I know that many agents rely on this blog to catch up on the latest news about AOSS so I thought I would let you know more about what we have been doing.
In my last blog I celebrated the 50th edition of Agent Update and mentioned that we have extended the opportunity to volunteer to take part in testing Agent Online Self Serve (AOSS) private beta to 11 December 2015.
From the testing over the summer and as we move towards a public beta service for PAYE liabilities and payments and the future extension to SA, VAT, and CT, we are now looking for agents volunteers with no more than 200 clients within each individual service in these tax regimes to ensure service that performs well. The full list of services are listed on the ‘Services you can use’ section of ‘Your HMRC services’ after you log in to HMRC online services for agents, for example Construction Industry Scheme (CIS) for Agents and VAT EU Refunds for Agents.
We currently have more than 1200 agents involved in testing the private beta service who have provided us with valuable feedback and suggestions. This has included enhancements to the PAYE views and clarification on Government Gateway Agent IDs. We have also added a new Agent Homepage for agents involved in the testing which provides access to view PAYE liabilities and payments for your employer clients as well as HMRC online services.
It's not too late to get involved in helping us shape the future of AOSS so if you think you meet the current criteria please complete this questionnaire to get involved.
Agents with over 200 clients who have volunteered to join the current private beta trial will be contacted and where possible will be invited to test future services in the pipeline to be developed.
If you can’t join the trial, you can still get involved by giving us your feedback on the final slide of the updated prototype screens or you can always leave your comments about AOSS on this blog.
4 comments
Comment by Toni Clark posted on
HMRC analysis of agent profiles does indicate that 88% of agents have less than 200 clients in each service. The current Agent Online Self Serve private beta service has been designed for, and is being tested with, this agent group. Larger firms have told us that they would prefer to use application programming interfaces (APIs) to interact with HMRC, and in time it is intended to extend the AOSS service to agents with more than 200 clients.
Comment by Toni Clark posted on
The analysis uses information from Government Gateway Agent IDs, the online services they are subscribed for, and the clients within this service. The current Agent Online Self Serve (AOSS) service is designed for agents with less than 200 clients. AOSS will be extended to the CT, VAT and SA tax regimes, and in time it is intended to provide access to firms with a higher threshold of more than 200 clients in each service they access.
Comment by Toni Clark posted on
Thank you for your comments. Once we move into the testing stage of the SA service we will publicise how agents can get involved. Please check my blog for regular updates
Comment by Toni Clark posted on
Thank you for your question. A new web page was launched in February, promoting the opportunity for agents to join the AOSS service.
The web page will invite qualifying agents to join the AOSS private beta service. Eligible agents are those who are enrolled for PAYE for Agents, and who have under 200 clients in every tax service they are enrolled for. The web page will provide a link so that agents can opt in to AOSS.
Agents registered for Agent Update communications were sent e an email providing a link to the webpage during February.