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HMRC Scams

HMRC- Fraudulent communications

  • HMRC is aware that many people are receiving scam communication supposed from HMRC. These include Phone calls, Emails, texts, WhatsApp messages etc.
  • Since the first outbreak of corona virus in the UK scams incidents have increased dramatically and many people have experienced at least one type of scam in the last month.

Coronavirus

  • Scammers have made use of the Corona virus outbreak by sending fraudulent emails and texts pretending to be HMRC regarding claims made/to be made for the employment support scheme.
  • Emails and texts tend to contain hyperlinks which if you click it asks you to enter your personal details- the scammer then has your information. Do not click on such links or open anything within these emails and texts.

Tax rebate and Refunds

  • HMRC will never notify you via email if you are due a tax rebate/refund.
  • If you receive an email pretending to be HMRC do not open any attachments, click on any links or provide any personal information.
  • Emails can contain attachments with fictitious forms implying that a form has been submitted to HMRC and you will shortly receive a refund.
  • Fraudsters have also been sending out fraudulent text messages regarding tax rebates and refunds, these text messages. These text messages like the emails are phishing for personal details.

Lawsuit against you

  • HMRC is also aware of automated phone calls implying they are HMRC and that HMRC is filing a lawsuit against you, in which you have to press 1 to speak to a caseworker and make a payment and that there is a warrant out for your arrest. This has been confirmed as a scam and you should end the call immediately.
  • The scammers tend to ask the victim to confirm their personal details such as full name, postcode, address, national insurance number etc. before informing them how much they “owe.” If the scammer is challenged by the victim, they then state that there is a warrant out for their arrest and/or they are going to freeze their passport.
  • Other phone scams involve those of national insurance fraud, offering a tax refund in which you would be required to provide your bank/ credit card details- HMRC recommend you do not speak to anyone you cannot verify.
  • HRMC have confirmed that you would never get a phone call, email, text message, message within an application i.e., WhatsApp which advises you of a tax refund or asks you for personal or payment information.
  • Fraudsters sometimes now clone HMRC phone numbers in order to appear genuine to the answerer.

Reporting suspicious communications

  • HMRC provides ways of reporting suspicious communication to themselves. These involve forwarding the activity via text message to 60599 (charged at normal text message rates), emailing phishing@hmrc.gov.uk details of the communication for example: a screenshot of the application message, the email content or details of the phone call including the number called from.
  • This allows HMRC to investigate further and stop these fraudsters from obtaining personal information.

What to do if you have provided your information?

If you have provided any personal information to someone unverified contact HMRC on security.custcon@hmrc.gov.uk including brief details of what information you have provided.

Spotting fraudulent communications

Scam communication will often contain the following:

  • Spelling mistakes- scam emails and texts often contain spelling errors
  • Threatening language- a common indicator of a scam is threatening language designed to stop you from thinking on your feet and realising it is a scam!
  • Being contacted out of the blue- Genuine correspondence from HMRC will be generally after a letter has been written to you or that you are aware of the issue.
  • Being asked to share personal details- HMRC will usually have all of your required details so being asked to confirm all your personal details is an indicator of a scam.
  • It offers you a refund or rebate of tax- scammers often use this tactic to obtain personal bank information and/or credit card information.
  • Looking at the correspondence address i.e., the email address- does it look authentic?
  • Asking you to act immediately- HMRC would never ask you to act instantly.
  • Grammatical errors- often these scams are from those abroad so contain grammatical errors.
  • Current events such as Covid-19 fraudsters often exploit current events in their scams
  • Authority- they often claim to be somebody of authority such as a bank, HMRC etc.

Autumn 2021 Budget update

Business taxation

  • Business rates- Chancellor accounted $4.6bn more in business rates concessions
  • Business rate multiplier frozen from 1st April 2022 to 31st March 2023 at 49.9p and 51.2p respectively.
  • An additional 50% of rates relief will be available for retail, hospitality and leisure properties up to a cap of £110,000 per business.
  • R&D Tax relief restricted to UK- restricted to UK activities only, but now includes Data & Cloud costs incurred (However it’s not been released on how this will work)
  • Now UK has left EU it seems sensible that the relief is restricted to UK
  • Corporation tax- cross border loss relief is being withdrawn for accounting periods ended 27/10/2021 bringing the UK inline with rest of non-EU countries where cross border relief doesn’t exist.
  • No changes to VAT & planned corporation tax hikes

Personal Tax

  • CGT period extended from 30 days to 60 days with immediate affect.
  • Also confirmed mixed use properties only part of the gain relating to residential should be reported to HMRC.
  • National insurance thresholds are being increased in line with inflation- for 2022/23 the lower earnings limit is set at £123 per week, the primary threshold is set art £190 per week and the secondary threshold at £175 per week for the employed.
  • For the self-employed: class 4 upper profits limit frozen at £50,270, lower profits limit is also frozen at £9,880. Class 2 where profits exceed the small profits threshold for 2022/23 £6,725 and class 2 contributions are at £3.15 per week.
  • The employment allowance is £4,000 for 2022/23.
  • No major changes in inheritance tax, the nil rate band has been frozen at £325,000 since 2009 with the residential nil rate band being introduced and frozen at £175,000 since 2017.
  • No changes were brought in terms of reliefs such as Agriculture relief and Business rate relief.

HMRC Given more powers

  • HMRC given more powers to deal with tax avoidance industry.
  • A new economic levy will apply to large accountancy firms to raise funds to deal with tax avoidance.
  • HMRC given the new following powers:
  • Freezing orders- now able to be sought at time of investigation
  • Offshore promoters- a penalty of 100% of proceeds to be levied against UK entities facilitating avoidance schemes.
  • Winding up- new provision allow HMRC to enable a winding up application if an entity is operating against the public interest by operating tax avoidance schemes.
  • Naming and shaming- HMRC can now publish information about schemes and promoters at an early stage in the process.

Economic crime (AML) levy: Charged on entities from 2023 on those who are regulated by AML legislation such as accountants, lawyers, estate agents and casinos as well as banking and finance institutions. The levy will be charged on UK revenue of more than £10.2 million, those below this threshold will be exempt from paying the levy.

 

GDPR

22nd May 2018

Dear client

I’m sure you will probably be aware that the law regarding Data Protection is changing with the introduction of General Data Protection Rules (GDPR).

We are required to obtain certain information from you in order to submit accurate records to HMRC and Companies House (for Limited Companies) and we are required to hold information and records for a period of 7 years. All information is held securely.

We do not share your information with any other bodies unless required to do so by law, such as in the case of money laundering investigations and, in such incidents, we are not obliged to let you know that we have done this.

There are occasions when we are asked to share your personal information, such as providing proof of earnings for mortgage applications. If this is the case, we will always ask your permission to release such information.

For the purpose of the above activities, you allow us access to your personal information when you authorise us to carry out work for you.

Marketing
We have not had cause to use your personal information for our own marketing purposes and currently do not see a future need to do this. However, just in case things change, we would like to obtain your permission for such activities but please be assured that it will be for our own purposes and will not be shared.

To make things easier, we will assume that you are happy for us to hold your personal information for this purpose but if you wish to OPT OUT of this please let us know by responding to this email.

You have the right to change your mind at any time – just let us know.

If you would like detailed information of the information we hold on you and what it is used for, please contact us.

Useful links

HM Revenue & Customs
Companies House

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