Add your client authorisations for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
Source: gov.uk (2025-07-04)

How to add your client authorisations to your agent services account  for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax and check which authorisations already been added.

Before you sign up your client for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax, you will need to sign into your agent services account (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-in-to-your-agent-services-account).

If you are not already authorised by your client for Self Assessment, you should follow the steps in your account to ask your client to authorise you.

If you are already authorised by your client for Self Assessment, you should do the following.

Check which authorisations for Self Assessment have already been added into your agent services account from your HMRC online services account.

Add your authorisations from your HMRC online services account to your agent services account, if you need to.

You do not need to do this if you are already authorised for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax through a digital handshake (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/authorise-an-agent-to-deal-with-certain-tax-services-for-you).

If you do not have an agent services account you will need to create one (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/get-an-hmrc-agent-services-account).

Check your authorisations in your agent services account

Before adding your authorisations, you can check which HMRC online services authorisations for Self Assessment have already been added into your agent services account.

Sign into your agent services account and select ‘Add existing Self Assessment authorisations to this account’.

If you have already added authorisations, you will see a list of your Government Gateway user IDs that have been added. You will not see a list of individual clients.

If the Government Gateway user ID linked to your client is:
- in this list, you do not need to add the authorisation again — you can sign up your client to Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-up-your-client-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax)
- not in this list, you will need to add the authorisation
Add your authorisations to your agent services account

You will need to follow the steps in your agent services account to add your client authorisations for Self Assessment from your HMRC online services account.

Adding authorisations will:
- not remove access to your client authorisations in your HMRC online services account — you will still be able to use your HMRC online services account for Self Assessment and for clients who do not need to use Making Tax Digital for Income Tax
- not automatically sign up your client for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax — you will still need go through the sign up service
- authorise you as a main agent for these clients — find out more about what main agents and supporting agents can do (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/choose-agents-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax)
When you add an authorisation, your HMRC online services account will be linked with your agent services account. This means:
- if you add or update a client for Self Assessment in your HMRC online services account it should be reflected in your agent services account
- if you no longer work with a client, you will need to sign in to both your HMRC online services account and agent services account to delete their authorisation
If you are not authorised by your client, the sign up process for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax cannot be completed.

After your client is authorised in your agent services account

You can sign up your client for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax (https://www.gov.uk/guidance/sign-up-your-client-for-making-tax-digital-for-income-tax).