What is a quarterly update?

A quarterly update is a summary of your rental income and expenses that you send to HMRC four times a year. It's one of the core requirements of Making Tax Digital.

What goes in a quarterly update

Each quarterly update includes summary totals for:

  • Rental income from your properties
  • Allowable expenses (repairs, insurance, letting agent fees, and so on) - see What expenses can I claim? for more detail
  • Residential finance costs (mortgage interest on residential properties)

You don't need to send individual transaction details. HMRC requires you to use MTD-compatible software—like Provestor—to keep digital records and send quarterly updates. Provestor automatically adds up your digital records and creates the category totals HMRC needs.

Quarterly updates are cumulative

This is important: each quarterly update covers the period from 6 April to the end of that quarter.

  • Q1 covers 6 April to 5 July
  • Q2 covers 6 April to 5 October
  • Q3 covers 6 April to 5 January
  • Q4 covers 6 April to 5 April (the full tax year)

This means Q2 includes everything from Q1 plus the new transactions. Q3 includes everything from Q1 and Q2, and so on. You're always reporting your position from the start of the tax year to date.

If you need to correct an error from a previous quarter, you don't need to resubmit that quarter. Just fix the transaction in your records, and the correction will automatically flow through in your next quarterly update. For more guidance on corrections, see the Amendments and corrections section.

When quarterly updates are due

You need to send each quarterly update within one month of the quarter end. See HMRC's guidance on sending quarterly updates for full details.

QuarterPeriod coveredDeadline
Q16 April to 5 July7 August
Q26 April to 5 October7 November
Q36 April to 5 January7 February
Q46 April to 5 April7 May

Provestor shows your next quarterly deadline in the business workspace sidebar.

Why you need to send quarterly updates

Quarterly updates keep HMRC informed about your rental income throughout the year. This helps HMRC calculate an up-to-date estimate of your tax position.

You won't pay any tax when you send a quarterly update. Tax payments happen separately, after you submit your final declaration at the end of the tax year.

What happens after you send a quarterly update

HMRC receives your update and confirms your quarterly update is complete. This usually takes up to an hour.

You'll see a green tick appear next to the quarterly update in Provestor's sidebar once HMRC confirms they've received it.

Next steps

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