64-8 Form Download

[Magdalen Dano]

Yourclient can authorise you to deal with more than one of these subjects on the same 64-8 form. If your client wants you to act on their behalf for CIS, they need to make a note on the 64-8 to say this, or attach a separate letter.

If your agent submits your tax return, you must check the information and let your agent know it is correct, before they submit it to us. You are responsible for your own tax affairs, even if you authorise someone to act on your behalf.

By submitting this form for tax credits purposes, your agent will gain access to your personal and financial information relating to your tax credit claim. They can act on your behalf but cannot receive payments. Correspondence will still be sent to you.

I recently took on a new client for self assessment / PAYE and used the HMRC Online Services route to authorise as PAYE & SA agent. The client appears on my government gateway account and I have been submitting FPS for a few weeks now.

I have just tried to speak to HMRC regarding the PAYE balance and they said they can't speak to me as a 64-8 isn't in place. I explained that I had authorised online but the HMRC rep said that he can't see the authorisation at his end and that I need to submit a 64-8.

You are not supposed to need a 64-8, but HMRC's authorisation system is extremely fallible, and the agents on the line don't know what to do about it other than to ask for a 64-8, because that way you'll get off the phone.

I've been told that by agents on the phone as well, but it's not true. I've spoken to HMRC many times about clients for whom we've only authorised online. I would also add than no authorisation at all is required to file on someone's behalf, it's only to see their details online and to talk to HMRC.

I've also been told the reverse of the issue under discussion, where we've had a paper 64-8 in place for years, decades in some cases, and regularly receive mail as agents, only to be told when I call in that the authorisation isn't sufficient and we also need online authorisation.

None of it is true, either type of authorisation is sufficient on its own, but for some reason authorisation is not always visible to the people answering the phones so we get fed misinformation and nobody knows where we stand.

That's not true. The online authorisation and the 64-8 are the same thing and give the same permissions. I only use the online forms and am allowed to discuss my clients matters with HMRC when necessary.

I sent 6 in for one particular client over the space of 2 years, every one vanished regardless of having had numerous conversations. On 64/8 No6, I had doodled on the back with lots of '3D cubes' - without realising it was the 64/8 with the wet signature on, so I still had to send it in. Finally HMRC received the 6th one (sods law) and the advisor must have been having a laugh with his colleague as he was saying things like 'I'll be square with you, we have received it' and 'I know you're not happy but there's 4 sides to every story'.

I didn't know how to react but at least he had a sense of humour and the good thing is this is still on their system and not got lost so perhaps doodling and making an impression is the way to get the 64/8 in and not to go missing.

There are two different online authorisation processes. The main one is where the agent logs into their HMRC portal and asks for authorisation, following which HMRC post out a code to the client by physical mail. Once you input the code that the client then gives you, you are, I am led to believe, fully authorised in exactly the same way as a paper 64-8.

The second method is where the client logs into their own HMRC portal and adds the agent's identifier code. Nothing gets posted out and this can (for some taxes) offer a reduced level of authorisation. At least that is my understanding. But I have not used a paper 64-8 for many years (I always use method 1 above) and I have rarely been told by HMRC that I don't have authority and, when I am, I push the matter or call back.

I used your method 1 as I also believed that led to same authorisation as 64-8. I suspect it usually does except when HMRC's systems don't work properly. I think I've just been unlucky in this instance.

Online authorisation should be fine but it sometimes takes a while for full authorisation to kick in completely. Unless urgent I'd be tempted to wait a while and see if anything changes to your access.

I have had this issue several times and find if you wait a few hours or days and call back again all seems good. I don't know if its a lack of training in that the agents are not checking correctly or if its a timing issue with HMRC systems but when I have experienced this it seems to correct over time. It does not always apply to new clients either i could have been set up with a client for several years with no issue then all of a sudden HMRC will not discuss with me even though I can see their account online through my agent ID. I have never completed a paper 64-8 and regularly discuss client accounts so its not a necessity.

