Fetch taxpayer data - HMRC does not recognise that a client is authorised

When using Fetch taxpayer data to retrieve information from HMRC, if HMRC does not recognise that the client has been authorised, a message will appear :

'HMRC does not recognise that this client has been authorised with the agent credentials being used in token management'.

Note : HMRC have confirmed that authorising clients via the Agent Services Account (the digital handshake) does not authorise agents to act for clients for self-assessment. To authorise a client for self -assessment and therefore for the Fetch functionality, agents should use the Online Services for Agents account using the government gateway credentials (user ID and password).

You may have authorised the client with HMRC via online services, but there a few things to check in TaxCalc to ensure the information is complete and matching HMRC:

After checking the client UTR is correct in the client record and the tax return then:

Check that the agent credentials used for authorisation are correct:

In some cases there will be more than one set of credentials being used by the firm, based on users or different offices for instance. We would recommend checking in Admin > Applications > Customise Tax Return Production > HMRC API Token Management to view the tokens available for 'SA Pre-Pop'.

• If 'Allow all users to share the same HMRC API token' is ticked, you should see an 'SA Pre-Pop' token for 'Any' user and 'Any' office. This means that usually, all clients will be authorised by the firm credentials used for the government gateway account. When an authorisation error occurs for a particular client - can the client be seen as authorised for self assessment on the government gateway account?
• If 'Each office has its own HMRC credentials' is ticked - does the client record contain a valid office code in the Engagement section, that matches a token for a particular office? And is the client appearing on that gateway account?
• If 'Force each user to authorise TaxCalc....' is ticked - does the gateway account for the user credentials show the client as being authorised?

If in any doubt about which credentials have been used to authorise the token, in HMRC API Token Management, click on 'New Token' and use the correct credentials for the gateway account on which the client is authorised.