Guidance

Issue 129 of Agent Update

Published 19 March 2025

Technical updates and reminders

Developments and changes to legislation and allowances relating to UK tax including:

Tax

Making tax Digital

HMRC Agent Services

Agent online forum and engagement

Latest updates from the partnership between HMRC and the main agent representative bodies. Including:

Tax

Self Assessment student loan repayments and payrolled benefits in kind

For agents who submit clients Self Assessment tax returns

From 2024 to 2025 onwards, a new box has been added to the Self Assessment tax return for reporting payrolled Benefits in Kind  that are subject to Class 1A National insurance contributions only. This is for student or postgraduate loan purposes.

Reason for this introduction

When HMRC work out student loan repayments, we use the total Pay As You Earn (PAYE) income declared on the Self Assessment tax return. If this figure includes payrolled Benefits in Kind, then Self Assessment would calculate student or postgraduate loan repayments on this.

Student or postgraduate loan repayments are not due on Benefits in Kind taxed through your client’s payroll that are subject to Class 1A National Insurance Contributions only. 

This new box will allow you to enter this payrolled Benefits in Kind that is subject to Class 1A National Insurance Contributions only, separately to the total PAYE income on the Self Assessment tax return.

Who will this impact

This only impacts your clients who are:

• in Self Assessment
• in repayment of a student or postgraduate loan or both
• receiving payrolled benefits in kind that are subject to Class 1A National Insurance Contributions through their employer

To make sure your client does not pay student or postgraduate loan deductions on payrolled Benefits in Kind subject to Class 1A National Insurance Contributions, you should take the following action:

Actions to take for the 2024 to 2025 tax return

Report the payrolled Benefits in Kind subject to Class 1A National Insurance Contributions amount in the following boxes depending on how you submit your clients tax return:

• online tax return — box titled Payrolled benefits included in pay from employer which affect your student loan repayments
• SA102 paper tax return — box titled Payrolled benefits included in box 1 which affect your student loan repayments

Actions to take for earlier tax returns

In a previous Agent Update issue 112 we advised that  our Self Assessment systems were unable to distinguish between payrolled Benefits in Kind subject to Class 1A National Insurance Contributions only and rest of the PAYE income.

Steps were provided on how to complete your clients SA tax return to make sure your client pays the right amount of student or postgraduate loan repayments.

Follow the steps to tell HMRC about a student loan in your return.

More information on completing Self Assessment tax returns is available on GOV.UK.

Changes to company size thresholds for off-payroll working 

If you need to consider the off-payroll working (OPW) rules there is an important change relating to company size thresholds that you need to know about.

From 6 April 2025, the government thresholds that determine if a company is classified as ‘small’ will change. This means that for accounting periods beginning on or after this date a private company or organisation will now be considered small if two out of the three following conditions are met:

• turnover of not more than £15 million — increased from £10.2 million
• balance sheet total of not more than £7.5 million — increased from £5.1 million
• monthly average number of employees of not more than 50 — no change

A large or medium-sized client is responsible for determining the employment status of any worker supplying their services through an intermediary — usually a personal service company.

The threshold changes will have no practical impact for OPW until 6 April 2026, at the earliest, because a company’s size is determined by reference to previous years.

Update on UK implementation of Multinational Top-up Tax and Domestic Top-up Tax

Previous editions of Agent Update most recently Agent Update 121, Agent Update 114, Agent Update 111 explained that work is ongoing at UK level to implement changes to the international corporate tax framework. 

We know that agents have an important role to play in helping businesses meet their obligations. Therefore, we wanted to make you aware that we will shortly issue a further direct communication to groups believed to be in scope of the new taxes. This will be our fourth direct update.   

As with previous direct communications, these will be issued by email and by post during the week commencing 31 March 2025. 

For further information about these new taxes, see our page Multinational Top-up Tax and Domestic Top-up Tax on GOV.UK.

The Official Rate of Interest from 6 April 2025

Following our announcement in March 2025, the Official Rate of Interest (ORI) will increase from 2.25% to 3.75% on 6 April 2025. 

The ORI is used to calculate the Income Tax charge on the benefit of employment-related loans and the taxable benefit of some employment related living accommodation.

