Guidance

Get access to the Income Record Viewer for agents

How to access the Income Record Viewer and use the digital handshake if you’re an agent to check your clients pay and tax details, employment history and tax codes.

• From: HM Revenue & Customs
• Published: 16 November 2022
• Last updated: 15 February 2023 — See all updates

Before you start

You will need an agent services account to access the Income Record Viewer.

If you do not have an agent services account you will need to do the following:

1. Register to use an agent services account.
2. Create your agent services account.

There’s a different way to apply for an agent services account if you’re not based in the UK.

Get authorised using the digital handshake

You will not be able to use any existing 64-8 authorisation to access the Income Record Viewer.

Read the guidance on how to get authorised using the digital handshake so that you can access your client’s information in the Income Record Viewer.

Each of your clients will:

• need to give you authorisation to access their information in the Income Record Viewer and act on their behalf, using the digital handshake
• only need to authorise you once using the digital handshake to access the Income Record Viewer
• need to use their personal Government Gateway user ID and password to log in and accept your digital handshake for you to get authorised, if they do not have a personal Government Gateway user ID and password, they can create one using the guidance on how to set up their personal tax account

If any of your clients are digitally excluded, give them a number to call HMRC and they will be passed through to the Extra Support Team, who will talk them through the process over the phone.

After you’re authorised

Sign in to your agent services account to access the Income Record Viewer.

Online services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.

You will need the Government Gateway user ID and password that you created for your agents services account.

After you’ve signed in

You can now access the following information in the Income Record Viewer, your client’s:

• PAYE information for the current year plus the 4 previous tax years
• employment records, including time in employment, their PAYE reference, the pay and tax details for each of their employment
• student loan repayments, if any, collected through payroll
• latest tax code for the current tax year including all allowances and deductions
• taxable benefits provided by an employer such as company car and medical insurance and whether these are forecasted (P11D not received yet) or actual (P11D received)
• state and private pension information
• details of any underpaid tax and other debts such as tax credits or Class 2 National insurance contributions collected through their tax code

Published 16 November 2022
Last updated 15 February 2023 + show all updates

1. 15 February 2023

   The 'first published' date of the guide has been updated to 16 November 2022. The guidance was previously published on 22 April 2022 but was later unpublished until November 2022.

2. 25 January 2023

   The guidance has been updated to include information on how to get authorised using the digital handshake, what your client's will need to do to authorise you, including how to get help if your client is digitally excluded, what to do after you're authorised and what information you will be able to access in the Income Record Viewer.

3. 16 November 2022

   First published.