Send MTD for Income Tax submissions to a client for approval

This article explains the process of sending a Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax submission to a client for approval and then submitting it to HMRC once the client has approved it.

Senior account managers can set up default settings for the practice to control which MTD for Income Tax submissions will require approvals from clients with level 7 or 8 access to FreeAgent. Approvals can be turned on for quarterly updates, end-of-year updates and final declarations.

These settings will be applied to all clients, including those that are linked to the dashboard. However, they can be changed for individual clients.

You can either automate clients’ quarterly MTD for Income Tax approvals or follow the steps below to send updates for approval manually.

Send a quarterly update for approval

If approvals are turned on for quarterly updates, select ‘Send update for approval’ at the top-right of the MTD for Income Tax area in the client’s account.

Choose which period you want to send to the client for approval. You’ll see a list of any unfiled quarterly periods, along with the option for the year to date (after the end of the last completed quarter). The period you choose will determine which quarterly obligations are sent to the client for approval.

Once you’ve selected the relevant period, select ‘Send update for approval’.

A default message will appear in the ‘Message’ field but you can edit this text if you wish. If you don’t want to send an email to the client, untick the ‘Send email notification’ checkbox.

Enter your name in the ‘Signed by’ field and select ‘Send update for approval’ to complete the process.

If you chose to send an email notification, the client will receive an email with a link to log in to their account to approve and sign the update.

Once the client has approved the submission, you can send the quarterly update to HMRC.

Send an end-of-year update for approval

If approvals are turned on for end-of-year updates, select ‘Send End of Year update for approval’ in the top-right of the MTD for Income Tax area in the client’s account.

You won’t be able to send the end-of-year update for approval until after the end of the tax year. You’ll need to make sure all the client’s bank transactions have been explained and any added any adjustments and allowances have been added as required.

Next, select ‘Send End of Year update for approval’.

A default message will appear in the ‘Message’ field but you can edit this text if you wish. If you don’t want to send an email to the client, untick the ‘Send email notification’ checkbox.

Enter your name in the ‘Signed by’ field and select ‘Send update for approval’ to complete the process.

If you chose to send an email notification, the client will receive an email with a link to log in to their account to approve and sign the update.

Once the client has approved the submission, you can send the end-of-year update to HMRC.

Send a final declaration for approval

If approvals are turned on for final declarations, select ‘Send Final Declaration’ in the top-right of the MTD for Income Tax area in the client’s account.

You won’t be able to send the final declaration for approval until after the end of the tax year and you’ve completed the individual information page (unless you’ve chosen not to enter this information for the client). You’ll need to make sure all the client’s bank transactions have been explained.

Next, select ‘Create Final Tax Breakdown’ to send all the data to HMRC and get back a tax breakdown to review.

Once you’re happy with the final tax breakdown that HMRC send you, select ‘Accept and send for approval’ to send it to the client.

A default message will appear in the ‘Message’ field but you can edit this text if you wish. If you don’t want to send an email to the client, untick the ‘Send email notification’ checkbox.

Enter your name in the ‘Signed by’ field and select ‘Send update for approval’ to complete the process.

If you chose to send an email notification, the client will receive an email with a link to log in to their account to approve and sign the update.

Once the client has approved the submission, you can send the final declaration to HMRC.