Reclaiming income tax - entitlements agency fee of 17%?

jenxs

Hi moneysavers,

Does anybody have any experience of dealing with the Entitlements Agency re reclaiming income tax? I have received an unexpected income tax refund - great - but the Entitlements Agency have taken a whopping 17% fee, on which I've also had to pay VAT, from my refunded amount. I know that I didn't request their services, and don't know how I authorised them to act on my behalf. Now I can't contact them to discuss their fee.

Can anybody advise, or share their own experiences?

Thanks very much.

dzug1

I don't see how this company could know of your existence, let alone your tax circumstances, if you have never had any contact with them.

Their website looks slightly dodgy though. Nowhere on it can I find any reference to their fees for this type of work, so it woulds be possible for the gullible/naive/stupid/you think of a non perjorative word to believe they were offering a free service, which they certainly are not. If you filled in their enquiry form you were effectively asking for their services.

molerat

Did a trade union ask if you wanted to reclaim tax ? They often sign you up to one of these cowboys. As said, they cannot act without information from you.

jimmo

The standard way these leeches work is to get the punter to sign an authority, not only for the leeches to act for you but also to authorise HMRC to make the claimed repayment to the leeches. Then the leeches get the full repayment, take their cut and pay what is left to the punter.
Sorry to be blunt, but because they are incredibly successful at getting mugs to sign up, I cannot believe that they would forge your signature and submit a forged authority to HMRC.
On the other hand you have received a repayment you had not expected and you can't exactly say you are worse off, can you?
Potentially the big problem is whether HMRC decide to investigate your repayment claim. Then it will all be your fault and you will pay the penalty.
For those of us who claim to know a thing or two about tax, you have been mugged but if you rock the boat you are far more vulnerable to sanction under tax law than your "agents".

Cook_County

caveat emptor

Gas_Powered_Toothbrush

Remember also that the authority for them to act remains until withdrawn. Some of these leeches have been known to call up in subsequent years to have the relief removed from the tax code so they can claim again at the end of the year (and take another cut).

My advice? Phone HMRC and tell them you wish to withdraw authority for the agent to act.

jenxs

Thank you for your responses everybody. After receiving your advice I've checked back and it does seem that my brief membership of a trade union is the reason these people have my details. I've also contacted HMRC who have told me that the Entitlements Agency will no longer be able to claim any tax refunds, although this process has taken a few weeks.

Thanks again for your help!