Submit your VAT return to HMRC, from your own records

Taxmo files your VAT return to HMRC directly over the Making Tax Digital API. You link your HMRC account once, Taxmo reads the periods HMRC is expecting from you, the nine boxes come from records you already keep, and HMRC's receipt comes back into your filing history. No figure gets retyped into the HMRC website, which is the requirement Making Tax Digital was written to create.

What happens, in order

There is no bridging step and no export-then-upload. The whole path is one screen and a confirmation.

  • You authorise Taxmo at HMRC's own sign-in screen, using your Government Gateway details, which Taxmo never sees
  • Taxmo asks HMRC for your open VAT obligations, so the period you file against is the one HMRC has actually opened
  • The nine boxes are calculated from your approved records for that period
  • The pre-filing checklist runs and blocks on anything that would make the return wrong
  • You review the return, declare the figures final, and Taxmo submits over the API
  • HMRC's confirmation is stored against the period, so you can prove what you filed and when

Filing against the right period

The single most common self-filing error is submitting against the wrong period. HMRC identifies each VAT period by a period key, not by the dates you think you are covering, and a return posted against the wrong key is a mess to unwind. Taxmo takes the period key from HMRC's own obligations response rather than deriving it from your calendar, so this class of mistake is designed out rather than warned about.

The declaration is not decoration

HMRC requires you to confirm the information is true and complete before a return can be submitted, and the API carries that as an explicit finalised flag. Taxmo will not send a return without it. Legal responsibility for the figures stays with you, which is exactly why the return is shown in full, traceable back to the entries behind each box, before you are asked to declare anything.

The checks that run first

A return is only as good as the records under it, so the checklist reads your own data rather than checking arithmetic.

  • Bank transactions imported but not yet approved, which are not in your figures and would understate the return
  • A VAT registration number missing while your profile says registered, which HMRC rejects outright
  • VAT amounts that do not agree with the rate recorded on the entry
  • Invoices still in draft, and therefore not counted

What HMRC sends back

Submission is not fire and forget. Alongside the receipt, Taxmo can read your VAT liabilities and payments back from HMRC, so what you believe you owe and what HMRC's records say can be compared rather than assumed. Where a submission fails, HMRC's own error is surfaced rather than being flattened into a generic failure message, because the error is usually the instruction for how to fix it.

Fraud prevention headers

HMRC requires software submitting on your behalf to send a set of fraud prevention headers identifying the connection and the device the submission originated from. This is mandatory for MTD, not optional metadata, and HMRC monitors compliance with it. Taxmo sends them on every call. It is worth knowing this exists, because it is the reason MTD software asks for a little more context than a plain web form would.

Common questions

Does Taxmo actually submit to HMRC, or just prepare the figures?

It submits. The VAT return goes to HMRC over the Making Tax Digital API from inside Taxmo, and HMRC's receipt is returned and stored against the period. You do not export anything, and you do not retype anything into the HMRC website. Self Assessment is different: Taxmo prepares those figures but direct Self Assessment submission is marked as coming rather than available.

Do I need bridging software as well?

No. Bridging software exists to carry figures from a spreadsheet into the MTD API for people whose records live outside compatible software. If your records are in Taxmo, Taxmo is the compatible software and there is nothing to bridge.

What do I need before I can file?

A VAT registration number on your business profile, a Government Gateway account enrolled for VAT, and your records for the period entered and approved. The authorisation itself takes one pass through HMRC's sign-in screen and then persists, so it is a first-time step rather than a per-return one.

Can I see the return before it is sent?

Yes, and you have to. The nine boxes are shown with the entries behind them, the checklist result is shown alongside, and nothing is transmitted until you declare the figures final. A return you have not looked at is a return you cannot defend.

What if I get the figures wrong after submitting?

A submitted return cannot be edited and resubmitted. How a correction is made depends on the size and nature of the error: some are adjusted on your next return, others have to be notified to HMRC separately. Check the current rules for error correction on GOV.UK, because the threshold that decides which route applies is set by HMRC and has changed before.

Can my accountant file for me through Taxmo?

Not yet, and this is a real distinction rather than a technicality. Direct submission covers a business filing its own VAT return. Agent submission, where a practice files on behalf of clients under an agent authorisation, is on the roadmap and not available today. Practices using Taxmo for client bookkeeping currently export the figures to their own filing tool.

Is my HMRC connection secure?

Taxmo never receives your Government Gateway credentials. Authorisation happens on HMRC's own domain and returns a token scoped to reading and writing VAT only, which cannot be used for anything else in your HMRC account. You can withdraw the authorisation from your HMRC account at any time.

Last updated 2026-08-10. Thresholds, rates and allowances are indexed or reset at fiscal events and are deliberately not quoted here; check GOV.UK for current amounts.