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Guidance

Issue 148 of agent update

Published 15 October 2026

© Crown copyright 2026

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/agent-update-issue-148/issue-148-of-agent-update

Technical updates and reminders

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

Tax

Making Tax Digital

HMRC agent services

Agent engagement

Tax

Company Tax Returns — filing reminders

To help HMRC process your clients’ tax returns without delay:

  • check that the start and end dates of the return period you are filing are correct and that they match your client’s accounting period structure
  • make sure that supporting documents filed with the CT600 tax return such as computations and accounts are in the correct format
  • wait at least 24 hours before trying to amend a submitted return
  • check the company’s bank details (BACS) before filing the CT600 tax return and include them on any amended return for the same period
  • do not tick box 45, ‘repayment for an earlier period’, unless you are making a loss carry back claim or a claim under section 458 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010

Claiming relief for losses carried back

When submitting your clients’ Company Tax Return, include the most up to date bank details on the CT600.

If the CT600 includes a loss carry back claim, you must tick box 45 to show that a repayment for an earlier or prior accounting period is due.

Read more information on completing the CT600 tax return.

If ticking box 45, provide a breakdown of the claim in your computations to show how losses are to be used. This is particularly important for terminal loss claims.

When electing to carry losses back under section 37 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, make sure to carry all available losses back to extinguish profits of the previous accounting periods before carrying remaining losses forward. Failure to do so will result in HMRC being unable to process your client’s claim.

If making a loss carry back claim, do not:

  • submit an amended CT600 for the same accounting period if it contains the same information
  • submit an amended CT600 for the accounting period receiving the loss
  • submit an original CT600 by post, as all Company Tax Returns must be filed online through Government Gateway

You must submit an amended CT600 if:

  • the return includes changes other than the loss carry back claim
  • the loss carry back claim itself needs to be amended

Inheritance Tax on pensions — prepare for changes from 6 April 2027

From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be included in the value of a deceased person’s estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes. These changes were announced at Autumn Budget 2024 and are included in the Finance Act 2026.

What you need to do

You should prepare for the changes if you advise:

  • personal representatives
  • pension beneficiaries
  • pension scheme administrators

The changes apply when a pension scheme member dies on or after 6 April 2027.

You should familiarise yourself with the 2 technical notes linked in the next section and consider how the reforms may affect your clients and working arrangements.

Technical notes

The Inheritance Tax on pensions: technical note explains:

  • how notional pension property will be identified, valued and allocated
  • who will report and pay any IHT due
  • the use of withholding notices and the pensions direct payment scheme
  • how the reforms interact with Income Tax rules on pension death benefits

The Inheritance Tax on pensions: technical note 2 provides additional detail on:

  • information sharing requirements
  • withholding notices
  • pensions direct payment scheme notices and clearance

Guidance and other supporting materials will be updated and published by April 2027.

Voluntary registration for non-mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind 

From November 2026, employers can register to voluntarily payroll non-mandated benefits for the 2027 to 2028 tax year, using the payrolling benefits and expenses online service. 

From 6 April 2027, employers who voluntarily choose to payroll benefits in kind that are not part of the first phase of mandatory payrolling must also pay Class 1A National Insurance contributions through payroll. They will no longer be able to report these separately at the end of the tax year. They will also not be able to payroll the Income Tax and report the associated Class 1A National Insurance contributions separately. 

Customers who have already registered to voluntarily payroll will automatically continue for the 2027 to 2028 tax year. Customers who decide to stop voluntary payrolling non-mandated benefits must withdraw by 5 April 2027.

Employers with eligible globally mobile employees (GME) will be exempt from mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind and expenses. This is due to the practical difficulties in real time payroll reporting. Employers with eligible GME need to submit an online G-form. This will be made available in November 2026 and will help to inform HMRC which employees should be excluded. 

Voluntary registration information will be included in the updated guidance on Mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind and expenses – interim guidance and legislation.

Making Tax Digital

Get ready for the next Making Tax Digital for Income Tax deadline on 7 November 2026

The second quarterly update deadline for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is 7 November 2026.

By now, you and your client should be creating and maintaining digital records if your client has turnover of more than £50,000 from self employment and property income. You will need MTD compatible software to submit quarterly updates to HMRC from those records.

If you have not done this yet, you must now:

  1. Sign up your client for MTD for Income Tax and check that their details are correct.
  2. Get your software ready — authorise your software, connect it to HMRC and check it is set up for the appropriate accounting period.
  3. Send your client’s first and second quarterly update to HMRC.

For further support and practical steps to prepare for quarterly updates, read the special edition Agent Update: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax published on 7 July 2026.

Do not wait until the deadline day

If you need support, contact us during the week when our full phone service is available.

We will be offering phone support through the Self Assessment: general enquiries helpline on Saturday 7 November (from 9am to 3pm) for customers who need assistance with sending their quarterly update.

The Agent dedicated line (ADL) will not be available, however agents can contact the Self Assessment helpline for support. Webchat services will be available from 8am to 4pm as usual.

