HMRC Accounts for Tax Agents - an Introduction
The process for accessing HMRC services as an agent is undergoing some considerable change. As a tax agent you will need to have one or both of two online accounts with HMRC - an Agent Online Services Account (AOSA) and/or an Agent Services Account (ASA). The AOSA is used for all HMRC returns that are not Making Tax Digital (MTD) based, whilst the ASA is the one that covers MTD.
You may also need to obtain a tax agent code (depending on which tax service you wish to offer) and you will need to ensure that each one of your clients authorises you to act on their behalf for each service you carry out for them.
In April 2021 a process commenced to ensure all VAT returns were migrated over from HMRC’s mainframe system to its Enterprise Tax Management Platform (ETMP). If you are submitting VAT returns via the Government Gateway you will now do this through your ASA – the figures will be uploaded as normal but the screen might look different. When the migration starts Agents won’t know whether their client has been migrated or not. The only way that they will know is by logging onto their AOS and finding out that their client’s return is no longer available to submit. They then need to log into their ASA to submit for their client via a link on the “View and Change” screen. This process will be seamless as long as you have already created your ASA and copied over your VAT clients to that account (Don’t forget that you can copy over your client relationships to your ASA and still act for your clients for VAT in your AOS).
From April 2026, MTD for self-assessment will commence with quarterly uploads and access to this will also be via the ASA account.
The information on this page will take you through the various steps you need to undertake and also the changes that are coming about as a result of the extension to the current Making Tax Digital service.
Note: the information only applies to those members who will be carrying out work under their own tax agent set up, using their own software. If a member is using software at a client's premises, using the client's HMRC access, then the following does not apply but you must be careful that you do not actually use their authorisation codes yourself as these are specific to the account holder and should not be divulged.
The links below will take you to the relevant sections on this page. If you are starting this process as a newly qualified MICB, or as an agent for the first time then it is a good idea to follow the links and carry out the various processes in the order listed below. You may already have some of these in place already in which case simply fast track to the section you need to add or review.
