MTD for Income Tax error messages

Internal server error

An error message 'Internal server error' means HMRC’s system is currently having problems. In this scenario, FreeAgent will try to send the submission again five minutes later, one hour later and then 12 hours later.

If the submission hasn’t gone through after 12 hours, check whether there’s any scheduled downtime with HMRC. If there is, please try sending the submission again after the downtime has finished.

If there isn’t any scheduled downtime, or you continue to encounter errors after the downtime has finished, please contact HMRC as there might be a problem with your records at HMRC’s end.

Authorisation error

An error message 'The client and/or agent is not authorised' may appear if you're an accountant filing on a client's behalf. It means HMRC cannot link the client’s MTD for Income Tax registration to the Agent Services Account credentials used to connect your Practice Dashboard to HMRC.

This can be caused by a number of different reasons so please check the following:

• Is the client's National Insurance Number in their FreeAgent user profile correct?
• Have you got an Agent Services Account with HMRC (rather than an old Government Gateway account)?
• Have you been fully authorised to act on your client’s behalf? Read more about how to add your client authorisations for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax on HMRC’s website or watch this video
• Has the client been copied over onto your Agent Services Account? You can check this by signing into your HMRC Agent Services Account, selecting ‘Manage your client’s details’ and searching for the relevant client’s details
• If you don’t see the client listed, you may need to sign up your client for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
• Has the agent has been set up as a ‘Supporting agent’ with HMRC and therefore has more limited access than a ‘Main agent’? Read HMRC’s guidance for multiple agents

If you’re still receiving the same error after checking these details, we would suggest you try disconnecting and reconnecting the Agent Services Account linked to your FreeAgent Practice Dashboard.

1. Disconnect FreeAgent from HMRC

Log in to your Practice Dashboard and select ‘Connections & Add-ons’ from the drop-down menu below your practice name.

Next, select ‘Manage' on the ‘HMRC connections’ panel.

Then, select 'Disconnect' to the right of the MTD for Income Tax service.

2. Reconnect with HMRC

Once you have disconnected, select 'Connect for MTD Income Tax'.

When you reconnect your Practice Dashboard, please make sure you’re entering the credentials for your new Agent Services Account (rather than the old Government Gateway account). Also, please make sure you’re not logged into your old Government Gateway account when trying to reconnect.

Problems connecting to HMRC

The error message 'Something’s not quite right' means there is a problem during the connection process.

This could be due to a number of reasons:

• You haven’t completed the sign-up for MTD for Income Tax. Please try logging in to your HMRC business tax account and check that you can access MTD for Income Tax services. If you can't, you'll need to complete the sign-up for MTD for Income Tax.
• You are an accountant or bookkeeper trying to connect an Agent Services Account in your client's account instead of through your dashboard. If you are an accountant or bookkeeper with a FreeAgent Practice Dashboard, you’ll need to set up your dashboard for MTD for Income Tax and sign up your clients that way.
• You’ve entered your National Insurance number incorrectly. Please double-check that the National Insurance number in your FreeAgent account matches the National Insurance number in your HMRC business tax account.
• If the National Insurance numbers in your FreeAgent account and HMRC business tax account do match, please try to set up the connection again, manually entering the same credentials you used to sign in to your business tax account. Be sure your browser does not auto-complete these for you. If it does, you’ll need to manually overtype them.
• Ensure you are not logged in to a different HMRC account on the web browser you are using while you are trying to set up the connection. This can result in HMRC trying to connect to the account you are currently logged in as.

C55107: One or more employments have no directorship declaration submitted

An error message ‘C55107: One or more employments have no directorship declaration submitted’ means there was information missing on your final declaration.

When filing a final declaration with employment and/or workplace pension income, HMRC asks for further information about whether or not the individual was a director for each employment and workplace pension. Whilst this might not feel relevant if you’re not or have not been a director, it is something that HMRC requires you to complete to file the submission.

To be able to send this information to HMRC, please follow the steps below:

First, select ‘Edit tax year details’ at the top-right of the MTD for Income Tax area and make sure ‘Yes’ is selected for ‘Do you want to send individual information?’.