Sign up letters from HMRC

Since September 2026, HMRC has been automatically signing up customers who should use MTD for the 2026 to 2027 tax year, based on their latest tax return. We will write to them to confirm this, so you should check whether your clients have heard from us. Then you need to make sure that your clients are keeping digital records and that you have suitable MTD compatible software to submit their quarterly updates.

If your client has not received a letter, sign them up now to make sure their details are correct from the start. If already signed up, check the guidance for agents on the page check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

HMRC agent services

Tax on bank and building society interest 2026

From October 2026, HMRC will start to issue tax calculation letters P800 or Simple Assessment notices PA302, for any tax owed on bank and building society interest earned between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026.

Some customers may have already received a Simple Assessment for the 2025 to 2026 tax year that did not include either their bank or building society interest. If HMRC subsequently receives information about interest, these customers may receive a second Simple Assessment notice for the same tax year which takes this into account.

When this occurs, make your clients aware that the second notice will show the total tax owed for the year. This will include the amount from the first notice even if it has been paid. To work out what they owe, your clients should deduct anything they have already paid from the amount in the second notice.

How your client pays

If a customer is taxed through PAYE, they do not need to do anything as their tax code will be changed to reflect the underpayment of tax.

If HMRC cannot collect tax through PAYE, or tax owed is more than £3,000, they will receive a Simple Assessment notice which will explain how much they owe and why.

To pay their tax bill, customers can read the guidance on how to pay your Simple Assessment tax bill.

If a client’s income from savings and investments is more than £10,000, they will need to complete a Self Assessment tax return.

For more information, they can watch a video on tax on savings and investments interest on YouTube.

Why figures may differ

Tax codes and bank statements may show different interest amounts because:

  • some interest may be tax-free under the Personal Savings Allowance
  • only taxable interest shows in tax codes
  • HMRC may use estimates based on recent data

Key points for clients

Clients should be reminded that:

  • banks and building societies tell HMRC about interest paid to customers each year
  • most people can earn some interest before paying tax
  • they can use HMRC’s online calculator to check how much tax they might pay on dividends and interest from savings
  • they can use their Personal Allowance for tax-free interest if they have not used it on wages, pension or other income
  • they may also get a Personal Savings Allowance of £1,000 a year in interest without paying tax, depending on their tax band
  • HMRC assumes any interest earned on a joint account is split equally between the account holders
  • HMRC will set out the name of the bank or building society where your client has the account that has earned interest
  • if they do not recognise the name of the bank or building society they could be using the name of the wider financial group that the bank or building society belongs to — a quick check online can verify this

Read more on:

Note that if your clients:

  • think their Simple Assessment is wrong, they must call or write within 60 days from the date of the letter to formally query the assessment
  • have already registered for Self Assessment for the relevant year, call HMRC on 0300 200 3300 to withdraw their Simple Assessment

Multi-factor authentication — now live on all agent accounts

The final activation window for multi-factor authentication (MFA) closed on 15 October, meaning MFA is now live on all agent accounts. Every agent should now have MFA activated, bringing agent accounts in line with the protection already in place for individual and organisation Government Gateway accounts.

We appreciate your engagement and support throughout this activity. Your efforts in preparing your accounts and adapting to these changes have helped ensure this rollout has been as smooth as possible for you and your clients.

Sign in since activation

If you have not yet signed in since MFA was activated on your account, it’s important to do so as soon as possible. Signing in now will let you confirm your access code method and settings are working as expected. This will help in avoiding any delay or disruption should you need to access your account when using it to complete work on behalf of your clients.

MFA for new agent accounts

MFA will now be active on all newly registered agent accounts as part of the standard business as usual process. Any agent setting up a new account going forward will have MFA in place from the outset.

Guidance and support

Full guidance is available in the Tax Agent’s Handbook - Online services for agents guidance.

If you missed it, our recorded webinar is also still available, covering practical guidance on MFA and what to expect.

Self Assessment — help your clients file early

With 4 months until the Self Assessment deadline, now is a good time to work through your client portfolio and encourage clients to provide any outstanding information needed for their 2025 to 2026 tax return.

This is particularly important where clients may need time to gather information from third parties, employers, banks or investment providers. Acting now can help avoid delays later.

Filing returns well before 31 January can help you:

  • spread workloads across your practice
  • identify missing information earlier and reduce the pressure that often comes with the peak filing period
  • give your clients certainty about their tax position and more time to plan for any payment due by 31 January 2027
  • get ahead with Making Tax Digital obligations

HMRC’s digital services can help agents with their Self Assessment workload more efficiently. You can use the:

  • Self Assessment for agents online service to submit tax returns, view tax liabilities and payments, view and change client’s contact details and download your client list
  • Income Record Viewer for agents to access PAYE information for the current year and previous 4 tax years, latest tax code, state and private pension information and details of underpaid tax
  • agent services account to manage authorisations and access services, including Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

By encouraging early engagement and making the most of HMRC’s digital services, agents can help ensure a smoother filing for both their practice and their clients.

