Guides Tax & MTD MTD for Income Tax Sending a quarterly update through Keepr

Sending a quarterly update through Keepr

What HMRC asks for, what Keepr shows you, and what happens when you click Confirm.

Updated 8 September 2026 5 min read
On this page
  1. The four UK MTD quarters
  2. What "cumulative" means (read this first)
  3. Where to find the submit button
  4. Review the figures before sending
  5. Click Confirm - what actually happens
  6. I spotted a mistake after submitting
  7. Pro vs Free
  8. Common questions

Once you're connected to HMRC, sending a quarterly update through Keepr is a two-click job: open the MTD page, click Submit Q1 (or whichever quarter is due), review the totals Keepr has worked out for you, then click Confirm & Submit to HMRC. Keepr does the rest - it lines up the right figures, talks to HMRC, and saves a record so you can see exactly what was sent.

The four UK MTD quarters

HMRC splits the UK tax year (6 April to 5 April) into four fixed quarters. You send one update per quarter, plus a final declaration after the year ends. The same dates apply every year, for every sole trader on MTD.

QuarterPeriodDeadline
Q16 April - 5 July7 August
Q26 July - 5 October7 November
Q36 October - 5 January7 February
Q46 January - 5 April7 May

You always have just over a month after the quarter closes to send the update. Miss the deadline and HMRC counts it as overdue - Keepr will mark the quarter in red until you submit.

What "cumulative" means (read this first)

Every quarterly update is cumulative - a running total of your income and expenses since the start of the tax year, not just the quarter you're submitting. Q1 covers Q1. Q2 covers Q1 + Q2. Q3 covers Q1 + Q2 + Q3. Q4 covers the whole year. This is the bit that makes corrections easy: if you spot a missing receipt after submitting Q2, the next quarter (or the final declaration) automatically carries the corrected total - you don't have to redo Q1 or Q2.

Where to find the submit button

  1. Open MTD from the sidebar. (Not connected to HMRC yet? Start with Connecting Keepr to HMRC.)
  2. The hero card at the top shows your next step. When a quarter is due, coming up, or overdue, it shows the period, the deadline, and a Submit QN button. Click it.
  3. Or use the Year at a glance strip below - click Submit → on any current or overdue pill. Same result.
The MTD hero card showing the next quarter due, with a Submit button and the deadline date
When something needs sending, the hero card spells out the period, the deadline, and the button to press.

Review the figures before sending

Clicking Submit opens the Send Update to HMRC window. Nothing has gone to HMRC yet - this is your chance to check the numbers. Keepr shows the year-to-date totals from your records:

LineWhat it adds up
TurnoverYour paid invoices, plus anything on the Income page whose category counts as business turnover. Unpaid invoices are not counted - MTD uses cash basis, so an invoice does not count until the money arrives. Keepr shows the split underneath the figure.
Other business incomeMoney that is business income but not takings - a grant, or rent from letting out your business premises. You set this on the category itself. Bank interest and UK dividends are not business income at all, so they are left out of this update and Keepr tells you when it has done that.
ExpensesYour total expenses in the period - the gross figure, including any VAT you've recorded.
Net profitTurnover + other income − expenses. Shown so you can sanity-check the number, but it's not sent as a separate figure; HMRC derives it from the others.
The Send Update to HMRC modal showing turnover, other income, expenses and net profit, with Confirm and Cancel buttons
The preview shows every figure Keepr is about to send. Cancel to bail, Confirm & Submit to send.

Underneath the table, Keepr lists how many invoices, other-income entries, and expenses fed into the total, and the period's start and end date. If anything looks off, click Cancel (nothing is sent), fix the records, and reopen the modal - the figures recalculate each time.

Quick sanity check before submitting: do the turnover and expense figures match what you'd see on your Profit & Loss report for the same period? They should be within pennies. If they're way off, you've either missed a record or you have the wrong date range - fix it before sending.

Click Confirm - what actually happens

When you click Confirm & Submit to HMRC, three things happen in the next couple of seconds:

  1. Keepr sends the totals to HMRC. You'll see "QN sent to HMRC." as a green toast.
  2. The quarter's pill in the Year at a glance strip turns green and shows the turnover figure. Keepr saves the submission record - figures, period, and HMRC's reply.
  3. Keepr locks every record inside the period - invoices by the date they were paid, other-income and expenses by their date. Edits keep an audit trail and deletes are blocked - HMRC's digital records rule. You can still fix typos; you just can't make records disappear.
The Year at a glance strip with Q1 showing as Submitted, the turnover figure, and a Resubmit link
Submitted quarters turn green and show the turnover figure. Your full year stays one glance away.

I spotted a mistake after submitting

Two routes, depending on when you find it.

If the next quarter is still ahead: just fix the record in Keepr. The next submission's cumulative total will carry the correction to HMRC - no need to redo the quarter you've already sent.

If you want to push the correction straight away: resubmit the quarter directly. Step-by-step in Editing a quarterly update.

Pro vs Free

MTD works the same on Free and Pro. Same submit flow, same scope, same record-lock behaviour. Quarterly updates aren't a paid feature.

Common questions

Will Keepr email me before a deadline?
Not yet. The nudge lives on the MTD page - the hero card changes wording and colour as a quarter gets closer, then turns into a red Action needed banner once the deadline passes. Worth setting your own calendar reminders for 7 August, 7 November, 7 February, and 7 May.
What if I have no income or expenses in a quarter?
You still submit - HMRC calls this a nil return. Open the modal as usual; the figures will all be £0, and you confirm and send the zeros. Skipping a quarter counts as a missed deadline.
Are invoices counted when I send them or when they're paid?
When they're paid. MTD uses cash basis: an invoice issued in May but paid in July counts towards Q2, not Q1. If you've forgotten to mark something as paid in Keepr, fix that before submitting.
Can I send a quarter early?
Yes - the Submit button is live from the moment the quarter starts. The figures will just include whatever you have on record so far. No penalty for submitting early.
Where do I see what I've already sent?
The Year at a glance strip on the MTD page shows every quarter for the current tax year with its status and turnover figure. For earlier years, use the tax year dropdown at the top of the page. For a full export, More tax options → Export your records downloads a CSV of every record included in any submission.
Ready to send a quarterly update?
Open MTD

Related guides

MTD for Income Tax
Sending your final declaration (replaces Self Assessment)
MTD for Income Tax
Connecting Keepr to your HMRC account