HMRC have published their Agent Update for October 2026. We have summarised the key content, including details on voluntary registration for non-mandatory payrolling of Benefits in Kind, information on the changes coming to Inheritance Tax on pensions in April 2027, and useful reminders when filing Company Tax Returns.
- Voluntary registration for non-mandatory payrolling of benefits in kind
- Inheritance Tax on pensions - Prepare for changes from 6 April 2027
- Tax adviser registration - temporary pause to agent reference number checks
- Company Tax Returns - filing reminders
- Tax on bank and building society interest 2026
- Making Tax Digital - Get ready for the 7 November deadline
- Multi-factor authentication - now live on all agent accounts
- Research and Development tax relief update - Advanced assurance services
- A simpler way to check current service problems
- Self Assessment - help your clients file early
- New process to speed up National Insurance refunds
- Help HMRC improve GOV.UK guidance
- Talk Money Week
- Providing feedback on HMRC manuals
Voluntary registration for non-mandatory payrolling of Benefits In Kind
From November 2026, employers can register to voluntarily payroll non-mandated benefits for the 2027-28 tax year.
- This can be done using the payrolling benefits and expenses online service.
From 6 April 2027, employers who voluntarily choose to payroll Benefits In Kind that are not part of the first phase of mandatory payrolling must also pay Class 1A National Insurance contributions through payroll.
- They will no longer be able to report these separately at the end of the tax year.
- They will also not be able to payroll the Income Tax and report the associated Class 1A National Insurance contributions separately.
Employers who have already registered for voluntary payroll will automatically continue for the 2027-28 tax year.
Employers who decide to stop voluntary payrolling non-mandated benefits must withdraw by 5 April 2027.
Employers with eligible Globally Mobile Employees (GME) will be exempt from mandatory payrolling of Benefits In Kind and expenses.
- This is due to the practical difficulties in real-time payroll reporting.
- Employers with eligible GME need to submit an online G-form.
- This will be made available in November 2026 and will help to inform HMRC which employees should be excluded.
See Mandatory payrolling of benefits from 2027: Briefing
Inheritance Tax on pensions, prepare for changes from 6 April 2027
From 6 April 2027, most unused pension funds and pension death benefits will be included in the value of a deceased person’s estate for Inheritance Tax (IHT) purposes.
- These changes were announced at Autumn Budget 2024 and are included in the Finance Act 2026.
What you need to do:
- You should prepare for the changes if you advise:
- Personal representatives.
- Pension beneficiaries.
- Pension scheme administrators.
- The changes apply when a pension scheme member dies on or after 6 April 2027.
- HMRC have published two technical notes. You should familiarise yourself with their content and consider how the reforms may affect your clients and working arrangements.
- The Inheritance Tax on pensions: technical note explains:
- How notional pension property will be identified, valued and allocated.
- Who will report and pay any IHT due.
- The use of withholding notices and the pensions direct payment scheme.
- How the reforms interact with Income Tax rules on pension death benefits
- The Inheritance Tax on pensions: technical note 2 provides additional detail on:
- Information sharing requirements.
- Withholding notices.
- Pensions direct payment scheme notices and clearance.
- The Inheritance Tax on pensions: technical note explains:
- Guidance and other supporting materials will be updated and published by April 2027.
See Pensions & IHT: April 2027 changes, which sets out what is changing in more detail, reviews the technical notes and considers tax planning.
Tax adviser registration, temporary pause to agent reference number checks
Since 18 August 2026, HMRC have been asking some tax advisers to provide their agent reference number (ARN) when contacting HMRC through telephone or webchat.
- This is to check whether they have registered for an Agent Services Account (ASA) as part of the Modernising and Mandating Tax Adviser Registration (MMTAR) rollout.
HMRC has now paused ARN checks for this purpose until 17 November 2026.
- This is to allow tax advisers additional time to better prepare for these changes.
- Tax advisers may still be asked for their ARN in other situations, such as when HMRC is investigating an issue on their behalf.
- Existing security, identity and client authorisation checks will continue during this period.
ARN checks will resume from 18 November 2026 for businesses that are required to register with HMRC.
- All relevant employees who interact with HMRC should make sure they have their business’s ARN ready to share from this date.
