64-8 HMR&C's Authorising your agent

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shadeofblue
shadeofblue Registered Posts: 64 Regular contributor ⭐
in General accounting discussion
Hi all,

Are 64-8 pointless ?
I mean we get our clients to sign them, we then submit the form to HMRC after weeks of waiting....we dont receive any correspondence from HMRC.
THEN when you do need to contact HMRC on behalf of your client they have the cheek to say they havent a 64-8 in place !! what a joke!

Does anyone else have experiences on 64-8's?? Did you get a response after sending your 64-8? or are you still waiting ??
Experiences please...

Thanks

Rachel

Comments

  • Londina
    Londina Registered Posts: 814 Epic contributor 🐘
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    This situation happened to me so many times, so I used to send the 64-8 two or three times anyway, just in case they lost it.

    If I remember, it's the client company that receives a confirmation on their address, don't think they send a conf. to the agents too.
  • Haggis
    Haggis Registered Posts: 40 Regular contributor ⭐
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    Hi
    I' m glad I read your message and the reply - I am in the midst of trying to get an agent code, when I get this I can then send in the 64-8 (which my client has already signed). I'm really nervous that this will not all happen in time for me to submit his return by the end of Jan ! Good luck with yours.
  • burg
    burg Registered, Moderator Posts: 1,441 mod
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    64-8's are sometimes a pain but if you have something pressing to talk about they will sometimes accept a faxed copy.

    @Haggis - if you use commercial software rather than HMRC website then you do not need authorisation in place in order to file.
    Regards,

    Burg
  • payrollpro
    payrollpro Registered Posts: 427 Dedicated contributor 🦉
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    May I intervene here. I represent the AAT at one of the HMRC forums and I have been asked to supply specific cases at the policy meetings in order to establish what the problem is and why it keeps happening.

    I pick up on this subject regularly when reading the forums and would like to see some more formal action taken. My focus is the employment forum which means I would normally deal with PAYE agents only, but it seems like a general issue.

    If any of you are prepared to discuss specific cases then please contact me via member services, quoting my name, Ian Whyteside, and we will decide if we need to tackle the issues in the different forums, PAYE, CT, VAT etc, or if we need to pursue HMRC on the whole issue of agent communication.

    Any information you can give me will be very gratefully received.

    Payrollpro
  • T.C.
    T.C. Registered, Tutor Posts: 1,448 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    I sent a 64-8 in about 3 months ago, re-sent it again 1 month ago and requested an online code about 2 weeks ago......still waiting!
  • Monsoon
    Monsoon Registered Posts: 4,071 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    T.C. wrote: »
    I sent a 64-8 in about 3 months ago, re-sent it again 1 month ago and requested an online code about 2 weeks ago......still waiting!

    See, touch wood I've never had these kinds of problems. I tend to get the odd ones like authorisation just vanishing off the system for no apparent reason.
  • Haggis
    Haggis Registered Posts: 40 Regular contributor ⭐
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    Using Commercial Software for tax returns

    I was interested to read "Burg"s reply on how you can use commercial software rather than the HMRC website as you then do not need authorisation in place in order to file.
    Is there any particular software that someone could recommend ? I notice there are quite a few to choose from. (I am completing a tax return for a sole trader)
    many thanks
  • A-Vic
    A-Vic Registered Posts: 6,970 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    Why not do it on-line it takes half the time and all you need is like with many clients authorisation requests is a code sent to clients from HMRC
  • A-Vic
    A-Vic Registered Posts: 6,970 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    All that would be needed from is the clients:-

    Unique Tax Reference number
    National Insurance Number
    Postal Code

    Then once you have the information you need to:

    1. Login to HM Revenue & Customs
    2. Look for “do it on-line”
    3. Authorisation of Client
    4. Complete on-line form
    5. Then write to the client advising them that they will receive a code from HM Revenue and Customs and ask them to forward it to us so that we can finalise authorisation.

