Google Sheets, open File > Settings and set Locale to United Kingdom, import the CSV again and check the dates and totals, then download it as Microsoft Excel (.xlsx) and upload it again.
• Pre-filled boxes are still yours to check. Where the review says some boxes were filled from your mapping last time, or from a layout other people have used, check those figures match this quarter before you send.
• A warning names the rows it came from. Choose Show in mapping beside a row to open the mapping on it, then Back to review if the row was right, or Continue to Review if you changed it.
• The declaration is the last thing before Submit. Where lower figures than your last update need confirming, that confirmation sits above the declaration, so ticking the declaration is the final step.
• You can see what the update means for your tax. After submitting, View your tax calculation on the submitted screen asks HMRC for an in-year calculation from the figures you have just sent and opens it, or offers Check it on your tax estimate while HMRC is still working it out. It sends no new figures to HMRC, and your update stays filed whatever the calculation does. It is only shown to someone HMRC lets read the calculation. See Your Tax Estimate.
• When submitting is unavailable, every reason is next to the button. The list under “To submit, you still need to:” names each one, so put them right, or, after a refused submission, choose Refresh HMRC details and check again. Pressing the button while the declaration is unticked takes you to the declaration and highlights it.
• A send that gets no answer is never sent twice. The review says it is checking whether HMRC received the update and locks the submit button until it knows; wait for the receipt or the Outcome needs checking panel rather than trying again. For figures prepared from your transactions, read the record with Check filing status.
• A reminder link sets the year for you. It opens its own quarter in its own tax year, and only offers saved progress while that quarter is still open.
• An unfinished mapping does not trap you. Where saved records could file the same quarter, choose Use saved records instead; the mapping stays saved for later.
• Going back to Add figures keeps your work. Back, your browser’s Back button and the Add figures step in the rail all return you to Continue mapping or Continue reviewing, with Start again if you want to drop the work, which asks before clearing anything.
• Each quarter keeps its own place. Moving to a different quarter keeps the work for the quarter you were on, and returning to it picks that work up again.
• Every update is cumulative. Your workbook for Q2 should contain the year-to-date figures, 6 April to the end of Q2, not July to October alone. See Cumulative Quarterly Updates.
• A nil quarter is still filed. Put 0 in the figure cells; HMRC accepts an all-zero update.
• Your workbook is kept as your digital record unless you untick Save spreadsheet for audit trail at the review step.
• The template is optional. Smart Map reads your own layout. The summary template is a starting point if you have no workbook yet.

If something goes wrong

See Keeping and checking transaction records for manual payments, bank exports, receipt or invoice evidence, and channel setup.

FAQ

Can I upload several quarters at once?

No. One upload files one quarter. Because updates are cumulative, the later quarter’s workbook already includes the earlier ones.

Do I have to use the aligned.tax template?

No. Upload your own workbook; Smart Map maps it. The template exists for people starting from nothing.

Where do bank exports go now?

Into Transactions. Keep each payment there, by hand, from a bank export or from a receipt you send in, then choose File this quarter to bring those totals back to the quarterly update, where you review and send them on Review & submit. This screen takes a summary of totals.

I already filed this quarter. Can I upload again?

Yes, for the latest quarter you filed for that business, as long as the tax year has not been finalised. Use Correct & Resubmit on that quarter and the new figures replace the ones HMRC holds. If the correction takes you to Transactions, the quarter and the correction go with you, so Return to correction there brings you back to it. An earlier filed quarter cannot be corrected on its own; because updates are cumulative, correct the latest quarter instead. Once the tax year has been finalised, no quarter in it can be corrected here: the figures are changed by amending the tax return for the year with HMRC. See Correcting a Submitted Quarter.