- The ARN is an 11-character reference made up of four letters, including ‘ARN’, followed by seven digits. For example: XARN1234567.
See Mandatory tax adviser registration with HMRC
Company Tax Returns, filing reminders
To help HMRC process your clients’ tax returns without delay:
- Check that the start and end dates of the return period you are filing are correct and that they match your client’s accounting period structure.
- Make sure that supporting documents filed with the CT600 tax return, such as computations and accounts, are in the correct format.
- Wait at least 24 hours before trying to amend a submitted return.
- Check the company’s bank details (BACS) before filing the CT600 tax return and include them on any amended return for the same period.
- Do not tick box 45, ‘repayment for an earlier period’, unless you are making a loss carry-back claim or a claim under section 458 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010.
Claiming relief for losses carried back:
- When submitting your clients’ Company Tax Return, include the most up-to-date bank details on the CT600.
- If the CT600 includes a loss carry-back claim, you must tick box 45 to show that a repayment for an earlier or previous accounting period is due.
- Read more information on completing the CT600 tax return.
- If ticking box 45, provide a breakdown of the claim in your computations to show how losses are to be used.
- This is particularly important for terminal loss claims.
- When electing to carry losses back under section 37 of the Corporation Tax Act 2010, make sure to carry all available losses back to extinguish profits of the previous accounting periods before carrying remaining losses forward.
- Failure to do so will result in HMRC being unable to process your client’s claim.
- If making a loss carry-back claim, do not:
- Submit an amended CT600 for the same accounting period if it contains the same information.
- Submit an amended CT600 for the accounting period receiving the loss.
- Submit an original CT600 by post, as all Company Tax Returns must be filed online through Government Gateway.
- You must submit an amended CT600 if:
- The return includes changes other than the loss carry back claim.
- The loss carry-back claim itself needs to be amended.
See Company Compliance checklist: Returns, filing & payments and Losses: Trading and other losses
Tax on bank and building society interest 2026
From October 2026, HMRC will start to issue tax calculation letters P800 or Simple Assessment notices PA302, for any tax owed on bank and building society interest earned between 6 April 2025 and 5 April 2026.
Some taxpayers may have already received a Simple Assessment for the 2025-26 tax year that did not include either their bank or building society interest.
- If HMRC subsequently receives information about interest, these taxpayers may receive a second Simple Assessment notice for the same tax year which takes this into account.
- When this occurs, make your clients aware that the second notice will show the total tax owed for the year.
- This will include the amount from the first notice even if it has been paid.
- To work out what they owe, your clients should deduct anything they have already paid from the amount in the second notice.
How your client pays:
- If a taxpayer is taxed through PAYE, they do not need to do anything as their tax code will be changed to reflect the underpayment of tax.
- If HMRC cannot collect tax through PAYE, or tax owed is more than £3,000, they will receive a Simple Assessment notice which will explain how much they owe and why.
- To pay their tax bill, taxpayers can read the guidance on how to Pay your Simple Assessment tax bill.
- If a client’s income from savings and investments is more than £10,000, they will need to complete a Self Assessment tax return.
Why figures may differ:
- Tax codes and bank statements may show different interest amounts because:
- Some interest may be tax-free under the Personal Savings Allowance.
- Only taxable interest shows in tax codes.
- HMRC may use estimates based on recent data.
Key points for clients:
- Clients should be reminded that:
- Banks and building societies tell HMRC about interest paid to their customers each year.
- Most people can earn some interest before paying tax.
- They can use HMRC’s online calculator to check how much tax they might pay on dividends and interest from savings.
- They can use their Personal Allowance for tax-free interest if they have not used it on wages, pension or other income.
- They may also get a Personal Savings Allowance of £1,000 a year in interest without paying tax, depending on their tax band.
- HMRC assumes any interest earned on a joint account is split equally between the account holders.
- HMRC will set out the name of the bank or building society where your client has the account that has earned interest.
- If they do not recognise the name of the bank or building society, they could be using the name of the wider financial group that the bank or building society belongs to; a quick check online can verify this.
Note that if your clients:
- Think their Simple Assessment is wrong, they must call or write within 60 days from the date of the letter to formally query the assessment.
