What is a business tax account with HMRC?
Answered 17 March 2026
What is a Business Tax Account with HMRC?
HMRC Guidance / Practice
A business tax account (also referred to as a VAT online account or "Your Tax Account") is HMRC's online portal that allows businesses to manage their tax affairs digitally with HMRC.
What it does:
- It allows businesses to file forms and returns online and see an overall picture of their tax position, including payments they have made and amounts they owe.
- For VAT purposes specifically, the business tax account tells you when your VAT returns are due and when payment must clear HMRC's account.
- Businesses can also use it to authorise a tax agent to act on their behalf for certain tax services (e.g. CIS, PAYE, Gambling Tax, VAT Legacy, Machine Games Duty).
- Staff members of a business who manage its tax affairs (as opposed to external agents) should use the business's own online tax account.
How to access it:
- A customer must go online to GOV.UK, register for an online account, and then enrol for the services they want to use — though in most cases, customers are automatically enrolled for the online services associated with the taxes they register for.
- Access is via a Government Gateway user ID.
- Customers can also elect to replace paper letters with email reminders by logging into their online account and making that election.
Note: The retrieved sources do not contain a single comprehensive definition page for the business tax account. The description above is compiled from multiple HMRC guidance documents. For the most complete and up-to-date overview, you may wish to consult the GOV.UK page: "Business tax account: sign in or set up".
Citation sources
From June 2014 HMRC began aprogramme to make outputs, previously only issued on paper, available digitally. To be eligible for digital contact and to use HMRC online services, the customer will need to go online to Gov.uk and register for an online account and then enrol for the services they want to use, but in most cases, the customer will be automatically enrolled for the online services associated with the taxes they are registering for so they don't have to do this separately. In addition,
You can check your VAT return and payment deadlines in your VAT online account, also known as your business tax account. Your VAT online account tells you when: your VAT returns are due the payment must clear HMRC account The deadline for submitting the return and paying HMRC are usually the same, whether you’re using software or doing it online — 1 calendar month and 7 days after the end of an accounting period. You need to allow time for the payment to reach HMRC account. If you’re sending us
You can use the digital handshake to authorise an agent to act on your behalf for the following tax services: Income Record Viewer Manage a Capital Gains Tax on UK property account Making Tax Digital for Income Tax Manage Plastic Packaging Tax managing a trust or estate Pillar 2 VAT For other taxes, talk to your agent about how they can get authorised. Your agent may ask you to authorise them in your business tax account. They will give you information about how to do this. Find out how you can
Depending on which tax services you will be using, there are different ways to get authorisation from your clients, including: the digital handshake using the online service asking your client to authorise you through their business tax account using paper forms Follow these steps to help you get authorised. Use the table to find out the different ways you can get authorised for the tax service you need. Follow the instructions after the table on how to get authorised. If you’re using the Stamp
You will need to register for a HMRC online services account if you want to use: Charities Construction Industry Scheme for agents (CIS) Corporation Tax Employment related securities for agents (ERS) Gambling Tax Machine Games Duty Notification of Vehicle Arrivals (NOVA) PAYE Self Assessment VAT VAT EU Refunds for agents VAT Mini One Stop Shop for agents (MOSS) To register for a HMRC online services account you must: Create a Government Gateway user ID to access an HMRC online services account.