Your First Login as an Accountant

What this is

When setting up your own practice, the first time you sign in as a tax agent you land on Work, empty apart from a four-step setup card. Follow the card in order: connect your HMRC Agent Services Account, confirm your Agent Reference Number, add your first client, and wait for that client to authorise you. After that Work fills with your clients’ filings and what each one needs next, and Clients lists every client.

If an individual taxpayer invited you

Open the invitation and accept the stated permission using the invited email address. View only lets you inspect saved records. Manage my records also lets you upload, review and correct those records; Transactions and Cashbook appear when available. The header names the taxpayer and identifies your adviser permission.

This direct records access does not require you to set up a practice for that taxpayer. It does not grant HMRC connection or filing permission. The practice setup steps below apply to a separate practice filing relationship. See Accountant access in Settings.

What you see on screen

After mobile verification, Work at /app/work shows:

• A Set up your practice card, “Four steps and you are ready to file for clients”:
  1. Connect your agent account - “Sign in with your HMRC Agent Services Account. We use a secure connection and never see your password”, with a Connect to HMRC button
  2. Add your Agent Reference Number - “Your ARN lets us send authorisation requests to your clients through HMRC”, which you can do once step 1 is done
  3. Add your first client
  4. Your client authorises you The X at the top right, Hide setup for now, closes the card until you next open aligned.tax. It comes back sooner if your setup changes.
• HMRC invitations, Add Client and Import clients buttons at the top
• A Refresh all HMRC data button, disabled until you are connected
• The header, with the tax year selector, an HMRC status chip (Not connected at first), Get help, the HMRC messages bell and your account menu

The practice sidebar has Work, Clients, Secure files and HMRC messages, with Practice team underneath. At the bottom, Demo videos opens the aligned.tax demo videos for accountants and Help opens the aligned.tax help centre, each in a new tab. The aligned.tax logo returns you to Work. Transactions, Forms and the professional Cashbook view appear when available. A client’s businesses, obligations, submissions and tax estimate are tabs on that client’s page.

How to get started

1. Click Connect to HMRC on the setup card. The Get Started with HMRC page opens.
2. Choose I’m an agent filing for clients and enter your Agent Reference Number. The format is one letter, then ARN, then seven digits, for example AARN1234567. Enter it however it appears on your own records: aligned.tax capitalises it and removes any spaces, hyphens and full stops for you. Then click Connect to HMRC.
3. Sign in at HMRC with the Government Gateway user ID for your Agent Services Account and give aligned.tax permission. HMRC sends you back to Work, which now shows HMRC ready in the header and the next setup step.
4. Click Add Client. Enter the client’s name, email, National Insurance number and postcode, then click Add Client again. See Adding a Client. If you have a list of clients, use Import clients instead; see Importing Clients.
5. On the client’s page, send the HMRC invitation. Your client approves it through their own Government Gateway sign-in. See Authorising a Client with HMRC.
6. Once HMRC confirms the relationship, choose the client in the header switcher, open Quarterly updates, pick the open quarter and upload their spreadsheet.

Things to know

• Use your Agent Services Account, not your personal Government Gateway. The connection must be made with the credentials that carry your ARN.
• If HMRC sends you back with an error, for example after you cancel on HMRC’s page, you return to Get Started with HMRC with your ARN still filled in and the message that the HMRC sign-in was not completed. Select Connect to HMRC again when you are ready.
• Adding a client needs the HMRC connection and your ARN first. The Add Client form is greyed out with a “Connect to HMRC first” notice until then.
• The client’s postcode must match HMRC’s records. aligned.tax asks HMRC about the client before creating them, so a wrong postcode stops the client being added rather than failing later.
• HMRC may already know the relationship. If you already act for the client through your Agent Services Account, aligned.tax records it as authorised without an invitation.
• Invitations expire after 21 days. The workspace shows how many days are left and lets you resend the email.
• There is no client limit. Add as many clients as your practice looks after.
• Work, Clients and each client’s page have a short guided tour. It shows itself the first time you open each page. Select Take the tour at the top of the page to see it again. See Navigating the App.

FAQ

Where do I find my ARN?

In your HMRC Agent Services Account. If you do not have one yet, see gov.uk.

Can I import my client list from another system?

Yes. Import clients takes a spreadsheet using the aligned.tax template. See Importing Clients.

What if my client has not authorised me yet?

They stay in the workspace with the status Waiting for the client and a Resend invitation email action. You cannot see their HMRC data or file for them until HMRC confirms the relationship.

I file my own return as well as clients’. Do I need a second account?

No. Add yourself as a client.

Is there anywhere I can watch the workflow before I start?

Yes. Demo videos in the sidebar opens the aligned.tax demo videos page, with the accountant videos shown first.