If you had (have?) authorisation in place and have had correspondence with HMRC previously when they refuse to discuss your client with you, you should tell them that you are reporting them to the ICO as they have disclosed information to you without the proper authority.

That may make them look a bit deeper!

The same thing excatly happened to me before.

I could see my client on my HMRC portal but I was told there was no 64-8.

It's a technical error at their end. You need to let HMRC know and they will be able to activate this client in a way it can be found at their end again. Usually takes about 48 hours. I think they asked me to send a screenshot if my memory is correct.

1. The online version of the 64-8 is log into the agent's account then select Authorise Client on the left.

2. The online version of the FBI2 is for the client to log into their online PAYE account and appoint you as agent.

Over the last couple of weeks HMRC seem to have lost sight of 2 64-8 forms and 2 online registrations. I know life is difficult for us all right now but this seems a bit too much, I sympathise but can only suggest you keep plugging away. Maybe try phoning another day - sometimes it just depends who you get.

The UK Tax Authority, HMRC, has announced that from 31 March 2022, businesses will need to use a new form 64-8 to give authorisation for agents and advisers to deal directly with HMRC on their behalf. This will be for new agent relationships and HMRC has confirmed that existing clients (i.e. businesses that have already authorised agents and advisers to deal with HMRC) do not need to re-authorise their current relationship using the new form.

HMRC will continue to send VAT-related correspondence to the business rather than the agent. However, the 64-8 allows an agent to correspond with HMRC in writing or speak to HMRC by phone on specific VAT matters e.g. a voluntary disclosure, a request for ruling or the status of an application. Where the agent submits VAT returns on behalf of the business, this will need to be authorised online rather than through the form.

I have had a number of instances recently where we have submitted 64-8s for clients who do not have UTRs. I have ticked the appropriate box on the form and sent it off assuming a UTR will be created and the client eventually appear on our list. But in every case (and we're talking about January here) they have yet to appear whereas clients with UTRs submitted since are now there.

As mentioned above you need to complete and send the SA1 or CWF1 form in to create the UTR record. The 'UTR not issued' box should be used in these circumstances so that your authorisation is dealt with at the same time, saving further delay.

but that does seem ridiculous ! These clients will never file SA returns, they are all expats who are filing overpayment claims and we just want to be able to act for them and follow their case in our agents account.

Or they remain outside SA and are handled through PAYE. You send the 64-8 to whichever HMRC address is dealing with their repayment claims. HMRC will talk to you, but they will never appear on your Agents SA Online service and there is no tax account to view.

I staple all forms together when submitting to HMRC, even though they tell you not to. It is not the first time that I have gone to our local tax office (which will be sorely missed) to ask about forms submitted only to be told they have one and not the other. On asking to see a copy of the one they have, it plainly shows where the staple has been. Soon after the missing document appears.

went to a meeting last week with the HMRC guy that set up the CAA team in Longbenton. He explained the post room is the size of a football pitch and anything not stapled together is separated and sent to different processing teams. If one of those docs was a 64-8 without a UTR then it is binned .... so SA1 /CWF must be stapled with the 64-8 otherwise it won't work.

HMRC don't send out any acknowledgement. In fact our experience is that a fairly large percentage of 64-8 forms never even get actioned by HMRC - it's obviously not as important as sending out threatening letters.

My client posted one first class last Tuesday and when I phoned on Friday it was on the system. Also I have found the agent's helpline answers after 30 seconds and they have been very helpful. I don't know why the rest of you have such bad experiences.

Anyway, to return to the topic, I suggest to the OP that you can probably sort the whole thing out without having to activate an agent authority. You have a colleague with a single highly specific one-off issue that can almost certainly be resolved completely by the taxpayer submitting a form P87 which can be completed and filed by him under your guidance if required without your having to be formally appointed as an agent.

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