Its tax refund season. HMRC are currently reconciling the tax records of millions of taxpayers to check whether the right amount of tax was deducted for 2017/18. If it wasn’t a form P800 or simple assessment letter may be issued. Where a refund is due HMRC will write to the taxpayer concerned.
HMRC do not inform taxpayers of tax refunds due through text messages, by email, or by voicemail message. Any communication in those forms which promises a tax refund is a scam, and clients should be warned as such. The fraudster is trying to get the recipient to log on to a fake HMRC website in order to harvest their bank details.
When a tax refund is due the taxpayer will receive a tax computation, but this should be carefully checked as some of the data used in simple assessments has been incorrected or incomplete.
A very convincing scam email, supposedly from Companies House, has been circulating in the last week. It is sent from: complaints@companies-house-gov.uk or noreply@cpgov.uk, and is titled “Company Complaint”. It looks very real and official, so don’t be taken in. Don’t click on any links in it or phone the telephone number given.
We warn you to be on the look out for such fake Companies House emails. The scammers are trying to obtain the authentication code for companies, and hence use the online access to change details on the Companies House website, and thereby gain control of the company.
Written by the Tax Advice Network