Agents will have to create a new Government Gateway credential, which will be able to be used by everyone at agents’ firms and will supersede existing ‘legacy’ systems, with all HMRC interfacing taking place under the auspices of the one account, HMRC said.

The new system will be able to transfer agents’ clients once they commence using Making Tax Digital themselves, whether through a pilot or through the wider rollout.

Agents will only need the one account for their whole firm, even if they are spread across several offices, HMRC said.

‘A mapping process allows an agent to link their existing agent codes to their Agent Services Account,’ HMRC said in a Talking Points webcast to nearly 1,000 stakeholders. ‘Using this process agents won't need to re-authorise clients to see their Making Tax Digital data, HMRC will have the information it needs (the agent code) to honour the authority already granted by clients.’

The timeline for the rollout will see a ‘small number’ of agents invited to subscribe to Agent Services (AS) during April, May and June, part of what HMRC describes as a ‘controlled go live’ of Making Tax Digital for Business. Additional agents will be able to subscribe to Agent Services using commercial software from the summer of 2017 onwards.

More on Agent Services and Making Tax Digital for Business is available here:  hmrc_making_tax_digtial_agent_services_290317.pptx