HMRC canvass for tax practitioners to join the Agent Online Self-Serve (AOSS) project.

“Agent Online Self Serve (AOSS) Update

Prototype of AOSS advert on HMRC Online Services Portal

A new web page was launched on 2 February, promoting the opportunity for agents to join the AOSS private beta service. During February, agents registered on the Agent Update Email and Anti Money Laundering databases are being emailed a link to the webpage, and eligible agents invited to join the AOSS service. In two weeks over 500 additional agents joined the existing group of approximately 900 agents already using the service.

Eligible agents are those who are enrolled for PAYE for Agents, and who have fewer than 200 clients in every tax service they are enrolled for. Agents who join AOSS will then access HMRC Online Services via the AOSS “Agents’ Home Page” from where they can:

• select the PAYE service to view PAYE liabilities and payments statements for a specific client, use the links to HMRC Online Services for that client, and access HMRC online services for PAYE for all employer clients;
• link to HMRC Online Services for SA, CT, VAT and other services that the agent is enrolled for; and,
• link to HMRC Online Services for ‘Authorise client’ and ‘Register a client for new taxes’.

To enable capacity testing during the rollout, there is a limit on numbers of agents joining the service each day. The service has been performing correctly and the capacity is being increased regularly. Agents who cannot access the service because the daily capacity has been reached are being invited to try on another day, and redirected to HMRC’s Online Services portal. Agents joining AOSS do keep access to the full range of HMRC Online Services, however these are accessed via the new AOSS home page.

Once an agent opts in to the service, if they have shared their Government Gateway user ID and password with other agents in their firm, they will also, in time, be opted in. Therefore, agents opting in should tell anyone else who uses the same login that the view of their HMRC online services are going to change.

Agents who cannot access the service because they exceed the client criteria in any service, are being told that this is the case and redirected to HMRC’s Online Services portal.

Next steps

Monitoring indicates that a high percentage of the emails inviting agents to join the AOSS service remain unopened. Emailing is therefore going to continue during March. This will enable further capacity testing. A further update on the launch of the new web page will be provided during March.”