The Income Tax (Digital Requirements) Regulations 2021

PART 3 Quarterly updates

Quarterly updates

7.—(1) A relevant person must provide to HMRC update information for a business, as specified in an update notice, in respect of each quarterly period for each tax year.

(2) “Quarterly update” means the provision of information required by paragraph (1).

(3) Subject to paragraphs (8), (9) and (10), the quarterly periods for a tax year are those specified in the following table.

	Period
Quarterly period 1	The period beginning with the first day of the tax year (6th April) and ending with the following 5th July
Quarterly period 2	The period beginning with the day immediately following the end of quarterly period 1 (6th July) and ending with the following 5th October
Quarterly period 3	The period beginning with the day immediately following the end of quarterly period 2 (6th October) and ending with the following 5th January
Quarterly period 4	The period beginning with the day immediately following the end of quarterly period 3 (6th January) and ending with the following 5th April

(4) Each quarterly update must be provided by no later than the quarterly deadline.

(5) The quarterly deadlines for each quarterly period are the dates specified in the following table.

	Deadline
Quarterly period 1	5th August following the end of quarterly period 1
Quarterly period 2	5th November following the end of quarterly period 2
Quarterly period 3	5th February following the end of quarterly period 3
Quarterly period 4	5th May following the end of quarterly period 4

(6) A relevant person may make an election under this paragraph for a business in respect of a tax year (“a calendar quarters election”).

(7) A calendar quarters election has effect for the tax year in respect of which it is made and for subsequent tax years until it is withdrawn.

(8) Subject to paragraph (9), where a calendar quarters election has effect for a tax year, the quarterly periods for that tax year are those specified in the following table.

	Period
Quarterly period 1	The period beginning with 1st April before the beginning of the tax year and ending with the following 30th June
Quarterly period 2	The period beginning with the day immediately following the end of quarterly period 1 (1st July) and ending with the following 30th September
Quarterly period 3	The period beginning with the day immediately following the end of quarterly period 2 (1st October) and ending with the following 31st December
Quarterly period 4	The period beginning with the day immediately following the end of quarterly period 3 (1st January) and ending with the following 31st March

(9) For the first tax year for which a calendar quarters election has effect, quarterly period 1 is the period beginning with the first day of the tax year (6th April) and ending with the following 30th June.

(10) For the tax year following the final tax year for which a calendar quarters election has effect, quarterly period 1 is the period beginning with 1st April before the beginning of the tax year and ending with the following 5th July.

(11) A calendar quarters election must be made by notice to HMRC by no later than—

(a) the quarterly deadline for quarterly period 1 for the tax year in respect of which the election is made; or

(b) the time at which the relevant person provides the quarterly update in respect of quarterly period 1 for the tax year in respect of which the election is made,

whichever is the earlier.

(12) A calendar quarters election may be withdrawn by notice to HMRC at any time.

(13) Where a calendar quarters election is withdrawn, it ceases to have effect—

(a) at the beginning of the tax year in which it is withdrawn, where the withdrawal is made by no later than—

(i) the quarterly deadline for quarterly period 1 for the tax year in which it is withdrawn; or

(ii) the time at which the relevant person provides the quarterly update in respect of quarterly period 1 for the tax year in which it is withdrawn,

whichever is the earlier; and

(b) immediately after the end of the tax year in which it is withdrawn, in all other cases.

Update notices

8.—(1) “Update notice” means a notice made by the Commissioners which is stated to be made further to this regulation and which specifies update information to be provided to HMRC.

(2) The update information which may be specified includes (but is not limited to)—

(a) providing designatory information;

(b) providing totals of the amounts falling within specified categories of transactions, being amounts derived from the relevant person’s digital records; and

(c) identifying the properties which form part of a property business.

(3) For different descriptions of relevant person, different designatory information or different categories of transactions may be specified.

Commencement and cessation of the requirement to provide quarterly updates

9.—(1) For the purposes of regulation 7(1), the first quarterly period for a business is the period beginning on the digital start date which applies to the business.

(2) A final quarterly update for the business is required for the quarterly period during which the business ceases.

(3) Where paragraph (2) applies, the relevant person must include in the quarterly update a notice that it is the final quarterly update for the business by virtue of its cessation and include in the notice the date of cessation.

Early provision of update information for quarterly periods

10.—(1) Subject to paragraph (2), a relevant person may provide update information as specified in an update notice for the whole of a quarterly period before the end of that period.

(2) A relevant person may do so only if—

(a) the update information is provided by a date (“the provision date”) which is within 10 days before the end of the quarterly period;

(b) when providing the update information, the relevant person confirms that the update information covers the whole of quarterly period; and

(c) the relevant person reasonably expects that no update information will arise in respect of the period commencing with the provision date and ending with the end of the quarterly period.