Talk Money Week — take action with the HMRC app

Talk Money Week 2026 will take place from 2 November to 6 November 2026. We are encouraging customers to take small, manageable actions that can make a meaningful difference to their finances.

Whether it is checking a tax code, extending Child Benefit for a teenager, claiming a tax refund or planning for retirement, it all counts. The free HMRC app makes it easy for your clients to access key information and act whenever it suits them.

Through the app, your clients can:

  • claim a tax refund and check their employment income details
  • find and save their National Insurance number for easy access
  • claim and manage Child Benefit, including extending payments for children aged 16 to 19 who remain in approved education or training
  • check their State Pension forecast and plan for retirement
  • view their tax code

The HMRC app can be downloaded free from the App Store and Google Play Store, giving people secure access to their tax and financial information in one place.

We will appreciate your support in sharing this message with your clients and encourage them to take one small action that counts this Talk Money Week.

Tax adviser registration — temporary pause to agent reference number checks

Since 18 August 2026, HMRC has been asking some tax advisers to provide their agent reference number (ARN) when contacting HMRC through telephone or webchat. This is to check whether they have registered for an agent services account (ASA) as part of the modernising and mandating tax adviser registration (MMTAR) rollout. 

HMRC has now paused ARN checks for this purpose until 17 November 2026. This is to allow tax advisers additional time to better prepare for these changes.

Tax advisers may still be asked for their ARN in other situations, such as when HMRC is investigating an issue on their behalf. Existing security, identity and client authorisation checks will continue during this period.

ARN checks will resume from 18 November 2026 for businesses that are required to register with HMRC.

You can find out more and check if and when you need to register as a tax adviser.

All relevant employees who interact with HMRC should make sure they have their business’s ARN ready to share from this date. The ARN is an 11-character reference made up of 4 letters, including ‘ARN’, followed by 7 digits. For example: XARN1234567.

Research and Development tax relief update — advanced assurance services

The targeted Research and Development (R&D) advance assurance pilot launched on 18 May 2026.

Read the guidance to check if your client can apply for either targeted advance assurance or full claim advance assurance for their R&D tax relief claim.

HMRC is making it easier for companies and their agents to find information about advance assurance services for R&D tax relief. 

From 12 October 2026, HMRC staff working in R&D will include a short signpost to advance assurance guidance in their external email signatures. The same information will also appear in the automatic reply from the main R&D compliance mailbox.

These signposts will raise awareness of both HMRC’s targeted and full claim advance assurance services and help businesses access the right support when needed. 

The targeted advance assurance pilot is available to eligible small and medium sized enterprises seeking certainty on up to 2 specific areas of an R&D tax relief claim before submission. If granted, assurances are valid for the duration of the R&D project, for a maximum of 5 years.

The full claim advance assurance is available to eligible small and medium sized enterprises making their first R&D claim. It provides clarity on the full claim, and if granted, can cover up to 3 accounting periods. 

New process to speed up National Insurance refunds

Since early summer, HMRC has been using a new automated payment process to help issue National Insurance refunds more quickly.

Where HMRC identifies that someone may have overpaid National Insurance contributions, we will send them a letter with details of their employment and contributions. They should check the information and either confirm it is correct or tell us if anything needs to be updated.

Customers can respond online through GOV.UK or by updating and returning the form attached to the letter. HMRC is urging customers receiving such a letter not to ignore it.

We want customers to feel confident when dealing with HMRC. You can quickly check if a letter you have received from HMRC is genuine.

This provides reassurance to customers that they are responding to genuine HMRC communications, helping them to identify and avoid fraudsters. HMRC refund notifications will never ask customers to click on links.

A simpler way to check current service problems

We are improving how we publish information about service problems on GOV.UK. Our new live service issues page brings all current service problems together in one place, making it easier to find the latest information when a service is unavailable.

A link from the existing service availability pages directs you to the new page, helping ensure service information remains easy to find through the routes agents already use. 

The new page allows us to update information more quickly when issues affect multiple services, giving you faster access to the latest position. It also helps to make sure information is consistent across services and provides a clearer route to live updates. This will help to quickly understand whether a problem may be affecting your clients or the task you are trying to complete.

You can also sign up to get notified about service availability page updates by selecting ’Get emails about this page’.

Providing feedback on HMRC manuals

HMRC manuals contain technical guidance for HMRC staff and tax professionals. Their primary purpose is to explain HMRC’s interpretation of relevant legislation, which is the basis on which the department makes decisions.

To tell us whether a page is useful, suggest improvements or report a problem with a page, you can use the:

The HMRC manuals team review all items of feedback on HMRC manuals from internal and external users.

Within the last 12 months we received 1,470 feedback comments and 60% led to guidance improvements. However, the volume is still low compared to the overall usage. Help us improve the content by providing feedback, even if it is to indicate that a page is useful.

Agent engagement

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If you would like to give us your feedback, complete the survey form.

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