If you are seeing errors while trying to authorise your software or submit a quarterly update for Income Tax, it means HMRC's system cannot match your software data with your digital tax profile.
Below is a guide to the most common Income Tax MTD errors and how to fix them:
Error / Symptom | What it means | How to resolve |
| HMRC cannot link your Government Gateway ID to the MTD for Income Tax service. | 1. Check the NINO: Ensure the National Insurance Number in your company settings matches HMRC exactly. 2. Check Enrolment: Confirm the business has successfully signed up for MTD for Income Tax via the Gov.uk portal (this is a separate step from just connecting software). 3. Agents: Ensure the client is fully migrated and visible in your Agent Services Account (ASA). |
"No obligations available" /
"Unable to retrieve obligations" | The connection is active, but HMRC is returning a blank slate when the software asks for your filing deadlines. | Register your Income Source. This usually happens if you haven't explicitly told HMRC where your income is coming from yet. Log into your HMRC business account and ensure your self-employment business or property income source is registered for MTD. |
Quarterly obligation not marked "Complete" | You submitted a quarterly update successfully, but the software or HMRC portal still shows the period as "Open." | Do not resubmit. This is a known HMRC syncing delay. Wait up to 48 hours for HMRC's backend to refresh before attempting to touch the period again, otherwise, you may trigger a duplicate error. |