As announced at Autumn Budget 2024, the ORI may increase, decrease or be maintained following quarterly reviews. If there are any changes to the rate, these will take effect on 6 April, 6 July, 6 October and 6 January.

Any future changes to the official rate will be published on GOV.UK.

Further information on the Autumn Budget 2024 Overview of tax legislation and rates is available.

How agents can support employers

If you are responsible for the tax affairs of any employer that provides employment related loans or living accommodation to their employees, you will need to know the correct ORI to apply when you calculate the value of any benefit for 2025 to 2026. Additionally, the new rate means employees might have to pay tax on employment related loans or living accommodation where they may not have previously.

You will also need to remain aware of any future changes in the rate during the tax year. As of 6 April 2025, the rate may increase in-year which will impact the taxable value of the benefits the employer provides.

Repeal of furnished holiday letting (FHL) regime, effective from April 2025

From 1 April 2025 for Corporation Tax and Corporation Tax on Capital Gains and 6 April for Income tax, furnished holiday let properties will now form part of an individual’s UK or overseas property business and will be subject to the same rules as non-furnished holiday let property businesses. 

Cessation of business and Capital Gains Tax reliefs 

Changes to the furnished holiday letting (FHL) rules impact the following guidance which has been updated:

• Replacement of Business Assets (Roll-over Relief) Claiming Relief — HMRC internal manual
• Business Asset Disposal Relief: Eligibility

Jointly held property:

The new FHL rules removes the exemption from the jointly held property rules.

Joint property owners who are married or civil partners will have profits and losses split equally, unless:

• entitlement to the income and the property are in unequal shares
• spouses or civil partners have informed HMRC that their share of profits and losses is to match the share each holds in the property

This can be declared by your client using Form 17 Declare beneficial interests in joint property and income.

The declaration is valid from the day it is made and must be submitted to HMRC within 60 days of the date of declaration.  

More information is available on GOV.UK to help you and your clients. Follow the guidance on clarification on abolition of the furnished holiday lettings tax regime and the Property Income Manual PIM4160+ Repeal of Furnished Holiday Lettings rules.

Updated guidance on working out your rental income has been published.

Lifetime allowance (LTA) abolition — lump sum reporting

Reporting a pension commencement excess lump sum (PCELS) and stand-alone lump sum (SALS)

In the lifetime allowance guidance newsletter March 2023, we provided details of how to report a PCELS and in pension schemes newsletter 151, we provided details of how to report a SALS.

Following this guidance, we have received several queries about the requirement to provide the customer with a P45 when reporting a PCELS or SALS. For example, when there is also a continuing source of regular pension income. We have provided more information about reporting PCELS and SALS.

Reporting pension commencement excess lump sums (PCELS)

When reporting a PCELS through Real Time Information (RTI) you should set up a separate payroll record to the one being used to report any regular ongoing source of pension income. It is very important to report a PCELS in this way to prevent any potential adverse impact on a customer’s tax record.

Reporting a PCELS in this way and keeping it separate from any ongoing payment of regular pension income, which should be reported under a separate payroll ID, will help:

• provide clear information for the individual’s tax records
• prevent issues with coding and potential problems with a customer’s tax record, such as over inflated estimated pay

Keeping them separate should also ensure there is no impact on any ongoing payment of regular pension income as this source should have been reported using a different payroll ID. This will allow HMRC systems to continue to treat the regular pension income as an ongoing income source.

When reporting a PCELS you should use a pay frequency of ‘one-off’ and use the date of payment as the leaving date. You should also give the customer a P45 as they will need this if they want to reclaim any tax deducted from the PCELS, that may be due back from HMRC.

We will not be able to deal with any repayment claim without the P45.

For further detailed information on what data items, you should complete to report a PCELS paid in the 2024 to 2025 tax year you should follow the guidance in the lifetime allowance guidance newsletter March 2023.

For a PCELS paid from the 2025 to 2026 tax year onwards you should use new data field 219 (pension commencement excess lump sum) to identify the lump sum. You will also need to include the taxable element of the payment in data field 173 (flexible drawdown taxable payment). Further detailed guidance can be found in paragraph 2.2.9 in section 2 of the 2025 to 2026 CWG2 — further guide to PAYE and National Insurance contributions.

