PAYE20015 - Employer records: set up employer record: agents and employers

It is important when setting up an employer record that if you receive information that some person or body is acting for an employer or contractor you understand

  • Exactly what that person will be responsible for doing on behalf of the employer or contractor
  • Whether all correspondence is to be sent to that person and not sent direct to the employer or contractor
  • Whether you will need to set the Agent indicator on the employer record

The remainder of this subject is presented as follows

Types of agents
Online agent authorisation
Online agent authorisation process

Types of agents

There are three types of people or bodies who may act for an employer or contractor in some capacity that you may be involved with. These are

  • An agent
  • A payroll agent
    And
  • An accountant or similar financial institution

Agent

an agent is a person who will be dealing with, and require copies of, all correspondence relating to 

  • Operation of PAYE
  • Employer’s copies of coding notices
  • Payslips
  • Employer Pack
  • Employer annual return
  • General employer correspondence
  • Regulation 80 determinations
  • Late annual return penalties
  • Late P11D penalties
  • Other employer assessments

Payroll Agent

A payroll agent may be employed by an employer to predominately handle the payroll for that employer. They will normally be responsible for handling all of the following

  • Operation of PAYE
  • Employer’s copies of coding notices
  • Payslips
  • Employer Pack
  • Employer annual return
  • General employer correspondence

Accountants

An accountant may be employed by an employer or contractor to deal with any of the following

  • Regulation 80 determinations
  • Late annual return penalties
  • Late P11D penalties
  • Other employer assessments

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Online agent authorisation

An online service allows agents to set up authorisations for the majority of their clients without the need for submitting paper 64-8s or FBI2s. However employers and their agents can still use the paper forms and these should be processed in the normal way.

The service allows agents to use the Internet to set up authorisations for

  • Individuals, organisations, trusts and partnerships under SA - these authorisations will also cover National Insurance and, if they are existing claimants, Tax Credits
  • Businesses and organisations under Corporation Tax
  • Employers operating PAYE schemes

Note: At present this does not include authorisations for VAT or for individuals who are not SA taxpayers.

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Online agent authorisation process

To use the online agent authorisation service, agents must be registered for the relevant online service. For example, if they wish to set up authorisations for a PAYE client, they must be registered for the PAYE Agent Online Service.

Once the authorisation request has been successfully processed online, for each service where authorisation is requested, the client will be automatically sent a letter to their correspondence address(es). This letter will confirm the request for authorisation and will contain a unique Authorisation Code. If the request cannot be processed, for example if the clients address is shown as RLS, the agent will be notified by email that an authorisation code cannot be issued.

If the client agrees to the authorisation, they must pass the code(s) to their agent and the agent will then need to enter the code online.

For SA and PAYE employer records, agents will see their online client lists updated within a day and SA will be updated automatically.

(This content has been withheld because of exemptions in the Freedom of Information Act 2000)