HMRC have contacted us with a reminder about some changes to accessing HMRC online services. The final changes came into effect from 18 July. Agents and taxpayers will now login to HMRC online services through a new web page.

You will login in the same way but the page will look different. According to HMRC, the new login page improves the customer experience, strengthens security and enhances the performance of the login service. Many agents and clients have been using the new login for months and we are assured that it has been thoroughly tested. You can access the page using this link.

Agents and clients have been able to access HMRC services using the existing HMRC Government Gateway login page. Since 18 July, you can no longer login through that page and the new HMRC Government Gateway login page must be used. Users are automatically re-directed to the new login page if they try to access the old page.

Software developers have been informed of this change and were asked to update their software packages with the new login page by 31 May. The timing of the change to the login page has provided developers with more time to trial and implement any changes.

Some agents and their clients may use ‘silent login’ – a background process that automatically logs them into the HMRC website (with Government Gateway Usernames and passwords). They may also need to update the links to HMRC login pages within their internal systems. Existing submissions to the Government Gateway API (Submission Protocol) are not affected by this change.

Agents and their clients need to be aware that if they use a software application that completes ‘silent login’ using the existing HMRC Government Gateway login page, they should have already updated their software to work with the new login page based on previous HMRC communications.