Send a quarterly update to HMRC for MTD for Income Tax on mobile
This article explains how to review and send a quarterly update to HMRC for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax using the FreeAgent mobile app.
HMRC requires anyone registered for MTD for Income Tax to keep digital records and send income and expense totals every quarter. The quarterly updates can be submitted after the end of the quarter and are currently due one month after the end of the quarter for 'standard quarters' submissions, and one month and seven days for calendar year submissions.
Quarterly updates need to be submitted for each separate self-employment and property income source. Therefore, if you have more than one income stream, for example if you're self-employed and also a landlord, you'll need a sole trader and an unincorporated landlord account in FreeAgent and send quarterly updates from both accounts each quarter. You can find out what counts as multiple income streams, as well as tips for managing more than one income stream, in our guide covering how to efficiently manage multiple income streams.
You can use the desktop version of FreeAgent to enable quarterly updates to be sent to HMRC automatically or follow the steps below to send them manually using the FreeAgent mobile app.
Please note:
- FreeAgent's MTD for Income Tax functionality on the mobile app is currently only available on iOS devices. The functionality will be available on Android soon.
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Before you can send a quarterly update using the mobile app, you’ll need have signed up for MTD for Income Tax with HMRC and set up the MTD for Income Tax connection in FreeAgent using the desktop version.
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You’ll need full (level 8) access to your FreeAgent account in order to send a quarterly update to HMRC.
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If you use FreeAgent with your accountant, they may submit your quarterly updates on your behalf and restrict your ability to access and submit your quarterly updates. Please speak to your accountant if you have any questions or want to be able to access these. FreeAgent is unable to change these permissions for you.
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If you move to FreeAgent during the tax year and have already submitted updates for the earlier quarters to HMRC, you can mark those updates as filed in FreeAgent. However, as per HMRC requirements, you’ll need to enter the income and expenses for these earlier quarters in FreeAgent before sending the next quarterly update to HMRC to include those income and expenses in the year-to-date figures sent on the next update.
- You’ll need to use the desktop version of FreeAgent if you want to choose between sending either full expenses or consolidated expenses, and using either standard quarterly periods or calendar update periods.
Review and send a quarterly update on mobile
1. Navigate to the MTD for Income Tax area
Tap the '☰’ (mobile app navigation menu) button and select ‘MTD for Income Tax’.
From here you’ll be able to see when each submission is due and their status.
Tap the chevron arrow to the right of the update you want to send to HMRC.
2. Check your figures
Next, check that you’ve entered all of the relevant data for the quarter. In order to create an accurate quarterly report, FreeAgent needs to have all the details of your properties (if you have an unincorporated landlord account type), bank transactions, invoices, bills and out-of-pocket expenses.
FreeAgent will automatically populate your total income for the quarter in the Income section.
FreeAgent will also automatically populate your total day-to-day running costs for the quarter in the Expenses section.
3. Submit your quarterly tax data to HMRC
Once you’re happy with the information, select ‘Send update to HMRC’.
Then, select ‘Confirm’ to complete the process.
Once you have sent an update to HMRC, it can take several minutes for the submission to be processed by HMRC.
Once the submission has been filed successfully, the status of the quarter will update to ‘Filed’ and you’ll receive an email notification from FreeAgent letting you know. If you would prefer not to receive an email notification for these submissions, you can update your FreeAgent communication preferences using the desktop version of FreeAgent.
FreeAgent will display your annual tax estimate received from HMRC unless your accountant has turned this off for your account. HMRC provides you with an annual tax estimate based on the information you’ve submitted so far. This is then extrapolated by assuming the same income and deductions for the remaining days of the tax year, forecasting your final tax liability.
Please note that under MTD for Income Tax, FreeAgent does not calculate the tax estimate figure, and instead receives this directly from HMRC, so if you have any queries regarding the tax calculation, you'll need to contact HMRC using the details in the letter they would have sent you when you joined MTD.
You can use the desktop version of FreeAgent to view a breakdown of your tax estimate.