Work

What this is

Work is your practice’s filing queue: one row for every business obligation HMRC has sent, across every client, for the tax year chosen in the header. The page heading reads Today’s work, and the list is ordered around what the practice has to do next: overdue filings first, then the soonest deadline.

Work is for agent accounts. An individual account that opens it is sent to their own dashboard. Each client’s own filing tabs live on their client page; Work is the view across all of them.

What you see on screen

Work is a single page, read top to bottom:

The heading, with “Each filing row follows one business obligation. Start with what the practice has to do.”
Refresh HMRC, which becomes Stop sync while a refresh is running
HMRC invitations, which opens the invitations panel
Import clients and Add client
Take the tour, when page tours are switched on for your account (see Page tours)
Two tabs: Practice clients and Clients you review, each with a count

If your practice uses Practice Forms with Repeat each quarter switched on, a Forms ready to send card appears at the top of the page once the next quarter’s form requests are prepared. Nothing is sent until you send each one, review it first, or set it aside for that quarter.

On the Practice clients tab:

A Set up your practice checklist while your practice is not ready yet, with Connect to HMRC, Agent Reference Number and Add a client. If only the HMRC connection has lapsed, a one-line notice with Connect to HMRC appears instead. Either can be closed with the X (Hide setup for now or Hide for now) until you next open aligned.tax, or until the setup state changes
From 17 months after the practice connected to HMRC, a reminder that HMRC asks you to reconnect every 18 months and repeats its 2-step verification when you do, with the date to reconnect by. A Practice Owner or Practice Manager sees a Reconnect to HMRC button that starts a fresh HMRC sign-in; other team members are asked to tell one. The reminder stays while the checklist is hidden
The Today bar: four counts you can click to filter the list, covering overdue filings, filings due this week, blocked clients, and records just in. When all four are zero it reads “Nothing urgent today”
Stage chips, each with a count: All filings, Not requested, Waiting, Arrived, Filed, an assignment chip (Everyone, With you, Unassigned or With and a colleague’s name, depending on the assignee filter), Self-filing, and No obligations yet or Paused when there are any
Search practice filings, which takes a client name or a business ID, a Filter panel holding Filter by quarter, Filter by deadline, Show work with and Group work by, Clear filters, and a removable chip for each filter in force
In All filings, an Overdue filings card first (“Penalty risk. Do these first.”) when any filing is past its deadline and has not been sent to HMRC yet, then the remaining filings in an Other filings card. Other chips show one card, with overdue filings at the top
The filings table, in its own card, with each client’s filings (or each quarter, business, assignee or month, depending on Group work by) in a separate block: Client and business, Deadline and a next step for each row. A row’s next step is Request records or Chase records where records are the next move; otherwise it is a link such as Submit. On a phone the next step column is hidden, so open the row to reach it
A select-all checkbox at the top of the table (Select all shown)
A Blocked clients card under the filings, listing clients who need something before filing can start, one row per client, in the same rows and Filing details panel as the filings, with its own select-all checkbox
When there is no filing to do for the quarter and filters, “No filings to do” in place of the table, with Review blocked clients when some clients need setting up
On a wide screen, a keyboard shortcuts strip under the table, with All shortcuts
The Filing details panel, beside the table on a wide screen and as a sheet on a narrower one. It shows the stage, the HMRC deadline, What has happened, the Records request state, Assigned to, the next step (Submit, Review files, Check with HMRC or See what was sent), Prepare the update where the spreadsheet has not arrived yet, Send back where the spreadsheet came from a client link, and Open the client page

Selecting rows with the checkboxes replaces the shortcuts strip with a bulk toolbar: Assign selected filings to, Assign, Send records requests, Refresh from HMRC and Clear. Each button shows how many of the selected rows it will act on.

On the Clients you review tab the heading changes to Review access, and you see How read-only access works, Review records for each client, and Copy instructions for your client when nobody has shared records with you yet. Search clients you review appears once you review ten or more clients.