Reporting stand-alone lump sums (SALS)

You only need to report a SALS through RTI if there is an excess over the permitted maximum.

Like a PCELS, when reporting a taxable SALS through RTI you should set up a separate payroll record. You should also use a pay frequency of ‘one-off’ and use the date of payment as the leaving date. You should also give the customer a P45 as they will need this if they want to reclaim any tax deducted from the SALS, that may be due back from HMRC.

We will not be able to deal with any repayment claim without the P45.

For SALS paid in the 2024 to 2025 tax year you should continue to follow the guidance in pension schemes newsletter 151.

To report a SALS paid from the 2025 to 2026 tax year onwards you should use new data field 220 (stand-alone lump sums) to identify the lump sum. You will also need to include any taxable and non-taxable element of the payment in data fields 173 (flexible drawdown taxable payment) and 174 (flexible drawdown non-taxable payment).

Further detailed guidance can be found in paragraph 2.2.10 in section 2 of the 2025 to 2026 CWG2 — further guide to PAYE and National Insurance contributions.

The pension schemes newsletter 167 is available for further  information on GOV.UK

Changes to tax reliefs for Theatres, Orchestras and Museum and Gallery Exhibitions

From 1 April 2025, qualifying expenditure for Theatre Tax Relief, Orchestra Tax Relief and Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief will be entitled to tax credits at a rate of:

• 45% for touring productions and all orchestral productions
• 40% for non-touring productions

These rates apply to all productions, regardless of the date they begin production. They replace the former 25% and 20% regular rates and the temporary uplifted rates that applied to productions beginning on or after 27 October 2021.

Also from 1 April 2025, European Economic Area (EEA) expenditure will no longer qualify for relief.

Relief is based on UK expenditure instead.

You can find more information in our guidance manuals:

• Theatre Tax Relief

• Orchestra Tax Relief

• Museums and Galleries Exhibition Tax Relief

Changes to the claims process for the creative industries tax reliefs

Companies claiming creative industries tax reliefs must complete an additional information form in support of their claims, before or on the same day as submitting their CT600 Tax Returns.

HMRC intends to launch an updated version of the additional information form on 1 April 2025, which will include new sections for companies to provide supporting evidence for claims to enhanced Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) for visual effects costs and independent films. There will also be new boxes on the CT600 for claims to AVEC or the Video Games Expenditure Credit (VGEC).

The launch of the CT600P creative industries supplementary page has been postponed until April 2026. There is no requirement for companies to fill out a CT600P to make a valid claim. Companies should not attempt to complete it, even if their software allows them to. Check out the Corporation Tax Service Issues page for more information.

Launch of enhanced Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit for visual effects costs and independent films

From 1 April 2025, film and TV production companies can make claims for enhanced Audio-Visual Expenditure Credit (AVEC) for visual effects (VFX) costs incurred on films (excluding animated and independent films) and high-end TV programmes. To qualify, costs must be incurred on or after 1 January 2025 and be spent on relevant VFX work carried out in the UK. Companies with qualifying costs can claim additional expenditure credit in the completion period of a production, or any later period.

Also from 1 April 2025, film production companies can make claims for enhanced AVEC for independent films (also known as certified low-budget films).

To qualify for enhanced AVEC, films must:

• start principal photography on or after 1 April 2024
• have core expenditure of £23.5 million or less
• either be an official co-production or have a UK lead writer or director

Companies can claim AVEC on qualifying films at a rate of 53%, on up to £15 million of core expenditure. The higher rate applies to costs incurred from 1 April 2024 only.

You can find more information on corporation tax creative industry tax reliefs on GOV.UK.

Extension of National Insurance Contributions Relief for hiring veterans

The government extended the employer National Insurance Contributions relief for employers hiring qualifying veterans for a further year from April 2025 until April 2026.

 This means that businesses will continue to pay no employer National Insurance Contributions up to annual earnings of the Veterans Upper Secondary Threshold of £50,270 for the first year of a veteran’s employment in a civilian role.

