Self-Assessment is the biggest digital transaction by volume of users - each year around 2.8 million people access the service on their own behalf, and another 5.7 million returns are filed by agents.
We’re working with HMRC to carry out a small-scale trial to see how it works for users accessing the service through GOV.UK Verify instead of using Government Gateway.
The trial will run from the end of December. We’ll start by allowing a few internal testers to try the service and then we’ll make the trial publicly available from early January.
We’ve agreed to limit the numbers of people who can take part in the trial - we want to learn about how the user journey works for people and how the two systems (GOV.UK Verify and Self-Assessment) work together before we offer it to larger numbers of users.
If you have a passport and/or driver licence and some financial history (eg by holding a credit card, loan or mortgage), you’ll be able to try using GOV.UK Verify to access the Self-Assessment service.
People who have lost their Government Gateway username and password could benefit from the GOV.UK Verify trial. The new service means that they won’t have to wait for new credentials to be sent in the post. With GOV.UK Verify they should be able to verify their identity entirely online, at their own convenience, and access the Self Assessment service straight away.
Because this is a beta service, there may be a limit on the number of customers who can use it. If you need to register for Self Assessment or have lost your current username or password you should leave enough time to use the normal Government Gateway route in case you are unable to use GOV.UK Verify.
Taking part in the trial is entirely voluntary, and anyone taking part in the trial will be able to withdraw at any time and use their Government Gateway credentials instead. We’ll be asking those who take part to give us feedback that will help us develop and improve GOV.UK Verify for self-assessment and for other services too.
We’re looking forward to what we can learn from the trial - we’ll update you here when we’ve got some findings to report.