Pressing Ctrl+K, or Cmd+K on a Mac, opens Switch client, where you can use Find a client or a client tab to jump straight to a client or one of their tabs.

How to

Work through what needs the practice today

Check the tax year in the header. Every count and row on this page follows it.
In the Today bar, click the count you want: overdue, due this week, blocked clients, or records just in. The list below narrows to it, across all quarters.
Click a row to open the Filing details panel, or move with J and K and press Enter.
Read the sentence and What has happened, then use the next step button in the panel.
To widen the list again, click All filings or Clear filters.

Ask a client for their spreadsheet

Choose the Not requested chip to see filings nobody has asked for yet.
On the row you want, click Request records. The keyboard shortcut is R.
In the dialog, check Client and To, choose Category totals or Individual transactions, edit the Subject and Message, and add a Bcc address if you want a private copy.
Click Send request. The client is emailed a private link for that one filing. See Requesting client records.
Once it is sent, the filing shows as Waiting. Use Chase records on the row to send a reminder, or Prepare the update if you already have the figures.

Request records for several filings at once

Tick the filings you want, or use Select all shown.
In the bulk toolbar, click Send records requests.
Read the confirmation. It names how many requests will go out and lists any selected rows that are left out, for example filings already requested, which you chase from their own row. Then click Send requests.
A message tells you how many were sent. Anything that failed can be tried again from its own row.

Assign filings to someone

Tick the filings, or open one in the Filing details panel.
In the panel, choose a name under Assigned to. In the bulk toolbar, pick a name (or Unassigned) from the assignment list, then click Assign. Press A to assign the open filing to yourself.
The change shows straight away with an Undo option. Press U or click Undo within five seconds to change your mind.
To see one person’s work, open Filter and set Show work with, or click the assignment chip.

Ask HMRC for fresh obligations and statuses

Click Refresh HMRC to check every client your practice can fully refresh, or tick rows and use Refresh from HMRC for just those clients.
Each client shows a status chip while it runs. Stop sync stops after the clients already running finish.
When it ends you are told how many were checked, how many failed, and how many were stopped before being checked.

Remind a client who files for themselves

Click the Self-filing chip.
Find the client and read what HMRC has on record for that period.
Click Remind. The client is emailed a reminder. You can remind the same client again after 24 hours, and the row shows when you last did.

Things to know

One row is one business obligation in one quarter. A client with three businesses has three rows per quarter, each with its own deadline and stage.
The quarter in Filter is chosen for you. It starts on the earliest quarter with something for the practice to do, or the quarter in progress if there is nothing. Choose All quarters to see everything.
Four stages, worked out from what has happened. Not requested, Waiting, Arrived and Filed come from the filing’s history, not from a status anyone sets. Two flags sit beside the stage: a filing HMRC has not confirmed carries Check with HMRC, and figures changed after filing carry Figures changed. Both appear under Arrived, so they stay in front of you.
A filing HMRC already has is never overdue. Once a quarter has been sent, it leaves the overdue count and the Overdue filings card even if its deadline has passed. A correction you are working on, or a submission still waiting on HMRC, carries Figures changed or Check with HMRC instead, so it stays visible without being counted as a penalty risk.
Asking the client and preparing it yourself are equal choices. Until the spreadsheet arrives, a filing offers Request records (or Chase records once it has been asked for) and Prepare the update side by side, so you can key the figures in yourself at any point.
Blocked clients are not filings. A client who still needs an invitation, authorisation or MTD sign-up appears under Blocked clients with the one thing to do next, and their filings stay out of the list until it is sorted.
Self-filing clients create no practice work. They appear only under the Self-filing chip, from HMRC’s record, and you can remind them but not file for them. The first time you open that chip in a visit, aligned.tax also asks HMRC again for any of those clients not checked in the last six hours. Change how a client files on their Details tab.
A cancelled quarter leaves Work completely, filings and all. Reopen it from the client’s page.
Pausing is done on the client page. Paused filings sit under the Paused chip.
Assignments can be undone, records emails cannot. An assignment waits five seconds before it is sent, so Undo never reverses anything with HMRC or the client. A records request is an email and cannot be unsent.
Assigning needs Bookkeeper access on the client. Without it the panel says “Your access to this client does not allow assigning work.”
Leaving the page does not lose an assignment. It is sent as you go. If it does not get through, a notice at the top of Work tells you on your next visit, with Try again and Dismiss.
An assignment made offline is not held back. Rather than waiting silently for the connection to return, aligned.tax tells you at once that it was not saved, so you can set it again once you are back online.
Adding and importing clients needs practice permissions. A Practice Owner or Practice Manager can use Add client, Import clients and HMRC invitations; for others the buttons are disabled.
Records requests need three things. An eligible obligation, a client email address and your own permission for that client. Where one is missing, Request records is disabled and says so.
Filters are kept in the web address. Stage, quarter, deadline, assignee, grouping and search can be bookmarked or shared with a colleague.
A quarter with everything filed says so. The list heading shows “All filed” for that quarter, and an empty list offers See what was filed to look back over it.
Page tour. Take the tour replays a short guided tour of this page. It only appears when tours are switched on for your account.

