Year-end and your Final Declaration

Year-End Review is where you tie off a tax year: confirm your quarterly updates are in, resolve every income source, then calculate and submit your Final Declaration to HMRC. This guide walks through the three on-screen steps and the things that can hold you up.

What year-end is

Year-End Review (the Year-End Review item in the sidebar, at /tax/year-end) is where you finalise a tax year and submit your Final Declaration to HMRC. The Final Declaration is the Making Tax Digital equivalent of the old Self Assessment return for the income the app covers, once you are in MTD for Income Tax.

HMRC tracks two obligations across the year: your quarterly updates and the Final Declaration. Your quarterly updates are cumulative estimates built automatically from the transactions you record, and the Final Declaration is your chance to confirm the full-year figures and tell HMRC the year is complete.

The page guides you through three steps on screen: Step 1 Quarterly Updates, Step 2 Review your sources, and Step 3 Final Declaration. This guide is available on Free and MTD Lite.

Note: Year-End Review needs a connected HMRC account. If you have not connected yet, see Connect your HMRC account first.

Before you start

You will get the furthest if these are all true before you open the page:

1. Your HMRC account is connected (the page reads your obligations and figures directly from HMRC).
2. The tax year has ended. You cannot finalise until 6 April following the end of the year. The app will block finalisation until then.
3. Every required quarterly update is submitted. See Submit a quarterly update.
4. No unsupported income sources sit on your HMRC account for that year (for example foreign property). The app will flag these as blockers.

Step 1: Quarterly Updates

Step 1 confirms that all of your required quarterly updates for the year have been submitted. When your HMRC account is connected, the number of required updates is taken from HMRC's own obligations, so this reflects exactly what HMRC expects from you.

If an update is still outstanding, submit it first. Your due dates (from HMRC) are shown on the Filing Calendar.

Tip: Quarterly updates are cumulative, so a later update supersedes the earlier ones for the year. If you spotted a mistake in an earlier quarter, correcting your records and submitting the next update carries the correction forward automatically.

Step 2: Review your sources

Step 2 lists every income source that may be relevant to you (such as your property or self-employment annual figures, and any additional income sources you have added). Each row must be resolved before you can calculate your tax. A row shows one of three states: Confirmed, Needs review, or Not applicable.

Work down the list and resolve every row:

1. For a row that applies to you, click Confirm to record your confirmation.
2. For a row that does not apply, click Mark not applicable (this is only offered where the source allows it).
3. For a data-backed row, click Review or Open to drill into the relevant page, complete it, then come back.

Some property and self-employment sources also need a one-off finalisation with HMRC before the calculation will succeed. Where that applies, clicking Confirm on the row opens a finalisation dialog rather than confirming straight away.

1. Click Confirm on the row and read the finalisation declaration in the dialog that opens.
2. Click Confirm with HMRC in the dialog. This runs a no-changes handshake (a BSAS finalisation) that finalises the source with HMRC.
3. If you actually have figures to adjust first, cancel and open Business Adjustments at /tax/adjustments to enter the real adjustments, which finalises the source the same way. See Business adjustments (BSAS).

Keep going until no row shows Needs review. A row left in Needs review will block the Final Declaration.

Important: Residential finance-cost (mortgage interest) adjustments cannot be made here. They flow through your quarterly updates instead. See Section 24 finance costs.

Step 3: Final Declaration

Once Steps 1 and 2 are clear, you can calculate and submit:

1. Click Calculate Tax to ask HMRC for the year's calculation. (Once a calculation exists the button reads Recalculate Tax.)
2. Review the figures HMRC returns.
3. Tick I have read and agree to the above declaration. You cannot submit without this.
4. Click Submit Final Declaration.

On success you will see Declaration Submitted with the date and HMRC's calculation reference. HMRC can take up to about an hour to mark the obligation as fulfilled, so the status may update shortly after.

Note: If you change anything after calculating (for example you submit another quarterly update or finalise a source), the calculation goes stale and you will be asked to Recalculate Tax before you can submit. Recalculate, review the new figures, then submit.

If you have income the app does not cover

The Final Declaration is only complete if it accounts for all of your income. The app does not yet cover every income type (for example foreign property, capital gains, or partnership income). If any of those apply to you, complete them with HMRC's own services or your accountant so your declaration is complete. For anything about your personal tax position or eligibility, check with HMRC or your accountant, or see the MTD guide.

HMRC Assist: advisory feedback

Once a calculation exists in Step 3, you can ask HMRC for advisory feedback before you file. HMRC Assist returns tailored prompts that flag possible errors or missed reliefs. Review the prompts, then submit when you are ready: it is advisory only and never blocks your Final Declaration. HMRC Assist is available on Free and MTD Lite once your HMRC account is connected.

Note: If HMRC Assist asks you to reconnect, your HMRC connection predates the extra permissions it needs. Reconnect your HMRC account from Settings and try again.

After you submit: amending

You can amend a submitted Final Declaration within HMRC's amendment window using Amend Return (at /tax/year-end/amend). Follow the workflow to correct your figures and resubmit. For the exact window length, check with HMRC or your accountant.

Tip: Before finalising, the Reconciliation page lets you compare your in-app records against what HMRC has on file and re-verify live, which is a good way to catch a discrepancy early.

If something goes wrong

• Submit (or Calculate) is blocked or shows a blocker message. The app found something outstanding: the tax year has not ended yet, a required quarterly update is missing, a Step 2 source is still in Needs review, or an unsupported income source is on your HMRC account. Resolve the listed item, or for unsupported sources use HMRC's online services. If your National Insurance number is missing, reconnect your HMRC account.
• Year-end still says HMRC needs final confirmation for a source after you entered the annual figures. Entering the annual figures alone does not finalise the source. Click Confirm on that Step 2 row and then Confirm with HMRC in the dialog, or use Business Adjustments.
• It asks you to recalculate before submitting. A newer input landed after the displayed calculation was produced, so it is stale. Click Recalculate Tax, review, then submit.
• The Final Declaration looks incomplete. Check whether you have income the app does not cover (see above) and complete it with HMRC or your accountant.

Frequently asked questions

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