How does an agent pass ID checks

HMRC giving us the run around

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We have never had an issue logging onto our agent services accounts, but taxfiler has asked us to reconnect to HMRC, the only trouble is we are given 3 options for the ID check and can only provide 1 - online services have now twice suggested things that do not work, does anyone have any answers?

Replies (12)

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By Southwestbeancounter
06th Sep 2021 15:18

I had this exact same issue a few months back, Winnie......

I was lucky as I had a tiny bit of NI paid on my P60 so that counted as one check and I have a valid passport which counted as the other. I actually now pay myself a smidge more salary so that I pay a small amount of NI again exactly for that reason as that was an easy question to answer.

An acquaintance of mine was in the same boat as you - no passport and no NI paid on his salary and he had terrible problems getting the link reactivated which I think is done every 18 months by Taxfiler for security purposes.

In the end he verified the link using the company secretary's criteria and it worked just fine so maybe you have someone else in your firm whose details you can use to verify instead?

It seems a crazy situation to me - why not use information specific to the firm rather than an individual?

Good luck!

Thanks (2)
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
06th Sep 2021 15:31

I was in this pickle - no NI, both my & Mrs ALISK’s passports had expired. It’s mental that an individual has to give their details for the firm registration. I had to a file an amendment to my salary so I had a P60 with NI on it, then wait a week for HMRC to update itself.

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By Winnie Wiggleroom
06th Sep 2021 15:54

thanks both, we will try with another member of the firm, having one of the options as a NI driving licence is totally bonkers

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Replying to Winnie Wiggleroom:
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By Southwestbeancounter
06th Sep 2021 16:30

Good luck!

The whole thing is totally bonkers if you ask me, but then again so is much we are asked to do in respect of just trying to carry out our work these days!

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Replying to Winnie Wiggleroom:
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By lh3f9764bg1g
09th Sep 2021 09:10

The reason they had to put in Northern Ireland driving licences was because Northern Ireland licenses were excluded as valid identification for the first SEISS grants whereas GB issued ones were not. As you can imagine this created a bit of a stink in Northern Ireland as Northern Ireland citizens were being treated as though they were not U.K. subjects. Quite politically toxic! So - they had to fix it.

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Replying to lh3f9764bg1g:
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By Winnie Wiggleroom
09th Sep 2021 09:36

lh3f9764bg1g wrote:

The reason they had to put in Northern Ireland driving licences was because Northern Ireland licenses were excluded as valid identification for the first SEISS grants whereas GB issued ones were not. As you can imagine this created a bit of a stink in Northern Ireland as Northern Ireland citizens were being treated as though they were not U.K. subjects. Quite politically toxic! So - they had to fix it.

Yes but now they have taken out GB licences as an option! so now unless you have a NI driving licence you are only left with two options - a UK passport and a credit check which requires a recent UK address, one of our principles is non UK and the other does not have a passport, in the end we asked an employee to do it!

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Replying to Winnie Wiggleroom:
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By Southwestbeancounter
09th Sep 2021 13:06

............and that proves just how ridiculous the whole system is!!

Glad you got it sorted

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Replying to Winnie Wiggleroom:
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By lh3f9764bg1g
10th Sep 2021 09:58

Weird - I agree - but surprising? Surely not! We have come to expect such anomalies (or SNAFU's as I like to think of them).

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By AustinA
09th Sep 2021 11:23

I had the same issue - I was left with passport and credit checks as I don't have a NI driving licence. Those agency questions were a nightmare. I tried calling HMRC and they couldn't help me and Taxfiler suggested rebooting which made no difference.

I ended up with a spreadsheet with all the questions and recorded every combination I tried till I got there (with periodic lockouts of course). As a sole practitioner there wasn't anyone else's information I could use. I'm sure previously they have used my self-assessment information as one of the options.

I have now made sure I have the correct answers recorded ready for next time!

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Replying to AustinA:
ALISK
By atleastisoundknowledgable...
09th Sep 2021 17:12

Wish I’d thought of that. It’s a guessing game everytime I’m asked which year I took my latest credit card out or remortgaged.

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By sammerchant
09th Sep 2021 13:54

Tick-box exercise, because the computer says so and it is never wrong. Obviously no brain cells required.

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By JOHNB10
09th Sep 2021 15:41

NI Licence required as a large number of residents have ROI passports not UK passports in NI but still does not make it any easier. You should try help a client register for Capital gain on residential property to be told after two hours by HMRC that they were digitally excluded and would have to get form sent out.

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