Change or remove your tax agent's authorisation
Find out how to change and remove authorisation from an agent acting on your behalf.
You must not give your log in credentials to your agent or anyone else.
If you’re an agent, you must not use your client’s credentials to log into any account. Find out how to register and get authorised as a tax agent to deal with HMRC.
If you’re a registered tax agent you can change or remove your authorisations.
If a tax agent acts on your behalf you can remove their authorisation if you no longer want them to manage your tax affairs.
You may want to remove a tax agent’s authorisation if:
- you change tax agents
- your current tax agent retires or has stopped operating
- you don’t need a tax agent to represent you any more
If you want to change the tax agent you have authorised, you must submit a new authorisation request. Any new authority received will replace any existing authority.
How to remove agent authorisation online
You can remove agent authorisation online using your business tax account.
To remove an agent’s authorisation, you must log in using the Government Gateway user ID that you use for the specific tax.
How you remove a tax agent is different depending on the tax. The method you use depends on whether you originally authorised your agent using:
- a link that they sent to you to authorise them — this is known as the digital handshake
- your business tax account
For taxes that use the digital handshake
The digital handshake is used to authorise agents for:
- Making Tax Digital for VAT
- Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
- Plastic Packaging Tax
- Capital Gains Tax on UK Property
- Manage a trust or estate
To remove agent authorisation for these services:
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Log into your business tax account.
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Go to ‘Manage account’ at the top of the page.
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Select ‘View agent account history or remove a tax agent’.
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Select ‘Who can deal with HMRC for you’.
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Select ‘Remove authorisation’.
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Select ‘Yes’ to confirm you wish to remove the agent.
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Select ‘Continue’.
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If you want to remove an agent from more than one tax service you can then select ‘View who can deal with HMRC for you’.
If you are removing an agent for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax or Making Tax Digital for VAT you need to make sure you have also removed the agent from Self Assessment and VAT.
You can do this by selecting ‘check or remove active agent authorisation for Self Assessment’ on the confirmation screen when you have removed an agent.
For all other taxes
You can also use your business tax account to remove an agent for:
- Corporation Tax
- Gambling Tax
- Machine Games Duty
- Notification of Vehicle Arrivals
- PAYE for employers and the Construction Industry Scheme
- Self Assessment
- VAT
- VAT EC Sales List and Reverse Charge Sales List
- VAT EU Refunds
- VAT Mini One Stop Shop
To remove agent authorisation for these services:
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Log into your business tax account.
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Go to ‘Manage account’ at the top of the page.
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Under tax agents, select on ‘Add, view or change tax agents’.
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Select the tax you want to remove the agent from.
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Select ‘manage agents’.
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Select ‘remove’.
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Then select ‘remove agent’.
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If you want to remove an agent from more than one tax service you can then select ‘Return to list of taxes and schemes’.
If you are removing an agent for Self Assessment or VAT you need to make sure you have also removed the agent from Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and Making Tax Digital for VAT.
If you are removing an agent for VAT or employer PAYE and want to stop them dealing with HMRC on your behalf in writing or over the phone, you must also:
- change or remove their authorisations by post
- contact HMRC by phone
You will need to provide your VAT number or your personal scheme reference number for employer PAYE.
Change or remove authorisations by post
If you want to remove your agent’s authorisation, or change how much they can do on your behalf, you need to write to:
Central Agent Authorisation Team
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
HMRC
BX9 1AN
United Kingdom
What to include
You’ll need to tell us as much information as you can to identify yourself and your agent. You must include:
- your full name
- the name and address of the agent you want to remove
- their agent code or reference number if you know it
- your company or partnership’s UTR
- the tax reference for each service you’re changing
The tax reference number you need for each service is:
- Self Assessment ― your personal UTR
- employer PAYE ― your employer scheme reference number
- VAT ― your VAT number
- Income Tax ― your National Insurance number
- Corporation Tax ― your company’s UTR
You should tell us each tax service you want the agent to be removed from.
If you do not know which tax services the agent has been authorised for, you must provide us with your tax reference numbers and identifiers. We will then remove any tax service you have authorised your agent for that are directly connected to these reference numbers.
Last updated 16 February 2024 + show all updates
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Information about changing the tax agent you have authorised has been updated.
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First published.