- Have already registered for Self Assessment for the relevant year, call HMRC on 0300 200 3300 to withdraw their Simple Assessment
See Savings income: How interest is taxed and Simple Assessment
Making Tax Digital - Get ready for the 7 November deadline
The second quarterly update deadline for Making Tax Digital (MTD) for Income Tax is 7 November 2026. By now, you and your client should be creating and maintaining digital records if your client has turnover of more than £50,000 from self-employment and property income.
- You will need MTD compatible software to submit quarterly updates to HMRC from those records.
If you have not done this yet, you must now:
- Sign up your client for MTD for Income Tax and check that their details are correct.
- Get your software ready; authorise your software, connect it to HMRC and check it is set up for the appropriate accounting period.
- Create digital records of your client’s self-employment and property income and expenses.
- Send the update for your client’s outstanding update period to HMRC.
For further support and practical steps to prepare for quarterly updates, read the special edition Agent Update: Making Tax Digital for Income Tax published on 7 July 2026.
Do not wait until the deadline day:
- If you need support, contact HMRC during the week when their full phone service is available.
- HMRC will be offering phone support through the Self Assessment: general enquiries helpline on Saturday 7 November (from 9 am to 3 pm) for taxpayers who need assistance with sending their quarterly update.
- The Agent Dedicated Line (ADL) will not be available; however, agents can contact the Self Assessment helpline for support. Webchat services will be available from 8 am to 4 pm as usual.
Sign-up letters from HMRC:
- Since September 2026, HMRC has been automatically signing up taxpayers who should use MTD for the 2026-27 tax year, based on their latest tax return.
- HMRC will write to them to confirm this, so you should check whether your clients have heard from HMRC.
- Then you need to make sure your clients keep digital records and that you have suitable MTD-compatible software to submit their quarterly updates.
- If your client has not received a letter, sign them up now to ensure their details are correct from the start.
- If already signed up, check the guidance for agents on the page Check what to do if HMRC has signed you up for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
See MTD: Toolkit for accountants
Multi-factor authentication, now live on all agent accounts
The final activation window for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) closed on 15 October, meaning MFA is now live on all agent accounts.
- Every agent should now have MFA activated, bringing agent accounts in line with the protection already in place for individual and organisation Government Gateway accounts.
HMRC have expressed appreciation for the engagement and support from agents throughout this activity. Agents' efforts in preparing their accounts and adapting to these changes have helped ensure this rollout has been as smooth as possible for them and their clients.
Sign-in since activation:
- If you have not yet signed in since MFA was activated on your account, it’s important to do so as soon as possible.
- Signing in now will allow you to confirm your access code method and settings are working as expected.
- This will help avoid delays or disruption should you need to access your account when using it to complete work on behalf of your clients.
MFA for new agent accounts:
- MFA will now be active on all newly registered agent accounts as part of the standard business as usual process.
- Any agent setting up a new account going forward will have MFA in place from the outset.
See HMRC's Multi-Factor Authentication for agents
Research and Development tax relief update. Advanced assurance services
The targeted Research and Development (R&D) advance assurance pilot launched on 18 May 2026.
HMRC are making it easier for companies and their agents to find information about advance assurance services for R&D tax relief.
From 12 October 2026:
- HMRC staff working in R&D will include a short signpost to advance assurance guidance in their external email signatures.
- The same information will also appear in the automatic reply from the main R&D compliance mailbox.
- These signposts will raise awareness of both HMRC’s targeted and full claim advance assurance services and help businesses access the right support when needed.
The targeted advance assurance pilot is available to eligible Small and Medium-sized Enterprises seeking certainty on up to two specific areas of an R&D tax relief claim before submission.
- If granted, assurances are valid for the duration of the R&D project, for a maximum of five years.
The full claim advance assurance is available to eligible Small and Medium-sized Enterprises making their first R&D claim.
- It provides clarity on the full claim, and if granted, can cover up to three accounting periods.
A simpler way to check current service problems
HMRC are improving how they publish information about service problems on GOV.UK. HMRC's New live service issues page brings all current service problems together in one place, making it easier to find the latest information when a service is unavailable.
- A link from the existing service availability pages directs you to the new page, helping ensure service information remains easy to find through the routes agents already use.
The new page allows HMRC to update information more quickly when issues affect multiple services, giving you faster access to the latest position.
- It also helps to make sure information is consistent across services and provides a clearer route to live updates.