Research and Development tax reliefs

The Autumn Finance Bill 2024 makes provisions for loss-making, Research and Development intensive, SMEs that have a registered office in Northern Ireland. These provisions take effect for claims made on or after 30 October 2024.

Updates will be made on 1 April 2025 to the GOV.UK and HMRC’s Corporate Intangibles Research and Development Manual pages to explain these provisions and information that is required to make a claim:

• Research and Development tax relief— the merged scheme and enhanced intensive support on GOV.UK
• Research and Development Tax Relief — Enhanced Research and Development intensive support for loss-making SMEs based in Northern Ireland on GOV.UK
• Additional information you must submit before you claim for Research and Development tax relief on GOV.UK
• HMRC’s Corporate Intangibles Research and Development Manual 125000 and 182000

HMRC will incorporate the necessary declarations into the additional information form. This functionality is expected to be available in a few months. Companies wishing to submit their claim earlier, can use the existing additional information form and we will contact them to complete the process.

Enhanced Research and Development Intensive Support (ERIS) and Northern Ireland ERIS scheme letters

We will be contacting customers who have made a claim for Enhanced Research and Development Intensive Support but do not appear to meet the eligibility criteria. We will be advising them why we do not think they have met the criteria, how to check this, and what action to take next. This will provide the claimant an opportunity to re-consider if they are eligible, and to either provide additional information to us to confirm this, or to amend their Corporation Tax return to make a claim to a Research and Development scheme they are eligible for. This will help ERIS and Northern Ireland ERIS claimants get their claim right and guard against error.

Reserved Investor Fund

Legislation to bring the new Reserved Investor Fund into law on the 19 March 2025 has now been laid.

What is the Reserved Investor Fund

The Reserved Investor Fund is a new type of investment fund with lower costs and more flexibility than existing UK alternatives. It will be open to professional and institutional investors and is expected to be predominantly used for investment in real estate.  

The Reserved Investor Fund rules will provide a seeding relief from Stamp Duty Land Tax (SDLT) for the transfer of property into the Reserved Investor Fund, in exchange for units in the Reserved Investor Fund, during a seeding period (all other purchases by the Reserved Investor Fund will remain liable to SDLT in full).  

How to use the regime

Fund operators will need to notify HMRC when a fund enters the Reserved Investor Fund regime using the Reserved Investor Fund (RIF) Entry Notifications form, and meet the qualifying criteria to be a Reserved Investor Fund.

If the fund ceases to meet these criteria or exits the regime, the operator will need to notify HMRC of this using the Reserved Investor Fund (RIF) Notifications form.

How to make a notification

Fund managers can make notifications to enter funds into the Reserved Investor Fund regime from 19 March 2025.

Reserved Investor Fund operators will also need to submit reports about the fund, its investors, and transactions in respect of each accounting period.

Forms to submit information for each accounting period are not yet available but will be published shortly on the same GOV.UK page.

Making Tax Digital

Get your clients ready for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax by signing up to our testing programme

Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax will be introduced in phases from April 2026.

Sole traders and landlords who have gross income from self-employment and property that totals over £50,000 in their 2024 to 2025 Self Assessment tax return, will need to use MTD for Income Tax from April 2026. This means they will be legally required to keep digital records and send quarterly updates to HMRC using compatible software.

Benefits of signing up for testing now

If you and your clients sign up now, you will have exclusive access to HMRC’s MTD Customer Support Team. They will support you and your clients with MTD for Income Tax and help you with your clients’ other income tax queries.

As an agent, signing up your clients also means you can:

• influence what the service is like in future
• get ready to support clients when the service must be used
• become familiar with the software you’ll use with your clients

All your clients who are affected by this change will need to be signed up for MTD for Income Tax by‌‌‌ April‌‌‌ 2026. Signing clients up for testing will mean you do not need to repeat this step later.

More information on the benefits of Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is available on GOV.UK.

How to sign up for testing

You can sign up your client for testing now on GOV.UK. You’ll be asked some questions to confirm whether your client is eligible.

From April 2025, you’ll see 2 sign up options:

• sign up now for the 2025 to 2026 tax year — to prepare your business and clients and to familiarise yourself with the changes.

• sign up for the 2026 to 2027 tax year

You should discuss the options with your clients and agree which one to choose.

