Unexpected request to confirm tax residency - Halifax

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Comments

  • bengen
    bengen Posts: 9 Forumite
    I also received same letter from llyods. Don't understand it at all.
  • agrinnall
    agrinnall Posts: 23,344 Forumite
    First Post Combo Breaker
    blackfish wrote: »
    agrinnall,

    I did see a similar thread but it was a year or two old

    Can't be the right thread then because it was one started in the last couple of months and was on exactly the same subject as this thread.
  • blackfish
    blackfish Posts: 11 Forumite
    edited 2 April 2016 at 9:59PM
    OK, found that previous thread. Not so historical as I thought though it was started July last year.

    http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.php?t=5287543
  • Cook_County
    Cook_County Posts: 3,085 Forumite
    First Anniversary First Post
    badmemory wrote: »
    This is what I AM worried about. There is definitely a threat implied in the letter I have.
    If you are being threatened complain to your MP, as it is Parliament's decision to require financial institutions to ask these questions.
  • badmemory
    badmemory Posts: 7,787 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Cook_County wrote: »
    If you are being threatened complain to your MP, as it is Parliament's decision to require financial institutions to ask these questions.

    Excellent idea, thank you for that, I will.
  • EdSwippet
    EdSwippet Posts: 1,588 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Cook_County wrote: »
    It is probable that a recalcitrant account holder will automatically be reported on ...
    Maybe. Or a non-responder might simply be denied an account altogether. The UK and the US may have signed an IGA, but they do not agree on its meaning.

    The UK interpretation: "6.4 Identification of New Individual Accounts ... In the absence of a valid self certification being provided by the account holder, the account would become reportable." In contrast, the US interpretation: "... Pursuant to section III, paragraph B, of Annex I of the IGA, the FFI must obtain a self-certification at account opening. If the FFI cannot obtain a self-certification at account opening, it cannot open the account."
  • Pre17
    Pre17 Posts: 1 Newbie
    I received this same letter also.i went in to the Halifax ,to ask them why they would need to send me a letter requesting information they already have .they told me the letter was not from them and to ignore it. I am going to take it back to the Halifax and get them to investigate it more, as someone is using there letter head to try to fool you into handing over personal information .
  • RobertJPA
    RobertJPA Posts: 5 Forumite
    I am relieved to see other people are getting this letter, its not just me. If it is genuine it certainly does a good job of looking fake; the helpline does not work, and it (and the overseas helpline number) cannot be traced by google, and neither can I find a Tax compliance office at the supposed address on the return envelope. My letter is supposedly from the halifax, I have an account with them but it is not new. I am inclined to ignore it, but will keep watching this thread
  • antrobus
    antrobus Posts: 17,386 Forumite
    RobertJPA wrote: »
    I am relieved to see other people are getting this letter, its not just me. If it is genuine it certainly does a good job of looking fake; the helpline does not work, and it (and the overseas helpline number) cannot be traced by google, and neither can I find a Tax compliance office at the supposed address on the return envelope. My letter is supposedly from the halifax, I have an account with them but it is not new. I am inclined to ignore it, but will keep watching this thread

    FATCA is genuine, and there are circumstances in which a UK resident might well receive a letter requesting info because of it.

    Halifax PO Box 548 Leeds LS1 1WU is the genuine contact address for the Halifax. But anyone can find that out.

    PO Box 7082, Willenhall, WV1 9AD is a genuine address and post code. But it's a 'large user' postcode, i.e. it's unique to one large organisation, and is not (as such) a geographic post code. As best I can see it means all the mail goes to the big RM sorting office in Wolverhampton. Who actually gets that mail afterwards I don't know. It could be the Halifax; but it could be somebody else.

    On the basis that a previous poster has claimed that the Halifax have said it is 'not from them'. Perhaps it isn't from them.

    Perhaps somebody should contact RM and ask them if they realise what business reply service RTTK-HSUA-XEAR is being used for?
  • mad4fev
    mad4fev Posts: 2 Newbie
    My wife received one of these letters supposedly from The Halifax. She called them to check its validity and was told that they had no record of sending anything but it might be genuine! What really concerned me though was that although the letter had a Halifax header, and footer and they had no record of it, they weren't particularly interested!
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