How to use the digital handshake to get authorised as a tax agent
Find out how to use the digital handshake to get client authorisation for the agent services account.
If you’ve already created an agent services account you now need to get authorised by each of your clients to transact on their behalf. You must do this by using the ‘digital handshake’.
You can also check which tax services you can get client authorisation for by using the digital handshake.
If you’re not a tax agent, you can find out how to authorise your tax agent using the digital handshake.
What you’ll need
To get client authorisation, you’ll need:
- the sign in details you got when you created your agent services account (you will not be able to get authorisation using the sign in details you have for HMRC online services)
- your client’s details — the details you need may be different for each tax and can include your client’s National Insurance number, date of birth and tax reference number
How to use the digital handshake
To get authorised using the digital handshake, you need to send an authorisation request.
- Sign into your agent services account.
- Select ‘Ask a client to authorise you’.
- Enter your client’s details and follow the steps to get an authorisation request link on the final page.
Send an authorisation request
Online services may be slow during busy times. Check if there are any problems with this service.
What you should do next
After you get the authorisation request link, you should:
- Copy the link on the page and send it to your client.
- Tell your client to select the link you’ve sent them and respond to your request within 21 days of you receiving the link. They will need to use the sign in details that they used to register for this tax service. If they do not have sign in details, they can create these when selecting the digital handshake link that you send.
The link will expire after 21 days. If your client does not use the link before it expires, you’ll have to start the authorisation process again.
To check whether a client has responded to your authorisation request link, go to the ‘Manage your authorisation requests from the last 30 days’ page in your agent services account. It will show you:
- a list of all the clients you’ve sent a request to in the last 30 days
- the tax services you’ve requested to be authorised to deal with
- the current status of your requests
Once your client has approved your authorisation request, you will be authorised to deal with HMRC for them.
Updates to this page
-
Guidance has been updated to say that client details needed for authorisation can differ depending on the tax. Guidance to add more clients to an authorisation link request has been deleted as this functionality has been removed in the service.
-
First published.