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FeaturesMaking Tax DigitalUpdated February 21, 2026

HMRC Connection Expiry Warnings

HMRC Connection Expiry Warnings

To ensure uninterrupted Making Tax Digital (MTD) submissions, the platform automatically monitors the health of your HMRC connection and alerts you before it expires.

How It Works

Every day at 09:00 UTC, an automated sweep checks all active HMRC credential records. Based on how close the refresh token is to expiring, one of three actions is taken:

Time Until ExpiryAction
30 days or fewerStandard warning — in-app notification + email
7 days or fewerUrgent warning — escalated in-app notification + urgent email
Already expiredCredential status updated to expired automatically

Notifications

In-App Warnings

Warning banners and notification items appear in the platform UI. Urgent warnings (≤ 7 days) are displayed more prominently to ensure they are not missed.

Email Alerts

You will receive an email at both the 30-day and 7-day thresholds. The message includes the exact expiry date and a direct prompt to re-authorise:

*"Your HMRC connection will expire on {date}. You must re-authorise to continue making MTD submissions."

What You Need to Do

If you receive an expiry warning, you must re-authorise your HMRC connection before the expiry date to avoid any disruption to your quarterly MTD submissions.

  1. Navigate to Settings → HMRC Connection in the platform.
  2. Click Re-authorise with HMRC.
  3. Complete the HMRC sign-in flow using your Government Gateway credentials and National Insurance Number.
  4. Once complete, your connection status will return to connected and the expiry date will be extended.

Important: If your connection reaches expired status, any scheduled or manual MTD submissions will fail until you re-authorise.

Expired Connections

If the refresh token expiry date passes without re-authorisation, the platform automatically marks the credential as expired. This is a safety backstop — it ensures your dashboard accurately reflects the true state of your HMRC connection at all times, even if an earlier automated token-refresh attempt did not detect the lapse.

You will need to reconnect your HMRC account to resume submissions.

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