Starting a practice and HMRC

As an ACCA member, when you decide to be your own boss and run an accountancy practice, there are various considerations which members must comply with.

Some of the key regulatory factors to watch when setting up an accountancy practice includes:

• To comply with ACCA GPRs 2003, ensure you have an ACCA practising certificate (PC) to carry out the public practice work. 
  
  
• To comply with The Money Laundering, Terrorist Financing and Transfer of Funds (Information on the Payer) Regulations 2017, as an Accountancy Service Provider (ASP) or Trust and Company Service Provider (TCSP), you must be supervised by a regulatory body.  As per the AML section, an ACCA practitioner is automatically supervised for AML by ACCA if they hold PC and does not need to separately register with HMRC for AML supervision. Provided the firm meets the qualifying criteria as specified in the Rulebook, then the firm would be supervised by ACCA for AML purposes.
  
  
• To comply with professional indemnity insurance (PII) requirement, ACCA members must have an adequate PII coverage when practising in the UK. PII provides essential protection against claims arising from professional negligence, errors or omissions in the provision of accounting services.
  
  
• ACCA members are required to participate in continuing professional development (CPD) activities to maintain their professional competence and stay abreast of industry developments. There are lots of online courses/webinars and in person events available to comply with this.
  
  
• ACCA is striving to help small and medium sized practitioners. As compliance fees fall and advisory work becomes increasingly important, everyone in practice must evolve to ensure they stay relevant. ACCA has pulled together a wide range of resources and information to help you achieve this.
  
  
• To use HMRC’s Online Services, agents must register with HMRC’s Online Services and then add each service they want to use to their portfolio, using their agent code to do this, and have agent authorisations for each of their clients. 

To get an agent code, an agent has to register in writing as an agent for the services they want to use. The application must include the agent’s: full name; trading name; address that activities are carried out from; telephone number; e-mail address; anti-money laundering supervisor; registration number; documentary evidence confirming supervision; National Insurance number; self-assessment Unique Taxpayer References (UTR) for a director, sole trader or partner; partnership UTR, limited liability partnership UTR or company UTR (if applicable); company registration number (if applicable); details of which taxes the agent plans to deal with as a separate agent code for each tax may be needed. If a business has multiple partners or directors, they’ll also need to provide all of their: full names; National Insurance numbers; and self-assessment UTRs (if applicable).

Requests and notification of any changes should be sent to:

Central Agent Maintainer Team
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
HM Revenue and Customs
BX9 1AN

PAYE service: An agent may get a code for PAYE for agents using HMRC’s online registration service. The code should be quoted on all 64-8 agent authorisation applications and used to register for online services.

SA service: Once registered, the agent must enrol for the Self-Assessment for Agents online service. After registration and enrolment have been completed successfully, the agent is sent, through the normal post, an activation code within seven days of registering for self-assessment for agents. The agent must activate the service within 28 days of the date on the letter otherwise they will have to start this process again.

The most common services available through an HMRC online services for agents account are:

• self-assessment
• corporation tax
• PAYE: online reporting of PAYE and CIS
• Annual Tax on Enveloped Dwellings (ATED)
• VAT.

Most of the above services allow the agent to view clients’ tax liabilities, payments and statements; submit returns; change clients’ contact details; request authorisation for new clients online; remove any clients the agent no longer represents; view and download a list of clients etc.

Evidence for AML supervision

In order to obtain your agent code, you should provide HMRC with:

• your firm’s ACCA ID number
• a copy of your firm’s practising certificate and
• a copy of the firm’s OPBAS levy that was raised on the firm’s myACCA portal during the practising certificate renewal period.

HMRC will contact ACCA should they require anything additional in exceptional circumstances.

In conclusion, setting up an accountancy practice requires careful planning, adherence to professional standards, and a commitment to excellence. By focusing on ACCA’s code of ethics and conduct, legal compliance, technological innovation, client relationships, and continuous professional development, aspiring practitioners can establish a successful and sustainable accounting business that delivers value to clients and contributes to their financial success.