To take part in testing, you’ll also need to be registered with HMRC for an agent services account (ASA). You can use the digital handshake to be authorised by your client to act on their behalf if you aren’t already authorised.

How we are informing customers about this change 

From April 2025, we’ll write to customers whose 2023 to 2024 Self Assessment tax return shows their total income from self-employment and property was close to, or over, £50,000. This letter will let them know that they may need to use MTD for Income Tax from April 2026.

If any of your clients need to use MTD for Income Tax, you should start preparing for this change now. You can use our MTD for Income Tax for agents step by step guide to help you.

HMRC Agent Services

HMRC’s new campaign helps customers ‘take the hassle out of their hustle’

HMRC has launched its new ‘Help for Hustles’ campaign to help those with side hustles get their tax right. 

Side hustle is a term used to describe ways of making extra income outside of someone’s day job. It can mean anything from dog walking to digital content creation and making things to sell online.   

Share the campaign page link provided with any clients that you think may find the information useful. 

The campaign page features simple information for customers on how to check if they need to pay tax on their additional income and directs them towards user-friendly guidance on GOV.UK.

We want to make sure that we are supporting people who may not be aware that they might owe tax on additional money they are earning and help them avoid any tax surprises. 

Working together to combat fraud and protect customer data

Fraudulent activity, often perpetuated by organised criminal gangs, is a problem for tax authorities around the world. HMRC is committed to making sure customers’ data is kept safe, and we constantly review security protocols to ensure the right balance between ease of access and security. 

Agent Online Service Accounts (AOSAs) and Agent Services Accounts (ASAs) are often a target for fraudsters due to the access they can provide to multiple clients’ tax records. We understand and appreciate the extra pressure and extra responsibility this places on agents to ensure passwords and sign-in credentials are secure, but also that any devices are free from malware. As well as choosing strong passwords, changing those passwords regularly, and ensuring anti-virus software is kept up to date, we also recommend regular security check-ups with cyber security specialists, particularly if you have had issues in the past.

HMRC monitors transactions on customer accounts for suspicious activity. Where we believe an AOSA or ASA has been compromised, we act quickly — and in some cases will suspend that account without notice. We appreciate the position this can sometimes place agents in, but we know you understand that our priority must always be the safety of customer data. Where we write to you, particularly regarding passwords and malware — we advise you not to ignore our letter.

If you believe your agent account has been suspended

Your first port of call should always be our Online Services Helpdesk — who you can reach on 0300 200 3600. They will initiate the process for unsuspending your account and will try to call you back within 72 hours to walk you through a password reset across all gateways and all third-party filing software.  It is crucial to ensure all passwords have been reset and that devices are 100% free from malware. If the fraudsters retain even the smallest foothold, they could be back in your account within minutes.

You will appreciate that depending on exactly what has happened, it may not always be possible to operate within these timescales. We recognise that this must be frustrating, and we will continue to work with agent professional bodies to improve how we communicate with agents in these circumstances. Its advisable not to contact other teams within HMRC as this will only slow the process down.

If you think your account has been compromised and want to report it to HMRC

Your first port of call should again be our Online Services Helpdesk.

Freeport and Investment Zone special tax sites

The last special tax site designation in England

On 26 February 2025, the remaining Investment Zone special tax sites in England were designated. The East Midlands Investment Zone special tax sites were designated following a Statutory Instrument which was laid on 5 February.

Investment Zones have been designed as locally led interventions to drive the government’s growth mission by promoting new investment in sectors that are vital to the national Industrial Strategy, creating highly skilled jobs in areas which have underperformed economically in the past.

Some Investment Zones will include designated special tax sites. Special tax sites in the North East, West Midlands and Liverpool City Region Investment Zones were designated and came into effect on 8 April 2024. Further information about maps of UK investment zones can be found on GOV.UK. ​

Investment Zone proposals in Scotland, Wales, and the Enhanced Investment Zone in Northern Ireland will be provided in due course.

Employer National Insurance contributions relief guidance update 

From 6 April 2025, eligible employers operating in a designated special tax site who wish to claim the employer National Insurance contributions relief will be required to provide the workplace postcode for each eligible employee within the RTI Full Payment Submission. Agents who complete the full payment submission on behalf of eligible employers will also be required to provide a workplace postcode for each eligible employee.

