> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.bumara.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Compliance overview

> How obligations, filings, tasks and documents fit together — the model behind everything Bumara files for you.

Compliance in Bumara is built from four things. Understanding how they relate makes every
regulator workspace obvious, because they all work the same way.

## The four building blocks

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Obligation" icon="repeat">
    A recurring thing you must do. "File a PAYE return every month." Created once, when you
    connect a regulator, and it stays until your circumstances change.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Filing" icon="file-lines">
    One period of an obligation. "PAYE return for March 2026." A new filing appears for each
    period, with a due date calculated for you.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Task" icon="square-check">
    One step inside a filing. "Enter payroll totals." "Upload the payroll summary." A filing is
    not ready until its required tasks are done.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Document" icon="paperclip">
    Evidence attached to a filing — a payroll summary, a bank statement, a certificate, an
    acknowledgement from the regulator.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

Alongside these sits the **service request**: a one-off job rather than a recurring one.
Registering a company, clearing a name, changing directors. It carries tasks and documents in
exactly the same way as a filing, but it happens once.

## How a filing moves

<Steps>
  <Step title="It appears">
    When the period opens, Bumara creates the filing with its due date and generates the
    checklist. Status: **Pending data**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You work the checklist">
    Enter figures, upload documents, confirm details. As soon as you complete the first task the
    filing moves to **In progress**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="It becomes ready">
    When every required task is done and every required document is uploaded, the filing moves
    itself to **Ready for submission**. You do not have to mark it ready.
  </Step>

  <Step title="You pay any fee">
    If the filing carries a regulator fee, it moves to **Awaiting payment** until the payment is
    received and verified. See [Paying fees](/compliance/paying-fees).
  </Step>

  <Step title="You request submission">
    You press **Request submission**. The filing moves to **Submission in progress** and enters
    the Bumara team's queue.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Bumara files it">
    The team submits to the regulator and records the acknowledgement. Status: **Submitted**.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The regulator accepts it">
    When the regulator confirms, the filing reaches **Accepted** and the acknowledgement lands in
    your document vault. Done.
  </Step>
</Steps>

If the regulator wants something changed, the filing comes back as **Needs correction** with an
explanation, and returns to In progress once you have dealt with it.

## The compliance dashboard

Your compliance overview shows:

| Panel                  | What it tells you                                     |
| ---------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------- |
| **Active obligations** | How many recurring requirements you carry             |
| **Open filings**       | How many periods are currently outstanding            |
| **Next due**           | The nearest deadline, and how many days away          |
| **Task progress**      | How much of your outstanding checklist work is done   |
| **Blocked items**      | Anything that cannot move until something is resolved |

## What blocks a submission

Three gates, checked by Bumara at the moment you request submission:

| Gate          | Passes when                                                                              |
| ------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Tasks**     | Every required task is done or deliberately skipped, and nothing is blocked              |
| **Documents** | Every required document has been uploaded                                                |
| **Payment**   | If a fee applies, it has been paid and verified. If no fee applies, this gate is skipped |

If a gate fails, Bumara does not simply refuse — it lists exactly what is missing so you can
finish it. See [Submitting to a regulator](/compliance/submitting-to-a-regulator).

<Note>
  Optional tasks do not block submission. You can mark them **Skipped** with a reason, and the
  filing still becomes ready. Required tasks must be done.
</Note>

## Where your operational work feeds in

This is the part that saves the most time:

| You do this                      | And this fills in                                           |
| -------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- |
| Run a pay run in Payroll         | PAYE, NAPSA and NHIMA figures for that month                |
| Issue and approve sales invoices | Turnover figures for turnover tax                           |
| Upload a payroll summary once    | The matching "upload payroll summary" task completes itself |
| Record a payment against a fee   | The payment gate on that filing clears                      |

You are not re-keying numbers you already entered elsewhere. You are reviewing and confirming them.

## Where to go next

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Obligations and filings" icon="calendar" href="/compliance/obligations-and-filings">
    What your obligations are, how due dates are worked out, and how to read a filing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Working a task" icon="list-check" href="/compliance/working-a-task">
    The four kinds of task and how to complete each one.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Documents and evidence" icon="folder" href="/compliance/documents-and-evidence">
    Uploading, attaching and finding the proof behind every filing.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Request a service" icon="hand" href="/compliance/request-a-service">
    One-off jobs: registrations, name changes, restorations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Submitting to a regulator" icon="paper-plane" href="/compliance/submitting-to-a-regulator">
    How submission works, what blocks it, and what happens after you press the button.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Paying fees" icon="money-bill" href="/compliance/paying-fees">
    Regulator fees, handling fees, how to pay and how payment is verified.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>