Next, from the ‘Employment’ tab, select ‘Yes ‘ to ‘Do you want to declare any employment or occupational pension income?’ and go through the process to ‘Request data from HMRC’ or ‘Send update’ to pull in information from HMRC (if needed, you can remove any duplicated records added manually).

Then, from the ‘Individual information’ tab, select ‘Yes’ under ‘Directorship Dividends’ for 'Do you want to send additional directorship or dividends information for any employment?'.

Select the 'Add directorship and dividends information' button and you’ll see fields for company number, and whether or not you're a director. If you weren't a director, you can leave the company number blank and say ‘No’ to 'Were you a director of company x'. Alternatively, if you were a director during the tax year in question, select 'Yes' and add the company number and other information. Save the dividend once you have filled in this section.

You will need to repeat this for every employment you had during the tax year and every workplace pension you received during the tax year.

Once you have followed these steps, please try to resubmit the final declaration.

C159500: If cash basis indicator is present, Annual Investment Allowance can’t be claimed

An error message 'C159500: Self Employment - If the cash basis indicator is present - Annual Investment Allowance can’t be claimed, please resubmit' means HMRC are expecting submissions from your business on a different accounting basis.

Even if you switch your accounting basis at the start of an accounting year, HMRC won’t be informed about it until the end of the year due to the way HMRC’s business details API (the way HMRC receive your tax information) is set up.

Therefore, if you switch to using the accruals basis of accounting and claim Annual Investment Allowance on the Annual summary page, you’ll receive an error message as HMRC’s systems will be expecting submissions from your business on the cash basis, as they won’t have received details of your change of accounting basis.

If you wish to prepare your accounts on the cash accounting basis, you’ll need to update the accounting basis in your FreeAgent settings and try sending the submission again.

However, if you wish to prepare your accounts on the accruals accounting basis, you’ll need to contact HMRC and ask them to change this for you, before trying again to submit your final declaration.

Unexpected quarterly obligations

An error message 'Problems with your request' means your quarterly update periods in FreeAgent don't match what HMRC are expecting for your business.

From the 2026/27 tax year, in your first year filing under MTD for Income Tax, your first quarterly period must start on 1st April if you’re using calendar quarterly update periods. However, for some businesses, HMRC are expecting quarterly submissions starting from 6th April.

Check that you’ve chosen the correct settings for the tax year and if you continue to encounter errors, please contact HMRC as there might be a problem with your records at HMRC’s end.

Final obligations not found

An error message 'MATCHING_RESOURCE_NOT_FOUND' means HMRC hasn’t created a set of MTD for Income Tax obligations for your business.

Please try logging in to your HMRC business tax account and check that you can access MTD for Income Tax services. If you can't, you'll need to complete the sign-up for MTD for Income Tax.

If you can access MTD for Income Tax services, please contact HMRC as there might be a problem with your records at HMRC’s end.

Obligations come back wrong after making a calendar period election

If you switch to calendar quarterly update periods for MTD for Income Tax and receive an error message that HMRC are expecting quarterly submissions for tax year quarters, please try sending the submission again.

Sometimes HMRC’s records aren’t updated after you switch to calendar year quarters when you first attempt to send the submission, but attempting to send the submission again usually resolves the error.

If you continue to encounter the error, please contact HMRC as there might be a problem with your records at HMRC’s end.

Accounting adjustments fails for calendar quarters

If you make an update after the end of the tax year, FreeAgent sends the accounting adjustments to HMRC in a Business Source Adjustable Summary (BSAS).

However, if you’ve switched to calendar quarterly update periods for MTD for Income Tax, you’ll receive an error message that your obligations aren’t met when you make an update after the end of the tax year.

Please contact HMRC as this is a known issue at HMRC’s end that they’re looking into.

Problems with your submission

If you see an error message that there are 'Problems with your submission', please get in touch with our support team using the blue Help button at the bottom of the screen and provide a support code.

A member of our support team will help troubleshoot the error message.