Individuals and businesses must beware of HMRC tax scams – London Business News | Londonlovesbusiness.com

Individuals and businesses must beware HMRC tax scams, where fraudsters try to imitate HMRC in fake correspondence or trick the revenue with stolen details to pocket a company’s VAT repayments, say leading audit, tax and business advisory firm, Blick Rothenberg.

Ele Theochari, a Partner at the firm, said: “There is currently a scam where a legitimate looking HMRC email, including the usual wording with regards to how to spot a scam letter from HMRC, is sent to the individual claiming there has been a change to their PAYE tax code.”

She added: “There is a link in the email to take the individual to a fake HMRC login page to steal their login details. This is a less obvious scam because there is no demand for payment or promise of repayment. The purpose of this scam can be wide-reaching: to gather their login details, at which point the scammers have access to the account and could potentially divert any tax refunds, to have access to sensitive information that could be used for identity theft, or to use those password details as a means of gaining access to other areas of that individual’s life (which is why it is important to avoid reusing passwords!)”

Ele said: “If ever in doubt, do not press links in emails, as genuine correspondence from HMRC will not contain links. Always log in to your online account via the dedicated government website.”

Gabby Donald, a Partner and VAT specialist at the firm, said: “Many will recall the VAT repayment fraud that took place over the summer. To recap briefly, fraudsters had submitted forms to HMRC in the names of legitimate VAT registered businesses to change their bank details.”

She added: “As the businesses targeted were normally in receipt of VAT repayments from HMRC, the fraud was to divert those payments into the fraudsters’ own bank accounts. While HMRC has changed its processes to make this type of fraud much harder, we would still advise VAT registered businesses to regularly check their details in their online account with HMRC and be vigilant for any unexpected changes.”