Before you start

If you interact with HMRC about someone else’s tax affairs and get paid for it, you may be required to register with HMRC. This means you’ll need an agent services account if you do not already have one.

Find out more about if and when you need to register with HMRC.

Who needs to meet the conditions

Your business will need to meet certain conditions when you register for an agent services account.

Some of the people who work for your business must also meet the conditions.conditions. These These people are known as ‘relevant individuals’. You can find out more about relevant individuals and how to identify them in Mandatory Tax Adviser Registration manual.

Who these relevant individuals are depends on how many officers your business has. Officers include directors, partners and any equivalent roles (including in overseas companies).

Businesses with 5 officers or less

If your business has 5 officers or less, we’ll treat all of them as relevant individuals, even if they’re not all involved in providing tax services. You’ll need to tell us about all of them.

Businesses with 6 officers or more

If your business has 6 or more officers, first identify those who actually make strategic or management decisions about your tax advice work. Do not include all officers by default.

In some cases, fewer than 5 officers will meet this definition. If this happens, you must choose additional officers so that you have at least 5 in total.

You can choose which officers to include. They do not have to be the most senior or responsible for day-to-day tax advice.

The registration conditions

These are the conditions your business will need to meet when registering for an agent services account.

You must provide evidence that your business is supervised for anti-money laundering, foreither example:by HMRC or by one of the supervisory bodies. Examples of acceptable evidence include:

• a digital copy of your supervision certificate
• a renewal confirmation email or letter
• proof of payment for supervision (such as receipt showing current supervision in place)
• a screenshot showing your business listed on your supervisory body’s public register

You need to have approved anti-money laundering supervision in place before you apply for an agent services account. If you’ve already applied without being approved, we will reject your application.

Your business must not:

• have any relevant outstanding tax returns or unpaid tax (unless covered by a payment plan)

• be subject to a decision by HMRC refusing to interact with you

• be subject to an anti-avoidance sanction or a stop notice

• have any relevant, unspent convictions for fraud or tax offences

• be formally insolvent

• be suspended or permanently banned from registering with HMRC

For relevant individuals

The same conditions apply to relevant individuals, but they:

• will not need to provide evidence of anti-money laundering supervision
• must not be disqualified from acting as a director, either in the UK or overseas

How HMRC will carry out checks

In most cases, we’ll check you meet these conditions once you’ve submitted your application online. You will not usually need to provide separate evidence. We’ll contact you if we need more information from you.

For overseas tax advisers

If your business or any relevant individuals operate outside the UK, you must provide authenticated evidence when applying for an agent services account. This shows you meet the registration conditions.

Your documents must be:

• notarised by a qualified independent notary (or equivalent)
• translated into English, if needed

If you’re based overseas, you must use the existing registration route to apply.

How to register

You can apply for an agent services account to register as a tax adviser with HMRC.

After you’ve registered

We’ll continue to carry out checks to make sure your business still meets the registration conditions, if it does not, your tax adviser registration may be suspended. 

If we need more information, we’ll contact you through your agent services account.