Big changes ahead with GOV.UK Verify set to replace Government Gateway from 14 February 2018
With the tax return season dominating our lives for the last few months we have been somewhat blindsided to the changes going on at HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). A big change happening in the back ground and set to affect the tax payer is the end of the Government Gateway and the introduction of GOV.UK Verify.
As my recent blog on Making Tax Digital for Business (MTDfB or MTD for short) alludes to – we need to be taking this very seriously. http://www.darrallandcompany.com/mtd/
All of these changes are aimed at facilitating MTDfB and largely affect what’s happening in the back ground when you use Government facilities online but also the way that data is to be collated in the future.
What can you do with your GOV.UK Verify account?
At the time of writing, GOV.UK Verify is already available for the following tax related services:
- Check your income tax for the current year
- Check your state pension
- Sign in to your personal tax account
- File your self assessment tax return
- Help friends or family with their tax
- Check or update your company car tax
Other non tax services are also available and more services are joining GOV.UK Verify all the time.
If you’re setting up for the first time then the link for this is here:
https://www.signin.service.gov.uk/start
A few things we do and don’t know about using Government Gateway and the GOV.UK Verify system
These accounts are personal to you and accountants are not allowed to use them. To do so is impersonating you. Once you have a GOV.UK Verify account you really should not share access with anybody. Treat it like your bank pin code. If you are present with your Agent when logging in and the main purpose is to assist you in getting set up then this would tend to be acceptable.
Accountants have their own Agent level access which you will need to grant them permissions for. This typically involves either your Agent requesting a code to be sent to you for each service that you want them to be your Agent for or physically keying their Agent reference in the relevant sections of your account.
A big unknown at the moment is exactly how much information you will be able to authorise HMRC to share with your Agent and as time goes on we will find out just how helpful or hindering this will be to all involved.