The short answer
Download the template from your quarterly update in Tax, put your totals for the tax year so far in column B, save it as CSV and upload it. Column A holds the line names, so leave them as they are. Use Total Expenses on Simple, or the expense categories on Detailed.
What you need
You need HMRC connected, a self-employment or UK property business, and a spreadsheet app such as Excel, Google Sheets, Numbers or LibreOffice. The template is free, like the rest of the bookkeeping.
The template you download matches the business. Self-employment gets the self-employment lines. UK property gets the property lines.
Example
Priya lets one flat (fictional). Her turnover is well under £90,000, so she chose No, use Simple. For her first quarter she enters three lines.
- Rent Income: 3600
- Total Expenses: 640
- Residential Finance Costs: 900
1. Open your quarterly update
Open Tax and choose Check update on the quarter you are working on.
Open Tax2. Answer the turnover question
In Check your figures, under Expenses, choose No, use Simple or Yes, use Detailed. This decides which lines you fill in. If recorded turnover has already reached £90,000, the page shows Use Detailed for this business instead.
Open Tax3. Download the template
In Add your figures, choose Download the template. Open the file in your spreadsheet app. Rows with only a heading or a note have no amount and are ignored. Do not change the line names in column A.
Open Tax4. Enter your totals in column B
Enter totals from the start of your tax year to the date you will set as Figures up to. Use pounds and pence, with no more than two decimal places. A £ sign is fine. Put amounts with a thousands comma in quotes, or leave out the comma. Total Sales or Rent Income must be in the file, even if it is zero. Leave lines you do not use blank or zero.
See every line5. Use the Simple or Detailed lines
On Simple, fill in Total Expenses with your allowable expenses. On Detailed, fill in each expense category and leave Total Expenses blank, or make it equal the categories. Leave Business Entertainment and Depreciation out of Total Expenses, because they cannot be claimed. Landlords put Residential Finance Costs on their own line on either route.
Simple or Detailed explained6. Save as CSV
Save or download the file as CSV. In Excel choose CSV (Comma delimited). In Google Sheets choose Comma-separated values (.csv). Keep the file under 100 KB.
Open Tax7. Upload spreadsheet
Back in your quarterly update, set Figures up to the last date your totals cover. Choose Upload spreadsheet and select the file. Check your figures refreshes straight away. If a line is wrong, the page tells you which row to fix.
Open TaxBefore you move on
- Leave the line names in column A as they are
- Enter totals for the tax year so far
- Use Total Expenses on Simple or the categories on Detailed
- Keep residential finance costs on their own line
- Save as CSV before uploading
- £29.99 + VAT a year. Bookkeeping is free. Pay when you send to HMRC.
Frequently asked questions
Do I enter this quarter or the whole year so far?
The whole tax year so far. Each quarterly update replaces the figures HMRC holds for the year, so the totals build up each quarter.
Can I add my own rows or notes?
Yes, as long as they have no amount in column B. A row with an amount must use one of the template line names.
Can I enter a negative amount?
Only on expense lines, for example after a refund. Use a minus sign or brackets. Income lines and Residential Finance Costs cannot be negative.
Check the official rules
Tax rules can change and individual circumstances matter. Use HMRC’s current guidance to confirm the treatment that applies to you.
Put the guide into practice.
Open the relevant workspace and complete the next step with this guide available in another tab.
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