SAM101180 – Records: maintain taxpayer record: maintain agent for taxpayer
If an SA taxpayer has advised you that an agent has been
appointed to act, you or in the majority of cases, the Central Agent
Authorisation Team (CAAT), Longbenton will have entered the details on the
taxpayer record. Rather than enter the agent’s name, address and telephone
number, only the national agent code will have been entered.
Only one agent code can be held on a taxpayer’s record at
any one time.
For more information see subject ‘Set Up Agent For Taxpayer’
in section ‘Set Up Taxpayer Record’ (SAM100200).
1. Agent Business changing legal entity
When a tax agent business changes its legal entity for any
reason (e.g switching from a sole trader to a limited company, or a partnership
converting to a Limited Liability Partnership or merging with another firm to
create a new legal entity) it must complete the following actions
For Agent Service Account (ASA)
Create a new ASA for the new legal entity, using its own new Unique
Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
Get
authorisation from their clients again, for the new legal entity
De-authorise clients not moving to the new legal entity
Notify the Agent Compliance Team to remove access to the old ASA
linked to the previous legal entity.
Note: Agent codes must not be moved between legal entities
as this
breaches HMRC’s standard for agents and
UK GDPR.
For Online Service Agent Account (OSAA)
Request new agent codes from the Agent maintainer team for self-assessment and corporation Tax.
Request the removal of old agent codes for legal entities no
longer trading or supervised for anti-money laundering.
Apply for new agent codes as needed.
2. Agency merging with another firm
When an agent’s firm merges with another, they must take the
following steps based on the new business set-up:
If a new legal entity is created
Register the new entity as a business
Follow the steps in Section 1 for changing legal entities
Apply for new agent codes if using the OSAA.
If no new legal entity is created
No action is needed for clients of the existing firm.
For clients of the merged firm:
Re-authorise clients
under the new legal entity
Request removal of old agent codes for the entity no longer
trading.
3. Moving Clients between Client lists
When agents want to move clients between client lists:
Get authorisation from their clients again, for the new
list.
Remove clients not being transferred.
Inform agents that HMRC does not move clients between lists
on their behalf.
Note: New authorisation automatically cancels the old one,
there is no need to manually remove it first.
4. Agency De-merging into separate firms
When an agent firm splits into two separate firms:
Create a new ASA for any new legal entities
Get authorisation from clients for the new entity
Request new agent codes for the new legal entity.
No action is required if:
The existing firm’s legal entity remains unchanged.
5. Writing to the Agent Compliance Team
For any of the above scenarios, direct agents to inform the
Agent Compliance Team by writing to:
Agent Compliance TeamHM Revenue and CustomsUnited KingdomBX9 1ZE
For more details and latest updates, please refer to GOV.UK: 'What to do if your tax agent business is changing'.
Where, under the exceptions listed at SAM100200, you need to
amend the taxpayer record, you should decide, from the list of functions, which
computer functions to use:
Amending
the taxpayer’s agent details
Form
64-8
Online
64-8 authority
Change
to agent’s name and address details
I
File Agent Authorisation signal
Authorisation
online
Amending the taxpayer’s agent details
You can amend the following details by using function AMEND
TAXPAYER’S AGENT DETAILS:
The client’s reference, notified by the agent
The 64-8 signal indicating that notices of liabilities
should be issued to the agent. This authority is normally given on form 64-8,
but may be contained in a letter signed by the taxpayer
Authority held for taxpayer statement to agent
In addition, you can indicate whether the agent has ceased
to act for this taxpayer.
When an SA record is made dormant because it no longer meets
the SA criteria, changes to the agent details should be made on the dormant SA
record as they will then flow to the PAYE record.
Form 64-8
The form 64-8 provides for the taxpayer to indicate that the
agent, rather than the taxpayer, should be sent a paper copy of the statement.
With few exceptions, forms 64-8 are dealt with by CAAT, Longbenton, see
SAM100200.
Online 64-8 authority
An agent who is registered on the Government Gateway can set
up authorities for Individuals, Trusts and Partnerships. For Individual
taxpayers the authorisations will also cover National Insurance and if they are
existing claimants, Tax Credits.
The online 64-8 authority process is fully automated as
follows:
An agent submits an authorisation request for a client
A ‘confirmation code’ is forwarded to the client, if they
are happy for the agent to be authorised to act for them, they pass the code to
the agent
The agent uses the ‘confirmation code’ to complete the
authorisation process. The code will expire if not submitted within 28 days
Where necessary existing agent details will be overwritten
with the new details when a successful authorisation is made
The 64-8 signal is set
An agent can also request the removal of authorisation and
the 64-8 signal will be removed automatically.
Note: Where a form 64-8 is submitted online an automatic SA
Note will be made (‘Agent details updated. Agent code xxxxx form 64-8 received
Y’).
Change to agent’s name and address details
If an agent’s name, address or telephone number changes,
send details and a copy of any correspondence to the Agent Maintainer
teams mailbox, Maintainer Agent (PT Operations North East England) who
will arrange for the national agents’ list to be updated.
I File Agent Authorisation signal
The I File Agent Authorisation signal in the Agent details
screen will indicate that the taxpayer’s agent can send in their tax return by
the Internet.
The signal will be set automatically in the following
circumstances
The agent is registered on the Government Gateway
And either
A client, who is registered on the Government Gateway as an
individual, adds authority on line for his agent to use Internet services for
Self Assessment on his behalf
Or
A client has given paper authority for an agent to act and
the 64-8 signal on the SA record is set to ‘Y’
You will be able to see the signal but you cannot amend it.
Note: The online addition of an agent in the Government
Gateway only enables the agent to send in that client’s tax return by the
Internet. It is not sufficient authority for the agent to act generally. A
separate authority for this must be given. Normally on form 64-8 or a letter of
authority signed by the taxpayer.
Authorisation online
When the taxpayer authorises an agent online, the system
will check the national agent code (IR Agent ID) of the agent authorised on
line with the information held on the SA record and
If the agent details are already held on the SA record and
the agent codes match, the I File Agent Authorisation signal will be set
If there are no agent details on the current SA record the
system will automatically add the I File Agent Authorisation signal and the
agent details but not the 64-8 signal. You will not receive any notification of
this but you may become aware of it in your day to day work
If agent details are already held on the SA record but,
exceptionally, the agent codes do not match, a printout will be sent to the
responsible office and the SA record will not be updated (See subject I FILERS
EXCEPTION PRINTOUT (SAM101130) in this section)
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