- This will help to quickly understand whether a problem may be affecting your clients or the task you are trying to complete.
You can also sign up to get notified about service availability page updates by selecting ’Get emails about this page’.
Self Assessment, help your clients file early
With four months until the Self Assessment deadline, now is a good time to work through your client portfolio and encourage clients to provide any outstanding information needed for their 2025-26 tax return.
This is particularly important where clients may need time to gather information from third parties, employers, banks or investment providers. Acting now can help avoid delays later.
Filing returns well before 31 January can help you:
- Spread workloads across your practice.
- Identify missing information earlier and reduce the pressure that often comes with the peak filing period.
- Give your clients certainty about their tax position and more time to plan for any payment due by 31 January 2027.
- Get ahead with Making Tax Digital obligations.
HMRC’s digital services can help agents with their Self Assessment workload more efficiently. You can use the:
- Self Assessment for agents online service to submit tax returns, view tax liabilities and payments, view and change clients’ contact details and download your client list.
- Income Record Viewer for agents to access PAYE information for the current year and previous four tax years, latest tax code, state and private pension information and details of underpaid tax.
- Agent services account to manage authorisations and access services, including Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.
By encouraging early engagement and making the most of HMRC’s digital services, agents can help ensure a smoother filing for both their practice and their clients.
New process to speed up National Insurance refunds
Since early summer, HMRC has been using a new automated payment process to help issue National Insurance refunds more quickly.
Where HMRC identifies that someone may have overpaid National Insurance contributions, they will send the taxpayer a letter with details of their employment and contributions.
- The taxpayer should check the information and either confirm it is correct or tell HMRC if anything needs to be updated.
- Taxpayers can respond online through GOV.UK or by updating and returning the form attached to the letter.
- HMRC is urging taxpayers receiving such a letter not to ignore it.
HMRC want taxpayers to feel confident when dealing with them. You can quickly Check if a letter you have received from HMRC is genuine.
- This provides reassurance to taxpayers that they are responding to genuine HMRC communications, helping them to identify and avoid fraudsters.
- HMRC refund notifications will never ask individuals to click on links.
See National Insurance: What's the maximum payable? and National Insurance contributions for directors
Help HMRC improve GOV.UK guidance
HMRC is looking for agents who support small businesses with business expenses. If you would like to give HMRC your feedback, Complete the survey form.
Take part in this research to help HMRC improve the experience. As a thank you, you will have the choice to enter a draw for a chance to be randomly selected to receive a voucher worth £75.
Taking part is voluntary.
Any information you share will be:
- Anonymised.
- Kept confidential
- Used only for research purposes
- Held securely at all times in line with data protection law.
Talk Money Week 2026 will take place from 2 November to 6 November 2026. HMRC are encouraging taxpayers to take small, manageable actions that can make a meaningful difference to their finances.
- Whether it is checking a tax code, extending Child Benefit for a teenager, claiming a tax refund or planning for retirement, it all counts.
- The free HMRC app makes it easy for your clients to access key information and act whenever it suits them.
Through the app, your clients can:
- Claim a tax refund and check their employment income details.
- Find and save their National Insurance number for easy access.
- Claim and manage Child Benefit, including extending payments for children aged 16 to 19 who remain in approved education or training.
- Check their State Pension forecast and plan for retirement.
- View their tax code.
The HMRC app can be downloaded free from the App Store and Google Play Store, giving people secure access to their tax and financial information in one place.
HMRC would appreciate your support in sharing this message with your clients, encouraging them to take one small action that counts this Talk Money Week.
Providing feedback on HMRC manuals
HMRC manuals contain technical guidance for HMRC staff and tax professionals.
- Their primary purpose is to explain HMRC’s interpretation of relevant legislation, which is the basis on which the department makes decisions.
To tell HMRC whether a page is useful, suggest improvements or report a problem with a page, you can use the:
- Feedback routes in the footer of all pages on GOV.UK.
- Contact GOV.UK form.
The HMRC manuals team review all items of feedback on HMRC manuals from internal and external users.
Within the last 12 months, HMRC received 1,470 feedback comments, and 60% led to guidance improvements. However, the volume is still low compared to the overall usage. Help HMRC improve the content by providing feedback, even if it is to indicate that a page is useful.
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