What has changed
Changes that affect what you see on screen, newest first. Everything listed here is live. Work that has been written but not yet released is not listed, because it would not match what you are looking at.
September 2026
HMRC status now tells you what HMRC actually said. When a client’s HMRC status cannot be confirmed, the screen reports what HMRC returned rather than a general failure. The most common cause is that the client is authorised for you but not yet signed up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, and that case now says so instead of appearing to be a fault in aligned.tax.
August 2026
Ask a client for their records. A practice can request the XLSX records for one client and one quarter, and the client uploads them through a private link without needing an account. Received versions are kept, the latest shown first, and any version can be opened directly in Smart Map. See Requesting client records.
Smart Map saves your progress. Leaving the mapping step part way through no longer loses your work. Returning to the upload picks up where you left off.
Smart Map picks the right worksheet. A workbook with a sheet per business or per property no longer needs rearranging before upload. Smart Map selects the sheet that matches the income source you are filing.
National Insurance numbers and postcodes are checked the same way everywhere. One rule now applies on every screen that accepts them, so a value accepted when adding a client is not rejected later.
Clients authorised under the older Self Assessment arrangement are no longer stuck. Clients HMRC reports as partially authorised used to sit at “Authorised, syncing” indefinitely. They now show their real state, with what to do next.
Repeated HMRC errors stop repeating. A definitive refusal from HMRC, such as a client who is not signed up, is now reported once rather than retried in a loop, which used to end in an unrelated “too many requests” message.
Sign-in links say how long they last. Sign-up verification and password reset emails state that the link expires after 30 minutes, and the expiry screen offers a new one.
Password managers work properly on the sign-in and sign-up forms. The forms now give password managers the information they need to offer to save and fill credentials.
Safari recovers from a failed page load. A loading failure specific to Safari that left a blank screen now recovers instead.
July 2026
HMRC recognition. aligned.tax became HMRC-recognised software for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
The mileage rate for 2026/27 is 55p. Simplified expense mileage calculations use the current rate.
Where the rest is
Article pages carry the detail for each feature. If something you use has changed in a way this page does not explain, email hello@aligned.tax and say what you expected to see.