How quarterly updates work in BrightBooks for MTD for Income Tax

Under MTD for ITSA, you must send quarterly updates to HMRC – summaries of income and expenses for each three‑month period. These are not final tax returns; they provide an in‑year view of business income and help keep records up to date ahead of the final declaration.

1. Connect to HMRC

1. Go to Settings → MTD for ITSA → MTD Setup.
2. Authorise BrightBooks to connect to HMRC (using your HMRC credentials).
3. Enter the client’s National Insurance number (NINO).
4. BrightBooks retrieves from HMRC:
   • MTD Tax ID
   • Accounting method (Cash or Accruals)
   • Quarterly period type (Standard or Calendar)
   • Tax year details

2. View your obligations

1. Go to General Ledger → MTD ITSA.
2. BrightBooks retrieves open and historic obligations (quarterly periods and due dates) directly from HMRC.
3. You can see which quarter is currently open and when each update is due.

3. Generate quarterly figures

1. For the next open quarter, click Generate.
2. BrightBooks reads:
   • Bookkeeping transactions in the ledger
   • Any imported Excel template data 
     and aggregates them into HMRC’s income and expense categories.

4. Review and save

1. Review the summary figures on screen.
2. If something is wrong, correct the underlying records or spreadsheet and regenerate; avoid overwriting totals on the MTD screen itself.
3. Click Save to store the generated return. Status moves from Open to Generated. You can come back to it later.

5. Print (optional)

1. Click Print to produce a report showing:
   • The summary totals that will be sent to HMRC
   • A detailed breakdown of the transactions and nominal codes behind each total
2. Printing recalculates the figures to capture any changes made since generation.

6. Submit to HMRC

1. When you are satisfied with the figures, tick the declaration checkbox.
2. Click Submit.
3. BrightBooks sends the quarterly update to HMRC and updates the status to Submitted.
4. Once HMRC processes it, the status will change to Fulfilled (this may not be instant in HMRC’s systems).

Where do the figures come from?

Quarterly figures in BrightBooks can come from:

• Full bookkeeping in BrightBooks
• Imported Excel templates (bridging) for:
  • Self‑employment
  • UK property