HMRC will publish updated guidance on the requirement on 06 April 2025. This will be available at check if you can claim National Insurance relief in UK Freeport or Investment Zone special tax sites 

Find out more information on GOV.UK about: 

• Investment Zones in England
• Investment Zones in Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland
• Guidance on Freeports

Celebrating 20 years of HM Revenue and Customs with Institute of Chartered accountants for England and Wales and Chartered Institute of Taxation

On 11 March, the Exchequer Secretary to the Treasury and Chair of HMRC’s Board, James Murray MP, set out his vision for the department as a modern and effective tax authority at a conference hosted by the Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales (ICAEW) and the Chartered Institute of Taxation (CIOT).

At the event celebrating the upcoming milestone of 20 years since the creation of HMRC, the Exchequer Secretary reflected on progress made on his three priorities of modernisation and reform, improving customer service and closing the tax gap, announcing new steps HMRC is taking to improve customers’ experience of the tax and customs system. 

This included the launch of a Voice Biometrics trial which will give customers the opportunity to use their voice as their password, helping make security checks faster and more secure, and a new resolution service providing an escalation route for agents with Self Assessment and PAYE queries which are over four weeks old.

These changes form part of HMRC’s broader transformation agenda, with further details expected in the HMRC Transformation roadmap which is due to be published in the summer.

The speech on 20 years of HMRC reflections and looking ahead has been published on GOV.UK and a livestream is available to view on LinkedIn. Further details will be published in the spring.

Help with common risks in transfer pricing approaches recorded webinar

Watch a recorded webinar about help with common risks in transfer pricing approaches.

This webinar is aimed at UK businesses who are subject to UK transfer pricing rules. It also supports external agents or firms that provide transfer pricing services to those businesses.

The webinar covers the key points from the Guidelines for Compliance (GfC7) designed to help customers mitigate common, avoidable risks in transfer pricing that HMRC often find. 

The webinar includes guidance on:

• an introduction to the GfC7 and key areas for using the guidelines

• managing compliance risk for UK businesses

• common compliance risks

• indicators of transfer pricing policy design risk

Advanced electronic signatures for R40, P87, and Married Allowance Transfer Claim form (MATCF) print and post repayment claims

From 6 April 2025, tax advisers who use nominations for the P87, R40, or MATCF print and post forms to claim repayments on behalf of a taxpayer must use an advanced electronic signature service. The signature for each claim will be valid for a period of 6 months from the date of signing. 

This new requirement will give greater assurance for the taxpayer and HMRC that the customer has authorised the tax adviser to receive the repayment. 

An advanced electronic signature is a specific type of digital signature that must:

• be uniquely linked to the person signing the data in electronic form and be capable of identifying them
• give the person signing sole control of the signature data
• be able to detect any changes made to the signature data afterwards

The advanced electronic signature is the minimum standard of digital signature that will be accepted.

Tax advisers will need to provide HMRC with evidence of their registration with an advanced electronic signature service provider. Claims will not be processed for tax advisers who do not provide this evidence. Once tax advisers have obtained advanced electronic signatures from their customers, they will need to resubmit any unprocessed forms.

Handwritten (wet) signatures will only be accepted by exception if the customer is digitally excluded and has discussed this with HMRC prior to signing the nomination. The customer will need to do this by phoning HMRC’s helpline on 0300 200 3300 from 6 April. Tax advisers cannot do this on their customer’s behalf.

Where to find more details on what I need to do

You can find further details on what you need to do to receive Income Tax or PAYE repayments on behalf of others in the guidance available on GOV.UK. 

If you have any further questions, ask HMRC’s digital assistant which will be able to help. 

Agent forum and engagement

Share your thoughts — HMRC umbrella company pay calculator testing

If you haven’t taken the chance already you can still help to test HMRC’s calculator that estimates take-home pay for umbrella company workers.

HMRC’s calculator helps umbrella company workers to:

• estimate take-home pay
• check common deductions including Income Tax, National Insurance contributions and pension contributions
• identify potential incorrect deductions
• understand assignment rates, gross pay and net pay

Your feedback will help improve the service before its full launch.

