Tax Refund email - is it for real?

socks_uk

I have received a 'junk' email today from refundsdept@ir-efile.gov.uk saying I am due a tax refund. It has the Inland Revenue, Business Link and Directgov logos on it...


Tax Refund Notification


After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive tax refund of 248.50 GBP.

You are require to submit the tax refund request using the tax refund reference below and allow up 6-9 working days in order to process it


https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/ (there is more to this link but I have deleted it out)

Note : A refund can be delayed for different reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.

we apologise for any inconveniences and thank you for your co-operation.
Yours Sincerely

HM Revenue & Customs


I had recently used a company that was advertised in my wage slip (taxbuddies.com) but had an email back on 8th October saying that I am not due a tax refund. So this is why I'm wondering if the email saying I'm due £248.50 is a phishing scam. How can I find out? I could really do with this money for Christmas.

Has anyone else had one of these emails? Surely if I was due a refund I'd be able to claim it by phone?

Any advice would be grateful.

roger_c

Please forward to phishing@hmrc.gsi.gov.uk and they will deal with this appropriately. There are LOADS of HMRC scam emails going about, especially this/last week.

Geoffo_M

Yes I received one as well. Definitely a scam. Do not follow the link

shelly

Never use a company to get a tax refund for you. It's so easy to do yourself and you get all of the money owing to you.
Just call your local Tax Office and they will tell you what paperwork to send and where to send it.

lemontart

spam scam spam scam spam scam

socks_uk

Thank you guys, I've forwarded it to Inland Revenue.

I work for the local council and when I saw the leaflet in with my wage slip for taxbuddies I thought I might as well give it a go as I didn't think I'd be entitled to anything and I wouldn't have got in touch with Inland Revenue otherwise.

Errata

You are require to submit the tax refund request

I think their grasp of the English language gives the game away.

trevormax

lemontart wrote: »

spam scam spam scam spam scam

spcam (or scpam if ya like).

Like others have said, never use a company to reclaim your tax because they tend to take a big fat chunk of any rebate they get. It's not too difficult to check your self and there are so many tax calculators out there that could help. Also there are many people on this forum willing and able to help (free of charge) if you have any questions.

Money_Grabber13579

socks_uk wrote: »

I have received a 'junk' email today from [EMAIL="refundsdept@ir-efile.gov.uk"]refundsdept@ir-efile.gov.uk[/EMAIL] saying I am due a tax refund. It has the Inland Revenue, Business Link and Directgov logos on it...


Tax Refund Notification


After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive tax refund of 248.50 GBP.

You are require to submit the tax refund request using the tax refund reference below and allow up 6-9 working days in order to process it


https://online.hmrc.gov.uk/ (there is more to this link but I have deleted it out)

Note : A refund can be delayed for different reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.

we apologise for any inconveniences and thank you for your co-operation.
Yours Sincerely

HM Revenue & Customs


I had recently used a company that was advertised in my wage slip (taxbuddies.com) but had an email back on 8th October saying that I am not due a tax refund. So this is why I'm wondering if the email saying I'm due £248.50 is a phishing scam. How can I find out? I could really do with this money for Christmas.

Has anyone else had one of these emails? Surely if I was due a refund I'd be able to claim it by phone?

Any advice would be grateful.

This is how people end up loosing money. Unfortunately it's all too easy, as people are enticed by getting money back, even though they aren't expecting it. Delete the e-mail after reporting it to HMRC. Not a lot they can do though.

FerociousDave

Nah, the idea that the revenue would sort any kind of refund out in 6-9 days should have given it away!

AnxiousMum

To my knowledge I've never given HMRC my email address - so why would I expect an email from them? Also, the grammar in the email is not exactly great - so another giveaway.
You may want to run some virus checks on your computer now though - one of these came through at work and we received notification through our IT department. It contained a malware program.......did you click on the link by chance?