Prepare and Submit a Cumulative Update

To prepare a cumulative update, enter your Self Assessment Workspace and click the New Update button located in the top right corner. This will take you to your Cumulative Update Overview screen and automatically open the new update dialog box.

Step 1: Select a Business Entity and Period

1. Choose the business entity for which you want to generate the update.
2. The list of open obligations will appear. Select the earliest open period available.
3. If needed, you can override the period dates to specify a custom reporting range.

Step 2: Confirm Your Accounting Method

Ensure that your accounting method matches what you’ve registered with HMRC for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Self Assessment:

• Accrual (Standard) Accounting – Figures are based on invoice and purchase issue dates.
• Cash Accounting – Figures are based on when invoices and purchases were paid.

Once you’ve selected the business source, period, and accounting method, click Create.

Reviewing Your Draft Update

When a cumulative update is created in QuickFile, it will include grouped totals for all your accounting entries from the beginning of the tax year to the selected period end date. This update will replace any previously submitted updates for overlapping periods in the same tax year.

In the Draft View, you can review the grouped totals. The structure of the report will depend on whether you are preparing a Self-Employment or UK Property update.

• View self-employment reporting categories
• View UK property reporting categories

These categories are determined by your nominal mapping configuration. To review or amend your mappings, click Options > Configure Mappings.

Learn more about nominal mapping configuration →

At the top of the report, use the tabs to switch between:

• HMRC Category Breakdown
• Nominal Account Breakdown

You can also drill down on any totals to view a backing report, showing the specific invoices or payments included.

When you’re satisfied with the data, click Save as Draft at the bottom of the screen. You can make further adjustments, including adding disallowable expenses, in the next step.

Final Update Preview and Adjustments

After saving your draft, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Declare disallowable expenses
• Make small adjustments to figures

Click the plus icon next to any total to make relevant adjustments.

Submitting to HMRC

Once you’re ready to submit, click Submit Update. A summary box will appear showing your totals. If you qualify for consolidated expenses, you’ll be notified here.

Note: Consolidated expenses combine all your expense lines into a single total. To qualify, your total income must be below HMRC’s consolidated expense threshold.

Click Submit Cumulative Update to finalise and send your update to HMRC.

Review Your Tax Calculation

After submitting your cumulative update, HMRC will generate a new Tax Calculation for you. Once the update is successfully received, a link will appear to view your detailed tax summary.

The Tax Calculation helps you track your cumulative income and estimated tax liability with HMRC throughout the tax year.