Setting up a new Business Tax Account

is it now impossible to set up a generic business account without personal data?

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Went to do this as part of setting up a new company for a client to find that HMRC now want to verify the ID of the person registering. Not a bad idea but I'm not going to put my details in, so I now have to involve the client. And what do non UK folks do if they can't provide any of the following?

You will be asked to give details about two items you may have, like your:

  • UK passport
  • payslips or P60
  • Self Assessment
  • tax credits and Voice ID
  • Northern Ireland driving licence

You may also be able to answer questions about your credit record.

We ask these questions to protect you against malicious or fraudulent attempts to access the service.

Replies (5)

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By rmillaree
15th Jun 2021 13:44

I have never seen this message before where the gateways being setup are not for personal tax. Can you advise if you had selected the option for self assessment before you got this message?

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Replying to rmillaree:
A Putey FACA
By Arthur Putey
15th Jun 2021 17:17

This was for a business tax account and I was trying to register a limited company for VAT

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Replying to Arthur Putey:
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By rmillaree
15th Jun 2021 17:56

That might make sense then i suspect it was the associated application for vat that is causing the problem here rather than the setup of the gateway account itself - i could be wrong though as hmrc seem tgo be making everything more difficult for agents at present :(

If you are agent and do vat application via agent portal you may get away without the id check being needed - having said that sometimes its mandatory to upload relevant info when doing vat application its hit and miss if id is required sometimes if id is asked that may signify some included info could be incorrect - eg typo on NI number .

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By Hugo Fair
15th Jun 2021 18:13

Probably not directly relevant, but it may not be a coincidence that HMRC announced changes "gradually from 15 June 2021"!

See ... https://www.gov.uk/guidance/problems-using-government-gateway

Sounds pretty damned horrendous to me - whether or not it's related to your problem.

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Replying to Hugo Fair:
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By Hugo Fair
15th Jun 2021 18:20

Just realised the above link is for page that GOV.UK often 'vaporises', so here 'tis:

Multi factor authentication added to all businesses and organisations from 15 June 2021. The way you sign in is changing if you:
* are a business or organisation using HMRC services
* do not currently receive an access code by text, voice call or to an authenticator app

To help keep your data safe from identity fraud, HMRC will ask you to add a device to your Government Gateway account. We’ll send an access code to your device each time you sign in.

We’re introducing this change gradually from 15 June 2021. You do not need to do anything until we ask you to add your device when you sign in.

Nothing will change if you are:
* an individual using HMRC services
* a businesses or organisation but you already have multi factor authentication on your Government Gateway account
* using our services for agents

Access credentials should never be shared.

If you need to delegate account access to employees to handle aspects of your tax you can still do this with multi factor authentication. In your Business Tax Account, use the administrator and assistant functionality to create an additional user for each employee you wish to give access to your account. Each of these credentials will then have its own multi factor authentication.

If you use purpose-built software that stores passwords and enables your employees to access HMRC services without needing to enter user ID and password details, this may not work after we add multi factor authentication to your account. Contact your IT department or the manufacturer of the software. This does not include commercial tax software products, which are designed to work with multi factor authentication.

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