While most of the time things will run smoothly, it’s inevitable that things will stop working sometimes. When working with multiple systems, as is the case with MTD (Making Tax Digital), changes can happen on either side which can throw up a few unexpected issues.

We’ve put together a few things to check to help solve these issues quickly. Please check your account against these issues before posting a question to our main forum, which will help speed up the process for you as well as ruling out a few common issues too.

Is there maintenance on-going?

It’s not uncommon for maintenance to be carried out by HMRC. This often happens over the weekend but can run into the week on occasions.

When we’re notified about planned maintenance, we will add it to our status page, so it’s worth checking here.
You can do this at our dedicated, external site: https://status.quickfile.co.uk

Connection shows as failed

If the connection is showing as failed, there’s an issue with the communication with HMRC. This doesn’t necessarily mean that either end isn’t working, but it could be down to something as simple as an expired link.

Under the “Failed” label you see more information on the error, which can include:

• EXPIRED: The feed has expired and needs to be reauthorised. Feeds are only valid for 18 months

• Client not Authorised: The HMRC Tax account that is linked isn’t authorised to view data for your VAT number. Please see the “unauthorised” section below.

• INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR: Something isn’t quite right on HMRC’s side and they’ve returned an error to us. You may need to contact HMRC

• GATEWAY_TIMEOUT: The request to HMRC timed out before the check was completed. Please check for maintenance, otherwise contact HMRC

• NOT_FOUND: No data has been found for your HMRC account. You will need to contact HMRC to resolve this

Unauthorised error message

You are not yet authorised to view this report for the VRN xxxxxxxx . Please ensure your VAT number is correct and you have connected the corresponding HMRC Tax Account. If you have recently enrolled on the MTD scheme please allow 24 hours for HMRC systems to update.

If you’re seeing that your account isn’t authorised, it’s often down to one of a few things:

• You’ve linked the wrong HMRC account (e.g personal account, rather than your organisation’s account)
• The VAT number is incorrect
• You haven’t enrolled on MTD with HMRC
• You have enrolled on MTD recently, but not yet received confirmation
• HMRC have confirmed your enrolment, but you haven’t yet waited 72 hours

Checking your HMRC account

It’s not uncommon to have multiple HMRC accounts. Some people have one for VAT, one for Corporation Tax, one for Self Assessment, and so on. It’s a good idea to double-check that you’ve linked the correct account.

You can go to the HMRC website here: Manage permissions for tax software - GOV.UK

Log into your HMRC VAT account and it will show you all the software packages linked to your account. You should see QuickFile on the list. If you don’t, it’s likely you’ve linked the incorrect account.

I’m missing my next VAT period

All the periods listed in QuickFile are pulled from HMRC in real-time. This means, if they’re showing for HMRC, they should be showing on QuickFile too.

In some cases, you may find your next VAT period missing, similar to this:

In this case, there are two things to do:

1. Log into your HMRC account directly on their website, and check if the missing period is shown there

2. If the period is still missing there, you will need to contact HMRC so they can correct it

Everything checks out so far

If everything seems all OK so far, it’s worth unlinking your HMRC account and relinking it. This resets the authorisation and can often fix the issue.

To do this, go to Reports >> HMRC, and select your tax account.

You will find a “Disconnect” option at the top of the page

Once you’ve done this, you can relink the account and try again.

Still having problems?

If everything above checks out and relinking your account hasn’t resolved your issue, please post on the main forum and our support team will be able to look into this further for you.