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Before you make contact

Before you can speak to anyone about someone else's tax credits affairs you'll need to have authority to act for them. You can ask your client to authorise you just for a phone call, or for a longer period - 12 months unless your client specifies a shorter or longer period.

Your client can authorise you for:

• the duration of a phone call - they will need to confirm that they want you to act on their behalf at the start of the call
• a longer period - to do this they will need to fill in the appropriate authorisation form, usually the TC689 Authority for an intermediary to act on your behalf

• Download 'Authority for an intermediary to act on your behalf' (PDF, 78K) Opens new window

• Help with PDF files

• Read more about acting on a client's behalf for tax credits

Tax Credit Helpline

You can use this helpline to discuss someone else's tax credits if you're:

• an adviser from the voluntary and community sector
• an unpaid helper such as a friend or relative

Call the Tax Credit Helpline if you want:

• specific tax credits advice for your client
• advice about tax credits repayments if your client has had an overpayment and it's being recovered from their ongoing tax credits award

• Contact details for the Tax Credit Helpline

Tax Credit Payment Helpline

Use this helpline if you want to discuss repayment options for your client if:

• they have had a notice telling them they need to pay back an overpayment and they're no longer getting tax credits
• the overpayment relates to an old award of tax credits as a result of a change in household circumstances - for example, your client may now be getting tax credits jointly with their partner but the overpayment relates to an earlier single claim

Contact details

You can call the Tax Credit Payment Helpline on 0845 302 1429. The helpline is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm Monday to Friday, and 8.00 am to 4.00 pm on Saturday.

Agent Priority Line for tax credits

You can use this helpline if you're a paid adviser such as an accountant, and you're authorised to act as an agent for your client.

All calls to this helpline are passed through to a contact centre and identified as calls from an agent. Helpline advisers will be able to verify you quickly and deal with your call as efficiently as possible.

Contact details

If you're an authorised agent you can call the Agent Priority Line on 0845 300 3943. The priority line is open from 8.00 am to 8.00 pm Monday to Friday, and 8.00 am to 4.00 pm on Saturday.

Contacts for specific teams in the Tax Credit Office

Other contact points for tax credits advisers depend on your client's particular situation.

You can't normally get in touch directly with a specific team or specialist. But if one of these contacts your client about their tax credits claim, then the letter will usually have their contact details on it.

You should use these contact details if you need to discuss the matter, which could be for example:

• court action faced by your client because of tax credits fraud
• a dispute about an overpayment
• a request for specific information as part of a tax credits enquiry
• a request for information to help establish your client's residency in the UK

If you're not sure who to contact you can call one of the helplines above.

If you need to write in

If you want to write to the Tax Credit Office and you don't have a specific contact point you can send correspondence to:

Tax Credit Office
Preston
PR1 4AT

If you're writing on behalf of a client to report a change of circumstances please mark your envelope 'change of circumstances'.

More useful links

• HMRC contacts Opens new window

• Money, tax and benefits contacts

• Revenuebenefits website - for advisers Opens new window

Useful contacts

• Tax Credit Helpline - contact details