HMRC agent forums and Agent Update

Q: What other channels keep agents up to date?

Employer Bulletin. The handbook says HMRC publishes it six times a year with payroll news for employers and agents. Trusts and Estates newsletter for Inheritance Tax and trust practitioners. Service dashboard and Where's my reply. These show processing times and when to expect a reply, which also sets the clock for HMRC's escalation services. Live service issues page. Agent Update issue 148 announced a single GOV.UK page bringing current service problems together, with email alerts available. Consultations. HMRC's policy papers and consultations are listed on its organisation page, and professional bodies usually coordinate responses.

Q: How might a practice use these routes together?

Illustration only. In one month a practice finds that six clients' payroll submissions are being rejected with the same error after a software update. It raises each client's position through the normal channels to protect them from penalties. It also checks the live service issues page, which does not list the fault, and emails its professional body's tax team with a short anonymised description, the error text, dates and the number of clients affected. The body receives similar reports from other firms and raises the issue at the next Employment and Payroll Group meeting. A later Agent Update explains the cause and the workaround, and the practice updates its internal procedures.

Problems that affect many clients, such as a faulty online service, unclear guidance or a process that is not working, are best raised collectively through a professional body, which can take them to HMRC’s consultative forums such as the Employment and Payroll Group or the Joint VAT Consultative Committee. HMRC’s monthly Agent Update is its main channel for telling agents about process changes, alongside the Employer Bulletin, service status pages and the Tax Agents Handbook.

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Why raise an issue collectively rather than client by client?

HMRC’s individual escalation routes are built for a single client’s problem. The Agent Account Manager service, for example, helps with ongoing issues that normal contact has not resolved, but it cannot give technical advice or interpret legislation, and it is not for issues already under complaint, compliance checks or appeals. When the same fault appears across many clients, chasing each case separately wastes time and does not fix the cause. HMRC’s forums exist so that representative bodies can raise generic problems and HMRC can explain and test changes before they reach agents. For single client problems see escalating issues with HMRC.

Which HMRC forums deal with agent issues?

HMRC runs several standing forums with professional and representative bodies. Two show how they work.

Employment and Payroll Group

HMRC describes the Employment and Payroll Group as its principal forum for engaging with the employment and payroll community. It focuses on high level operational policy and process, and gives members a place to raise problems in administering payroll obligations or employment tax more generally, provided they affect a wide range of employers or a particular size or sector. It replaced the Employment Consultation Forum in December 2014. Members include ICAEW, ICAS, ACCA, AAT, CIOT, ATT, the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers and the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals. It normally meets quarterly, is jointly chaired by a senior HMRC official and an external representative, and publishes its minutes.

Joint VAT Consultative Committee

The Joint VAT Consultative Committee is chaired by HMRC’s Director of Indirect Tax, with one representative per professional, trade or sector body. Its terms of reference say members may raise generic issues with the secretariat at any time, and HMRC aims to give a substantive response within ten working days, copied to all members with taxpayer specific details removed. Issues about individual taxpayers or transactions must go through the normal channels. Meetings usually take place four times a year, and an “Over to you” agenda item lets members present their own concerns. Separate standing liaison groups cover property, finance and insurance.

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How does a practitioner get an issue onto the agenda?

Individual firms are not usually members, so the route is through a professional body. Each Agent Update ends with contact details for professional and representative bodies, including the ICAEW Tax Faculty, ICAS Tax Team, CIOT and ATT technical teams, AAT, ACCA, the Institute of Accountants and Bookkeepers and the VAT Practitioners Group. A useful report to a body:

describes the problem in general terms, without client names or references;
gives the service or form involved, dates and what HMRC said or did;
says how many clients are affected and the cost or delay caused;
attaches any HMRC reference numbers separately, in case the body needs to pass them on.

Bodies collect these reports, look for patterns and raise them in forum meetings or directly with HMRC. Practitioners should still pursue each affected client’s position through the normal channels in the meantime.

What is Agent Update and how often is it published?

HMRC’s Tax Agents Handbook says Agent Update gives guidance and news for tax agents and advisers, is published monthly, and that agents can sign up for email reminders. Current issues are collected on GOV.UK, and older updates are held on the National Archives website.

Issue 148, published on 15 October 2026, shows the usual structure:

Technical updates and reminders, such as Company Tax Return filing reminders and preparation for Inheritance Tax on pensions from 6 April 2027;
Making Tax Digital, with reminders of the next deadline for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax;
HMRC agent services, covering changes to agent accounts, multi factor authentication, tax adviser registration and service problems;
Agent engagement, inviting agents to take part in research to improve GOV.UK guidance.

Agent Update often explains why something has gone wrong and what HMRC is doing about it, which helps firms decide whether to keep chasing individual cases or wait for a fix. See also the MTD for Income Tax agent sign up process.

What other channels keep agents up to date?

Employer Bulletin. The handbook says HMRC publishes it six times a year with payroll news for employers and agents.
Trusts and Estates newsletter for Inheritance Tax and trust practitioners.
Service dashboard and Where’s my reply. These show processing times and when to expect a reply, which also sets the clock for HMRC’s escalation services.
Live service issues page. Agent Update issue 148 announced a single GOV.UK page bringing current service problems together, with email alerts available.
Consultations. HMRC’s policy papers and consultations are listed on its organisation page, and professional bodies usually coordinate responses.

How can agents feed back on guidance and manuals?

Every GOV.UK page has a “Report a problem with this page” link, and the GOV.UK contact form can be used for a reply. Agent Update issue 148 says the HMRC manuals team reviews all feedback on manuals, and that in the previous 12 months it received 1,470 comments, 60% of which led to guidance improvements. HMRC asks agents to use the route more, even just to confirm a page is useful. Where a manual page appears to misstate the law, raising it through a professional body adds weight.

When should a problem go to an individual escalation route instead?

If the issue concerns one client, use the Agent Account Manager service once the conditions are met: the agent must be authorised to act on the issue, have waited at least 20 working days beyond HMRC’s expected reply date, and have contacted HMRC at least twice. HMRC acknowledges within 2 working days, updates every 5 working days and usually resolves the issue within 20 working days or provides an action plan. The Personal Tax Query Resolution Service for Agents handles unresolved individual PAYE and Self Assessment queries, but not repayment chasing or employer queries. See the agent dedicated line for the first line of contact.

How might a practice use these routes together?

Illustration only. In one month a practice finds that six clients’ payroll submissions are being rejected with the same error after a software update. It raises each client’s position through the normal channels to protect them from penalties. It also checks the live service issues page, which does not list the fault, and emails its professional body’s tax team with a short anonymised description, the error text, dates and the number of clients affected. The body receives similar reports from other firms and raises the issue at the next Employment and Payroll Group meeting. A later Agent Update explains the cause and the workaround, and the practice updates its internal procedures.

What mistakes do agents make?

Sending client identifiable details to a professional body when a general description would do.
Expecting a forum to resolve an individual client’s case; forums deal with generic issues only.
Not reading Agent Update, then spending time chasing a problem HMRC has already explained.
Using individual escalation routes before the waiting period and contact conditions are met.
Relying on informal social media reports instead of HMRC’s service pages and professional body updates.

Keeping current is also part of meeting the HMRC Standard for Agents and the PCRT.

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Sources

Reviewed by Christine Anderson, Broker, Solar Protect. Last reviewed 8 October 2026. Part of Accountapedia, the Solar Protect guide to UK tax and accounting. This page is general information, not personalised advice.