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When you need to be authorised to act

You need to be authorised to act on your client's behalf if you:

• want to ask the Tax Credit Office for specific information about your client's tax credits
• want to give specific information to the Tax Credit Office about your client's tax credits

When you don't need to be authorised

If you only want general tax credits advice, you don't need to be authorised. A lot of general tax credits advice is available online by following the link below.

• Get general tax credits advice

What you can do on your client’s behalf

You will be able to discuss your client’s tax credits claim with the Tax Credit Office and also provide information about them.

What you can't do

Unless you have been authorised to act as an appointee, you will not be able to get:

• tax credits payments on your client’s behalf
• any award notices or other decision notices

How to get authorisation - voluntary sector organisations

Your client should:

• complete form TC689 'Authority for an intermediary to act on your behalf'
• give it to you to fill in your details
• send it to the Tax Credit Office at the address shown on the form - a photocopied form is acceptable, but any signatures must be original

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

• Help with PDF files

Alternatively, your client can write a letter giving exactly the same information as on form TC689.

If you deal with a lot of tax credits clients

You might deal with a lot of tax credits clients. If so, you may want to register as an 'intermediary organisation' with the Tax Credit Office’s Intermediaries, Agents and Appointees Team. This allows you to contact the Tax Credit Office urgently for advice, and will help them deal very quickly with any queries you may have. To register you need to write to:

HMRC Tax Credits
Intermediaries, Agents and Appointees Team
Preston
PR1 4AT

Getting authorisation urgently

If you need authorisation urgently, you can send your client's completed form TC689 by fax to the Intermediaries, Agents and Appointees Team. Your organisation must have registered with the team to do this. If they have, they'll have been given the contact details and fax number for the team, and an Office Identification Number (OIN). You must quote your OIN when you send a form TC689 by fax.

The team can only accept TC689s by fax - not letters or any other communication.

How to get authorisation - professional advisers

If you are a professional adviser working for clients on an ongoing basis in return for payment, you are often known as an 'agent'. For example, you could be an accountant, solicitor or tax adviser.

If your client asks you to handle a tax credits claim for them, they'll need to complete form 64-8.

You can't set up client authorisations online for tax credits.

• Find out more about using form 64-8 Opens new window

How to get authorisation - friends, relatives and appointees

For friends and relatives

Your friend or relative will need to fill in form TC689 'Authority for an intermediary to act on your behalf'. Once they have completed this form they should send it to the Tax Credit Office. A photocopied form is acceptable, but any signatures must be original. The address is on the form.

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

• Help with PDF files

Appointees

Appointees are people who have been appointed to act for someone else by one or more of the following:

• a court of law
• the Department for Work and Pensions
• the Department for Social Development in Northern Ireland
• HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC)

You're not an appointee if you're simply helping someone to understand what they need to do to complete their claim form.

• Claiming tax credits as an appointee

How long the authorisation lasts

You can deal with your client's tax credits affairs on their behalf until your authorisation runs out. Authorisation usually lasts for 12 months from the date your client signed the TC689. But it can be earlier or later if they have entered a different end date on the form.

What happens before you’re authorised?

You will not be able to act until the Tax Credit Office has received both of the following:

• your client’s authorisation form
• their tax credits claim

Until that time, your client will need to deal directly with the Tax Credit Office. If you call the Tax Credit Helpline in the meantime, your client will need to be with you. At the start of the call they will need to:

• confirm their identity, and provide their National Insurance number if they have one
• confirm that they want you to act on their behalf - the authorisation applies for that phone call only

If your client is not with you, you'll only be able to get general advice.

If your client doesn’t have English as a first language, the Tax Credit Helpline can arrange advice through an interpreter. Your client can use their own interpreter, but both you and the interpreter must be present, along with your client, when you call.

What happens after you’re authorised?

If you call the Tax Credit Helpline you'll need to be able to answer a number of security questions about your client and about yourself. This is to make sure the Tax Credit Helpline is dealing with the right customer and the right intermediary and not breaking confidentiality rules. You will also have to provide your client's National Insurance number if they have one.

More useful links

• If you want someone to act on your behalf for tax credits

• Revenuebenefits website - for advisers Opens new window

Useful contacts

• Tax Credit Helpline - contact details