How to send your quarterly update

This guide walks you through the process of reviewing and sending your quarterly update to HMRC.

Before you start, make sure your record keeping is up to date. For guidance on record keeping, see the Recording income and expenses section. If you need a quick checklist, see the Quarterly update checklist.

Open the quarterly update screen

In your business workspace, you'll see your quarterly updates listed in the sidebar under "Quarterly updates".

The sidebar shows your next quarterly deadline at the top. Quarterly updates that are due or overdue are marked with an alert icon.

Choose the quarterly update you want to review and send.

Review your data

The quarterly update screen shows all the category totals Provestor will send to HMRC. These categories include:

  • Total rental income
  • Expense categories (repairs, insurance, letting agent fees, and so on)
  • Residential finance costs (mortgage interest on residential properties)

Show transaction details

For each category, you can choose "Show details" to see all the individual transactions that make up that total.

Use this to check:

  • The transactions in each category are correct
  • Amounts look right
  • Nothing is missing

If you spot an error, you can go back to your record keeping, fix the transaction, and return to the quarterly update screen. The totals will update automatically.

Joint ownership percentages

If you own properties jointly with someone else, the quarterly update screen shows the percentage of income and expenses that will be sent to HMRC based on your ownership share.

For example, if you own 50% of a property, the screen will show 50% of the rental income and 50% of the expenses for that property.

This happens automatically. You don't need to calculate anything.

Check for warnings

The screen warns you if any transactions need more information before the update can be sent. Common warnings include:

  • Transactions where you haven't assigned a property
  • Incomplete categorisation

Fix these issues before sending your update.

Transactions that won't be included

The screen also shows transactions that won't go on your quarterly update. These include:

  • Transfers between accounts
  • Personal use expenses
  • Disallowable expenses

This helps you confirm that Provestor is excluding the right transactions.

Send to HMRC

Once you're happy with the data, choose "Send to HMRC".

Provestor sends the summary totals to HMRC. This usually takes a few seconds.

What happens next

HMRC receives your update

HMRC receives and stores your quarterly update. It can take up to an hour for HMRC to confirm your quarterly update is complete.

Check for confirmation

The quickest way to confirm HMRC has received your update is to check the sidebar in your business workspace. A green tick will appear next to the quarterly update once HMRC confirms they've got it.

You don't need to do anything else. The green tick confirms your quarterly update is complete.

View your submitted update

If you want to see exactly what was sent to HMRC:

  1. Go to My Taxes
  2. Choose My Tax Returns
  3. Select the current tax year
  4. Choose your property business
  5. View the submitted quarterly update

Provestor fetches this information directly from HMRC, so you're seeing exactly what they received.

If something's wrong

If you spot an error after sending your quarterly update, you don't need to resubmit immediately.

Because quarterly updates are cumulative, any correction you make will automatically flow through in your next quarterly update. Just fix the transaction in your records, and the next update will include the corrected figures.

If you've already sent Q4 (the final quarterly update for the year), you can either resubmit Q4 or adjust the figures in your final declaration.

For more guidance on corrections and amendments, see the Amendments and corrections section.

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