Submit a quarterly update

A quarterly update sends HMRC a cumulative (year-to-date) summary of your income and expenses for a chosen quarter. You do not type any totals: the app builds the figures from the transactions you have recorded, and you review and confirm them on the Send update to HMRC screen.

What a quarterly update is

A quarterly update is one of the two things HMRC tracks under Making Tax Digital (quarterly updates and a Final Declaration). It sends HMRC a cumulative, year-to-date summary of your income and allowable expenses for the chosen quarter.

There are four standard quarters in a tax year:

• Q1: 6 April to 5 July
• Q2: 6 July to 5 October
• Q3: 6 October to 5 January
• Q4: 6 January to 5 April

Important: The figures are built automatically from the transactions you record in the app. There is no box for typing a total. The sanctioned way to bring in figures from a spreadsheet or bank export is Import transactions from CSV, which brings each row in as a real transaction. Your quarterly figures are then calculated from those records.

Before you start

1. Record your income and expenses first. Add each item against the property or business it belongs to, either by hand or with CSV import. See Recording income and expenses.
2. Connect HMRC and set your National Insurance Number. Both are required before any submission. See Connect your HMRC account.

Note: Quarterly updates are available on both Free and MTD Lite. Record your income and expenses first, then submit once HMRC is connected and your National Insurance Number is set.

Send a quarterly update

1. Open Send update to HMRC. Go to /tax/submit. You can also reach it from the dashboard or from the Filing Calendar using Prepare submission or File now. The page heading is Send update to HMRC.
2. Pick the tax year and a quarter. Choose the tax year, then select a quarter tile on the timeline. Which quarters appear, and which are overdue, come from HMRC's own obligations, not from a date the app guesses.
3. Review the figures. Check the Cumulative figures · year to date cards (income, expenses, and finance costs). These are what will be sent.
4. Submit. Click Submit Qx to HMRC (or File now to stop the clock if the quarter is overdue).
5. Confirm. In the Confirm Submission dialog, tick I confirm these figures are correct and click Submit. HMRC usually responds within a few seconds and a success screen appears.

Tip: If a quarter button reads Opens with a date and is locked, its submission window has not opened yet. Wait until the displayed date. The app shows your due dates (from HMRC) on the Filing Calendar: see Filing calendar and obligations.

Self-employment is per business

Self-employment updates are filed per business at /self-employment/[businessId]/submit (breadcrumb Self-employment / Submit). If you have a single business, opening /tax/submit takes you straight there; with more than one business, or with both income types, you first choose which to file. Self-employment quarter requirements are trading-date-aware, so a business that started part-way through the year only shows the quarters from its start onward. The steps on the page are the same as above.

Note: Self-employment is available on MTD Lite, and on Free when it is your only income type. Tracking both property and self-employment together needs MTD Lite.

The figures are cumulative

Every quarterly update carries the whole tax year to date, so a later update naturally supersedes an earlier one. You do not amend a single quarter in isolation: you record the change and let the next update self-correct. Anything still outstanding is settled at the end of the year, when the Final Declaration replaces the Self Assessment return for the income the app covers. See The cumulative model and corrections.

If something goes wrong

• Submit is disabled with "Complete HMRC setup to enable submission". Your National Insurance Number or HMRC connection is not set up yet. Connect HMRC and enter your NINO in Settings. See Connect your HMRC account.
• You see "No filing obligations" instead of a quarter timeline. HMRC returned no obligations for that year (for example, you are not signed up for MTD for that year, or the year is out of scope). The app will not invent a timeline. Check the earliest fileable year shown, or see Not signed up for MTD yet?.
• A "Not enrolled for Making Tax Digital" banner appears. Your HMRC account is not signed up for MTD for Income Tax. Sign up via the link in the banner, then come back and refresh.
• A quarter button reads "Qx ends before commencement" and is locked. The quarter ended before your business started trading, so HMRC will not accept it. Pick the quarter that contains your start date, or a later tax year.

Note: Submissions at /tax/submissions is a read-only history of what you have already sent. You cannot submit from there: use Send update to HMRC at /tax/submit. Use the View submission history link to review past updates.

For anything about whether you must file, deadlines, or penalties, check with HMRC or your accountant, or see the MTD guide.

Frequently asked questions

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