I am currently waiting for HMRC to authorise me as an agent (as in authorise my firm) and I have been approached by someone asking me to do their tax return. I have everything else in place and hence could do their tax return quite easily, but I obviously can't submit as agent. Is there any way around this other than submitting via their goverment gateway as them? which feels wrong.
Thoughts appreciated...
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Had it been October you could have filed on paper. But it's not. So the only option is to use their gateway id. If they don't have one. Prepare them for a penalty. It won't be set up in time to submit by 31st
They do have their own government gateway ID which I could use to submit, but is this allowed? For example, is it unethical/frowned upon or just plain not allowed.
I don't know that answer. All I can tell you is I've met plenty of accountants who do it. I don't though. If it's just a one off I'd do it I guess.
If you have an ethical concern, which is quite understandable and which I would probably agree with, you could have the client come to you and log into their account themselves.
There's a significant difference there between collaborating to get the return filed and taking their credentials and essentially pretending to be them.