    1) HM Revenue & Customs will then send a code to the client and if they’re happy for you to act as their agent they pass it to you, you enter the code and within 24 hours it should be authorised.
  • Bluewednesday
    Bluewednesday Registered Posts: 1,624 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    payrollpro wrote: »
    May I intervene here. I represent the AAT at one of the HMRC forums and I have been asked to supply specific cases at the policy meetings in order to establish what the problem is and why it keeps happening.

    I pick up on this subject regularly when reading the forums and would like to see some more formal action taken. My focus is the employment forum which means I would normally deal with PAYE agents only, but it seems like a general issue.

    If any of you are prepared to discuss specific cases then please contact me via member services, quoting my name, Ian Whyteside, and we will decide if we need to tackle the issues in the different forums, PAYE, CT, VAT etc, or if we need to pursue HMRC on the whole issue of agent communication.

    Any information you can give me will be very gratefully received.

    Payrollpro

    Our payroll clerk has applied for loads of authorisations for PAYE clients so we can use the desktop viewer for payroll and half of them have had no codes issued so we've had to do them again, not sure if this is a common problem or not but it's only happened for PAYE clients
  • Anne Boleyn
    Anne Boleyn Registered Posts: 196 Dedicated contributor 🦉
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    Problems with online authorisation

    Hi
    I've had more problems with online authorisation than paper. The main problem being that clients don't receive the codes or they are late or the client forgets to give you the code until it is too late. The codes are valid for 28 days but knowing HMRC they could sit in a post room in HMRC for a couple of weeks before being sent out.

    Another problem is that HMRC often have incorrect postcodes on their system so try as you might you can't get them to accept the request.

    However 64-8's have their problems too. I sent a husband and wifes 64-8 together in an envelope and the wife got processed, husband disappeared.

    Another case I sent 3 64-8's over the course of 6-9 months, nothing happened so used commercial software to file. Then I wrote to his tax office and explained the situation and asked for them to process the attached 4th 64-8. Nothing happened, so I gave up and this year used my software again. About 2 months ago he suddenly appeared.

    There are also problems when you want multiple authorisations ie SA, VAT, PAYE you'll find that only one gets put on and then they lose the form.

    It sounds as though I've only encountered problems but for the majority they have appeared on my list within a couple of weeks.

    @Haggis - I use Legatio ftax. I have a few partnerships and you can't file via HMRC for them so I bought ftax and the package I bought gives 30 free SA credits. So far I've not used more than half but it is very handy for when the 64-8 doesn't get processed.
  • burg
    burg Registered, Moderator Posts: 1,441 mod
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    Commercial software that is available that I can think of is as follows:-

    Ftax
    Taxcalc
    BTC
    PTP
    Drummohr

    Most of these I think you can fill in some will import from bookkeeping packages others can import from something like VT. PTP has it's own accounts productions software.

    There are then integrated packages which include Iris, CCH, Sage Accounts Production and Digita which is what I use.

    Most start off using one of the non-integrated packages and then move on from there if they so desire.
    Regards,

    Burg
  • Monsoon
    Monsoon Registered Posts: 4,071 Beyond epic contributor 🧙‍♂️
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    FTax is the cheapest I believe. We used it for years before switching to Digita and it's a fab little product and the team are improving it all the time.

    Tax Calc is another cheap-ish one but it's more than FTax.

    I switched to FTax once I got about 10 SAs to do - it really made life so much easier from using HMRC's own product.

    I also recommend 12Pay for Payroll filing.
  • Haggis
    Haggis Registered Posts: 40 Regular contributor ⭐
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    64-8s and filing online

    After reading these replies I have decided to take a chance with requesting authorisation on line as I have all the necessary information from my client - this is of course once I manage to get my agent code. I am hoping this will be quicker than sending a 64-8 form in.
    I am still concerned though as I do not have long now before the end of January.
    Thanks for the information on commercial software I will definitely do some research into these ones you have suggested.
  • shadeofblue
    shadeofblue Registered Posts: 64 Regular contributor ⭐
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    A-Vic your response was really useful i'll consider using that tip.
    thanks everyone else who contributed information to my thread
    Rach

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