Making Tax Digital · Sole traders
What to do when a bank feed disconnects during filing week
ONLY£15A MONTHA disconnected feed can interrupt new imports without deleting records already held in the software.
A disconnected feed can interrupt new imports without deleting records already held in the software. First establish what is missing and whether the last submission outcome is known. Reconnecting the account and rebuilding historical gaps are related but separate tasks.
Diagnose the coverage problem
Check the latest imported transaction, the bank's own statement and any error message. The cause may involve consent, a bank issue, provider availability or account changes. Follow the current reauthorisation prompt rather than assuming every connection has the same fixed renewal schedule.
Use the genuine bank authorisation journey and verify the requested permissions. Do not share credentials with someone offering to reconnect the account manually. Keep a record of the problem if it affects your ability to complete the update.
Recover missing history without duplication
After reconnection, compare the imported range with the statement. If a gap remains, use the supported statement import or entry route. Review overlaps carefully: the same transaction may arrive through both the temporary import and the restored feed.
Reconcile the complete period before relying on the summary. A connection showing as healthy again proves neither that the missing days have been recovered nor that duplicates have been resolved.
Worked example: a four-day gap
A feed stops on 28 July and reconnects on 2 August. The user checks whether transactions from 29 July to 1 August have arrived. If not, those dates become a defined recovery task.
After importing the missing statement data, the user checks for overlap when the feed catches up. This is more reliable than importing the entire month repeatedly and hoping automatic matching removes every duplicate.
Share the information needed for the task
Tax records need to be useful without containing unnecessary personal detail. Keep payment references sufficient to reconcile the accounts, and hold sensitive client notes in the appropriate restricted system. Financial software should not become a second, informal store for clinical notes or identity documents.
Use individual accounts and the access controls available for the service. Remove access when a working relationship ends. A secure product can still be misused through shared sign-ins, forwarded access links or files sent to the wrong person.
For Open Banking, distinguish account-information access from payment initiation. Read the consent screen and check the authorised provider. Account-information permission does not itself authorise moving money, but Open Banking as a whole also includes separately authorised payment services. The FCA explains these different services.
If you need an assurance about encryption, hosting, retention or security testing, ask for the current documented answer. Terms such as “bank-grade” do not tell you which controls apply to a particular service. Choose a workflow whose permissions and responsibilities you understand, and protect the email or phone account used to recover access.
A review that checks more than the total
Start with coverage: the correct person, business and period, plus all relevant accounts and cash records. Then look at completeness. A feed can be connected today while still missing an earlier week. Confirm the earliest and latest transactions against the source.
Next, inspect unusual items. Large transfers, loan receipts, refunds, net settlements and private purchases often need more context than a bank description provides. Check for duplicate imports where a statement overlaps a live feed. An automatic warning is useful evidence to investigate, not proof that the entry must be removed.
Finally, review category totals. A category unexpectedly showing zero, a large increase or a negative amount deserves an explanation. You do not have to make every annual tax adjustment at this stage, but you should understand the records behind the summary you approve.
HMRC explains what quarterly updates contain. Keep the approved version and the resulting acknowledgement together. If something later changes, correct the source record and use the software's supported update process so you can explain which figures are current.
Understand the first-year concession
HMRC states that there are no penalties for missing quarterly-update deadlines for the 2026/27 tax year. That concession does not remove the digital-record or quarterly-reporting obligations, and it does not make all tax returns and payments penalty-free. Read the precise penalty guidance.
Outstanding quarterly reporting must be dealt with before completing the relevant annual return. However, a missed August 2026 update should not be described as an automatic penalty on the separate 2025/26 return due in January 2027. The 2026/27 annual-return deadline is January 2028.
After the first-year concession, the points rules apply to missed quarterly deadlines as described by HMRC. Do not assume that multiple businesses create multiple points at the same deadline. Annual-return rules, late-payment penalties and interest require their own checks.
If you have fallen behind, establish what is outstanding and work through the supported catch-up process. Keep evidence of technical problems and contact the appropriate support team with the business, period and error details. The useful next step is a complete record and an accepted update, rather than guessing what a generic warning might mean.
Escalate with useful evidence
Give support the account reference, affected dates, action attempted and error details through a safe channel. Check the actual reporting period: a current feed interruption may not affect an earlier completed period. Submit only after the relevant records and outcome are understood.
Take the next step
Avona.app offers a self-service route from £15/month. Bring your records together, review the figures and choose a workflow that fits your business. For professional help, discuss the scope and total price of Avona Concierge, managed by chartered accountants, before choosing a service.