Try the calculator to work out pay from an umbrella company and share it with your clients who use umbrella companies.

New service to resolve personal tax queries

On 31 March 2025, we will launch a new service for agents, providing an escalation route for Self Assessment and PAYE queries for individuals that our Agent Dedicated Line or Agent Webchat have not resolved.

When agents can use the Personal Tax Query Resolution Service

Agents can use the service when they have both:

• checked the Where’s my Reply tool, with at least 20 working days having passed from the reply date given by the tool

• tried at least twice to resolve the query by contacting the Agent Dedicated Line or Agent Webchat

Agents will be able to contact the service by emailing our dedicated mailbox which can be found on GOV.UK from 31 March.

If you contact our dedicated mailbox

We will:  

• contact you within 48 hours to acknowledge the query

• provide an update every 5 working days

• aim to resolve your query within 20 working days, or make an action plan if we cannot

How to help us resolve queries within the set timeframe

We ask that agents: 

• provide all relevant information and documentation that we request to help us resolve the query

• respond promptly if we ask for clarification, or more information

• do not chase a query before the 20 working days have passed

• do not use this service to chase repayments, chase postal delays or queries relating to Making Tax Digital

We will review and improve the new service regularly to make sure we are meeting agents’ needs. Once the service is in place, we will look at expanding it beyond PAYE and Self Assessment queries.

Income Record Viewer — examples of IT issues

Following a discussion at our Issues Overview Group on 5 February, we’ve made some improvements to help users of the Income Record Viewer (IRV).

Technical queries can now be raised about the information in the IRV. The facility can be accessed by clicking on the ‘is this page not working properly’ link that appears at the bottom of the page. We’ll investigate issues reported via this route including gathering evidence of any inconsistencies encountered. When the initial query is raised there is no need to include personal details, these may be asked for at a later point.

Agents will need to keep a note of their reference number so that they know which client the query is raised for.

Missing PAYE codes

We are continuing to investigate the issues relating to tax codes not being visible in the PAYE notice viewer. To assist with investigations, it would be helpful if you could supply us with current examples of where this issue has arisen, alongside any information to help us investigate these cases.

We ask that agents view the PAYE code again, if the PAYE code for 2024 to 2025 is missing, if possible, provide:

• confirmation of the page or service they were viewing
• copy of the URL data line at the top of the online page
• date and time of access
• client’s name
• Unique Taxpayer Reference
• screenshot of the page
• details of the code and date employer got notified

We will not be able to investigate any cases where the missing tax code was identified more than 34 days since accessing the service.

Agents are asked to continue to use our technical support with HMRC online services to report cases of missing PAYE codes. 

Address Rejections

We are continuing to analyse sample cases to identify causes for address rejections during SA registration. In the interim, agents are reminded of the hints and tips, which we provided in Issue 128 of Agent Update to reduce address rejections.

Agents are asked to continue to use our technical support with HMRC online services to report cases of incorrect address rejections.

Suggestions on improvements to GOV.UK information

Agents can use our online form at Contact GOV.UK to suggest improvements to the information we publish on GOV.UK. Agents who provide their email address will receive a reference to assist with any follow up and response.   

Contact Information for professional and representative bodies

• AAT: wt@aat.org.uk

• ACCA Jason Piper: jason.piper@accaglobal.com

• AIA David Potts: workingtogether@aiaworldwide.com

• ATT: atttechnical@att.org.uk

• CIMA: prof.standards@cimaglobal.com

• CIOT Technical: technical@ciot.org.uk

• CIPP Lora Murphy: Lora.Murphy@cipp.org.uk

• CPAA Alison Hale: ahale@cpaa.co.uk

• IAB: Compliance@iab.org.uk

• ICAEW Caroline Miskin: Caroline.miskin@icaew.com

• ICAS Tax Team: tax@icas.com

• ICB Steven Worrall: steven@swaccountants.co.uk

• ICPA: admin@icpa.org.uk

• IFA: membership@ifa.org.uk

• VATPG Ruth Corkin: Ruth.corkin@hhlp.co.uk