If something goes wrong

What you see	Why	What to do
“Jobs could not be loaded.” (or the server’s own message)	The filing list did not come back	Click Try again
“Client setup could not be loaded.”	The client setup check did not come back	Click Try again; the filings below still work
“Your last assignment was not saved”	A change sent as you left the page did not go through	Click Try again, or Dismiss to leave assignments as they are
“Assignment not saved”, or “2 of 5 assignments not saved”	The server refused one or more changes, often because the quarter moved on	Refresh the page and set the assignment again
“You are offline. Connect to the internet, then try again.”	The assignment could not be sent because this browser has no connection	Reconnect to the internet, then set the assignment again
“This assignment could not be retried”	The filing is not on this screen, or you cannot change it	Check the tax year in the header, then try from the filing’s own row
Request records is disabled	“Records requests require an eligible obligation, client email and permission.”	Add the client’s email, confirm authorisation, and check your access to that client
“This browser is still preparing the security details HMRC needs. Try again in a moment.”	The details HMRC requires with every call are not ready yet	Wait a moment and try the refresh again
“HMRC refresh stopped”	You clicked Stop sync, so some clients were not checked	Read the counts in the message, then refresh the clients that were missed
“No filings match this search. Try a client name or business ID.”	The search text matches nothing	Click Clear the search
“No filings to do”	Nothing in All filings is left for the quarter and filters	Choose another quarter, or click Review blocked clients to see clients who need setting up
“Nothing in this view. Choose another quarter or another list.”	The chips and filters together exclude everything	Click Show all filings

FAQ

Why is a client missing from the list?

Check three things: the tax year in the header, the quarter in Filter, and the Blocked clients card. A client who is blocked, who files their own updates, or whose quarter was cancelled is not in the main list.

Why does one client have several rows for the same quarter?

Each row is one business. HMRC sets an obligation per business per quarter, so each is requested, reviewed and filed on its own.

Why is a late quarter not in the overdue count?

Because it has already been sent. The overdue count is the work with a penalty risk still attached, so a quarter HMRC has, including one you are correcting, is left out of it even when the deadline has gone. Look for it under Arrived or Filed.

What does “No obligations yet” mean?

HMRC has not sent any period for that quarter. There is nothing to request until it does. Use Refresh HMRC to ask again, or use Check with HMRC on the row to open the client’s obligations tab.

Can I see a colleague’s work?

Yes. Open Filter and set Show work with to their name, or group the list by Assigned to.

What should the client send?

The spreadsheet for the filing, as an XLSX workbook, uploaded through the private link in the records email. Choose Category totals or Individual transactions when you send the request.

How do I get to a client’s own page quickly?

Press Ctrl+K, or Cmd+K on a Mac, and type the client’s name, or a name and a tab such as “Filing”. Open the client page in the Filing details panel does the same for the filing you are looking at.