From 31 March 2022, agents and taxpayers are encouraged to use the new form 64-8 to give authorisation for an agent to deal directly with HMRC on a taxpayer’s behalf. Existing clients do not need to re-authorise their current relationship. The old form 64-8 will be phased out from a date to be decided in Autumn 2022. HMRC will confirm this date closer to the time. After this date, HMRC will only accept the new version of the 64-8 agent authorisation form and will reject any authorisation requests sent using older versions of the form. We therefore encourage us of the new form as soon as possible.
The new form is primarily designed to improve data protection and also allows taxpayers to state which tax regime they want agents to access on their behalf. The form also includes new guidance for taxpayers on how to fill in the form correctly and what data they are agreeing to share with their agent.