Please follow the advice below if you encounter any of the errors when submitting a quarterly update.
HMRC state that there are no penalties for missing a quarterly update deadline for the 2026 to 2027 tax year.
Update 07 August 2026
HMRC have advised this afternoon that the issue is fixed. They advise users to do the following:
"Change to calendar update periods, wait for the change to show in your software, then change again to standard update periods. Wait again for the change to show, and your update period will show as from 6 April."
Issue
Income tax obligations from HMRC show dates of 1 April to 5 July for some taxpayers on standard quarters.
This error arises when the obligation dates reported by HMRC do not align with the reporting period (standard or calendar) chosen by the user. This in turn is usually caused by a programming fault by HMRC. HMRC are currently in the process of fixing this fault.
Typically, the Q1 obligation is reported by HMRC as being from 1 April to 5 July when it should be from 6 April to 5 July.
If a user tries to submit the quarterly update from 6 April to 5 July, the following error appears:
Action
To work around the error, the accounting period in VT Transaction+ (or the dates entered in VT Report) should be set to 6 April to 5 July. You should then hold down the Shift key when choosing the Submit command. This forces VT to ignore the incorrect obligation dates.
Issue
If you change to calendar quarters in VT, the change should be reflected immediately in the Income Tax obligations on HMRC's records (Taxpayer > Income Tax Obligations > Refresh).
If the obligation dates do not update, this indicates a known issue on HMRC's side, which they are monitoring and correcting on a weekly basis.
Action
Check again after a week to see if the dates have updated.
Alternatively, to work around the error, the accounting period in VT Transaction+ (or the dates entered in VT Report) should be set to 1 April to 30 June. You should then hold down the Shift key when choosing the Submit command. This forces VT to ignore the incorrect obligation dates.
Issue
This error usually arises due to one or more of the following causes:
NI number of taxpayer entered in VT is incorrect
Authority was granted with the wrong government gateway ID
Taxpayer is not signed up to MTD for Income Tax
For agents only:
The agent is not authorised to act for the taxpayer in their Agent Services Account
The agent has not ticked both 'Income Tax' and 'VAT' when granting authority
The agent has not ticked 'I'm using my agent services account for this client' in the Grant Authority dialog in a new client's VT file, after having granted authority.
The agent is a supporting agent and has not installed the latest version of the software
Action
The error can be resolved by double-checking each of the above relevant causes and correcting if necessary. For further details:
If you are the taxpayer submitting your own quarterly updates, see https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk/mtdit/ninomismatch.htm
If you are an agent submitting a client's quarterly update, see https://www.vtsoftware.co.uk/mtdit/ninomismatchasa.htmI
Note: If you have double-checked all of the above causes and are still getting this error, this indicates a known issue on HMRC's side of the records not being completed, in which case contact HMRC:
Individual taxpayers: call 0300 200 3310, then select option 2
Agents calling on behalf of taxpayers: call 0300 200 3311
Issue
This error occurs when attempting to generate a quarterly update with a start date other than the start of the tax year*.
Action
This can be corrected as follows:
VT Transaction+/VT Cash Book: Click on the current period caption on the bottom right of the screen and make sure this is set to either the standard or calendar dates for the quarter depending on whether you are on standard or calendar quarters. Standard quarter dates: 6 April - 5 July; calender quarter dates: 1 April to 30 June.
VT Report/VT MTD for Excel: Enter the correct start date* in your quarterly update.
Note: If the error persists after doing these steps, this indicates a known issue on HMRC's side of incorrect obligation dates. See above.
*1 or 6 April depending on whether you are on standard or calendar quarters.
Issue
This error occurs if the income source (i.e., self-employment, property, foreign property) you are trying to submit for is not registered with HMRC. It also occurs if you have more than one self-employment business but have not registered the other business(es).
Action
If you are a business, sign into your business tax account and go to the MTD for Income Tax section, which should have an option to register the self-employment business or income source.
If you are an agent, sign into your agent services account, go to the MTD for Income Tax section, enter your client's details when asked, and there should be an option to register the self-employment business or income source.
Issue
If the obligation for quarter 1 of 2026/27 still shows as Due in Taxpayer > Income Tax Obligations after the quarterly update has been sucessfully submitted, this is a known issue on HMRC's side. HMRC expect to have this fixed some time in August 2026.
Action
Check the income tax obligations again after August 2026.
"INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR"
"SERVER_ERROR"
See HMRC error codes.
