How to appoint someone to deal with HMRC on your behalf

4 mins

Our experts at DSR Tax Refunds know how hard it is to find good, quality information about HMRC’s tax regulations that is easy to understand, and that’s why we have created these handy guides to tell you everything you need to know. Our aim is to make life easier for our clients and that is why we want to share our expertise with you. You can also call our friendly team on 0330 122 9972 – we’re the tax experts you can trust.
How do you appoint someone else to deal with HMRC?
If you find dealing with HMRC difficult or you are too busy and you just don’t have the time to sort out your taxes, you can appoint someone else to deal with HMRC on your behalf. This can be an accountant or tax specialist, or it can just be a friend or relative. This person is then known as your ‘tax agent’.
If you appoint a tax agent, HMRC will send all of the paperwork regarding your Self Assessment, including all correspondence, to your tax agent rather than you.
Who can be a tax agent on your behalf?
An agent can be anyone of your choosing, but most people choose to appoint either:

To authorise someone to be your tax agent, you need to get them to either fill in HMRC’s online authorisation service or complete form 64-8 and sent it to HMRC.  If you choose to use a firm of tax preparation specialists, such as DSR Tax Refunds, we will tell you everything you need to do to authorise us to work on your behalf including preparing your 64-8 form (although you will have to sign it yourself).
If you also wish to appoint someone to manage your VAT affairs, you can use the HMRC online VAT service to inform HMRC.
If you just need someone to help you with your Self Assessment in the short term, you can call HMRC and get that sorted over the phone – the person you are nominating to help you must be with you when you call so that HMRC can verify their identity and make sure that you aren’t being pressured into allowing someone access to your financial affairs.
What is a ‘trusted helper’?
Sometimes you don’t need someone to take over all of your dealings with HMRC but you just need someone to help you manage your online tax dealings, maybe because you aren’t very good with technology or you don’t understand how the online system works. If this is the case, you can nominate a friend or relative to be your ‘trusted helper’. They will be able to check you’re paying the right amount of Income Tax, claim a tax refund on your behalf, check and update your personal tax record as well as check and update your company car tax. You would still be legally responsible for your own tax though – your ‘trusted helper’ is only there to help you manage your own tax affairs, not take over responsibility altogether.
What is an ‘intermediary’?
You might need to appoint someone to deal with HMRC on your behalf because you are unable to do so – maybe because you are ill, have a disability or don’t speak English well enough to deal with HMRC on your own. If this is the case, you can appoint someone to be an intermediary. An intermediary might be a friend or relative, or a voluntary organisation who are able to help you manage your tax affairs. An intermediary would be able to talk to HMRC on your behalf and answer any of HMRC’s questions on your behalf as well as help you to fill in any forms. However, the intermediary wouldn’t have access to any of your online tax account.
If you need to authorise someone to be your intermediary, you can write to HMRC at the following address:
National Insurance contributions and Employers Office
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN
Your letter of authorisation must include your name and address, your tax reference number (for example your UTR (Unique Taxpayer Reference), the name and address of the person you want to authorise (or details of the organisation you wish to authorise) and your signature. If you are unable to sign the letter, you will need to contact HMRC or get someone else who has the legal authority to sign it on your behalf.
How can DSR Tax Refunds help?
We know that appointing a tax agent can be a complicated affair, even with our helpful guide to tell you everything you might need to know. It’s all very well reading about it and knowing what HMRC’s stand on it is – but how do you apply that to your own circumstances? It can seem like an absolute minefield but help is always available and you don’t need to battle through this alone. Our team of experts at DSR Tax Refunds are always on hand to help our clients and act as their tax agent and our excellent standing with HMRC means that we can make sure you don’t fall foul of their regulations, while claiming your maximum tax relief. We can even take care of all that paperwork and deal with HMRC on your behalf too. Call our friendly team on 0330 122 9972 – we’re the tax experts you can trust.
This page was last updated on 25/10/2018.

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