Add a new user to your FreeAgent account

This article explains how to add a new user to your FreeAgent account.

You'll need to add a new user to your account if you want to record payments to that person such as salaries, dividends or expense repayments.

If you work with an accountant who is a FreeAgent partner, you can ask them to transfer your FreeAgent account to their Practice Dashboard so that they’re able to access your account. If you work with an accountant who isn’t a FreeAgent partner, find out how to add your accountant as a user to FreeAgent.

Please note that:

  • You'll need level 7 access or above to your FreeAgent account in order to add a new user.
  • It’s not possible to explain salary or dividend payments to a user with the role of ‘Accountant’.
  • It’s not possible for a user with the role of ‘Accountant’ to add, edit, or delete a user.

How to add a new user

Select 'Settings' from the drop-down menu in the top-right corner and then select 'Users'.

'Users' option highlighted within 'My Company' area on the Settings page.

Select 'New User' in the top-right corner.

‘New User’ button highlighted on Users page.

User details

Next, choose what kind of a user they should be from the ‘Role’ drop-down menu. Setting up a user as a shareholder is very similar to choosing a director. Please note that we only support the filing of Self Assessment for limited company directors and sole traders, not for shareholders.

If your bookkeeper is employed by your business and you need to record payments to them, select ‘Employee’ as their role, not ‘Accountant’.

Role drop down menu showing Staff Roles of Director, Company Secretary, Employee and Shareholder, and Advisor Role of Accountant.

Enter the email address that the individual will use to log into the FreeAgent account and their first and last name.

Fields to enter new user’s Login or email and first and last name on the New User page.

You only need to enter the user’s National Insurance number if you’re going to be paying this user a salary and you only need to enter their Unique Tax Reference number and date of birth if they’ll be filing a Self Assessment return from the FreeAgent account. Please note that if you’re adding a user with the role of ‘Accountant’, these fields will disappear and you can skip to inviting them to set their password.

Fields to enter National Insurance Number, Unique Tax Reference, Date of Birth and Status to set to Active or Hidden.

Mileage

If you're setting this user up during the tax year and they've travelled some miles in their own car on business for your company, enter the number of miles they've travelled so far in the ‘Mileage’ field. This will allow FreeAgent to change the mileage from 45p a mile to 25p a mile when necessary.

Opening Mileage section with field to enter Mileage as at the business start date.

User password

Tick the checkbox to send the user a customised email to invite them to create a password when they first sign into FreeAgent.

User Access section with checkbox to send user an invitation to set their password and enter a personalised message to them.

Setting access levels

If you have full (level 8) access to FreeAgent, you’ll see the option to set a permission level for the new user. The default level for a new user is level 7 'Tax, Accounting & Users'. To change this, slide the bar along to the appropriate level of access. For users who'll never need to use FreeAgent, drag the bar fully over to level 0 'No Access'.

User Access level set to ‘0’ so the user cannot log in.

For users who need full access to FreeAgent, including advanced features such as creating journals and editing settings such as VAT, drag the bar fully over to the right to level 8 'Full Access'.

User Access level set to ‘8’, full level access.

Once you've entered the relevant information for the individual, select 'Create new user & Send Invitation' to complete the process.

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