Guidance

Agents Strategy: an overview

Published 1 January 2014

About Agents Strategy

Agents Strategy aims to transform the relationship between HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) and agents by:

  • gaining a better understanding of you and your clients to help HMRC target the right services and communications
  • aligning HMRC and agent processes where possible, and enabling you to carry out more transactions with minimal HMRC involvement
  • eliminating duplication and reworking to make it easier for you to do business with HMRC and reduce your costs
  • supporting you in improving services for your clients, including tackling the small minority of agents with poor performance more effectively
  • working closely with your representative bodies on the development of Agent and Client Statistics

HMRC is working with the Government Digital Service to develop new digital services and will consult regularly with agents’ representative bodies as the work progresses.

The review

HMRC has already conducted a review on how it currently works with paid agents and intermediaries. This will help develop the way they will work with you in the future under the Agents Strategy.

The review found that changes in the commercial market and the growth of software and virtual products will provide new opportunities for working together in the digital environment.

Key points:

  • for many reasons, not all about tax, a significant number of our customers will continue to employ a paid tax agent evolving expectations and advances in IT, increasing competition from software developers and other professional service providers, are driving innovation in paid agent business models
  • HMRC should design all future digital services with agents in mind - (Agent Online Self Serve will lay the foundations for this)
  • HMRC should work with agents to promote voluntary compliance
  • HMRC should work with software developers and service providers to determine the role they should play in supporting compliance
  • HMRC will work closely with your representative bodies to take this work forward and plans to talk to as many of you as possible to obtain your views

Agent Online Self Serve Project

HMRC will introduce new online services that will help you take more control of your clients’ tax affairs. These services will include the introduction of a new agent registration service and an improved authorisation process. This work will be taken forward by the Agent Online Self Serve Project.

Read more about the new online services for agents.

HMRC Agent and Client Statistics

HMRC Agent and Client Statistics will bring together and analyse information held on the department’s systems about you and your clients’ filing, payment and compliance history.

The aim is for HMRC to work with you to help you improve your clients’ compliance and to identify what good agent practice looks like and how it can be shared.

Read more about HMRC Agent and Client Statistics

Joint Tax Agent Strategy Steering Group

The Joint Tax Agent Strategy Steering Group has been set up to steer development of Agent Strategy and make decisions. The group consists of representatives from the main agent professional bodies and senior HMRC managers.

Read more about the Joint Tax Agent Strategy Steering Group.

A separate Agent Strategy Group has also been set up to discuss the views of agents who are not represented on the Joint Tax Agent Strategy Steering Group.