Exploring customer views on granular authorisations for tax agents within Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Self Assessment
Qualitative research exploring customer views on granular authorisations for agents within HM Revenue and Customs' digital services.
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Making Tax Digital (MTD) is a key tax transformation programme and a core part of the government’s 10-year Tax Administration Strategy. It will help reduce the tax gap by requiring businesses and individuals to:
- keep digital records
- use software that works with MTD
- submit updates every quarter, bringing the tax system closer to real-time
Within the new digital services under MTD for Income Tax Self Assessment, HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) is considering introducing changes to the way Income Tax Self Assessment customers can authorise their agent (or multiple agents) to act on their behalf. One of the options being explored is whether to develop ‘granular authorisations’ for agents, which could be applied by the customer to restrict or control the tasks an agent can see or do within the account or on their behalf.
HMRC wanted to understand customers’ views on granular authorisations for agents and therefore commissioned Verian (formerly Kantar Public) to carry out 40 in-depth interviews with self-employed individuals and landlords. All participants earned at least £30,000, paid Income Tax through Self Assessment and were working with at least one agent. All interviews took place during August and September 2023.