Tax Refund Company

FTBFun

ceeforcat wrote: »

I know of a nurse who used one of these agencies - received £120 out of £250 tax refund - they did not even bother to ensure that her current code number now included the allowances that she had not previously been claiming.

That doesn't surprise me in the slightest - it means they'll be able to do the same next year.

CLAPTON

ceeforcat wrote: »

I know of a nurse who used one of these agencies - received £120 out of £250 tax refund - they did not even bother to ensure that her current code number now included the allowances that she had not previously been claiming.

yes, but would she otherwise have got 120 back and been alerted the the error in her taxcode?

obviously better to do it yourself but not everyone knows how

olivetti

There is a scam with similar companies that put in false claims and because HMRC operate a 'process now, check later' regime they refund it to the agent who keeps half and passes on the other half. However once HMRC realise there is an issue the taxpayer suddenly finds out the owe twice what they were refunded and the company cannot be contacted.

BoGoF

These firms are the PPI claims firms of the tax world who will do no work prior to submitting the claim.

They deluge HMRC with what are basically fishing expeditions. They won't even check their 'clients' tax codes to see if they already have the allowance they are claiming for.

Stay well clear and DIY

dori2o

ceeforcat wrote: »

I know of a nurse who used one of these agencies - received £120 out of £250 tax refund - they did not even bother to ensure that her current code number now included the allowances that she had not previously been claiming.

Chances are the tax code was amended to include the expenses for the following years, but that the refund company telephoned and asked for the expenses to be removed, or set them at a ridiculously low amount so that they could gain from repeat business.

It seems a far fetched idea, but HMRC have threatened at least 1 refund company with court action on the basis of fraud for doing this.

I wouldn't touch these companies with a 10ft barge pole. Accountants, maybe, at least they are registered with a governing body, these claims companies are nothing more than bottom feeders preying on the unfortunate.

OP

If you have already signed and sent off the letter then contact HMRC asap to advise you no longer give your consent for this company to act on your behalf. Make sure you know the name of the company and if possible their address.

The form you have signed is an authority for the company to deal with HMRC on your behalf. They can call them, write to them and ask HMRC for any information that is held on your tax records, it also authorises any refund to be paid direct to them, they will then send you the balance once their fee has been deducted.

By contacting HMRC and telling them you withdraw any authority it will stop the refund being issued to anyone but you.

healthman

I’ve seen posts about tax refund companies on here before and they always say the same thing – don’t use them and do it yourself. Last year a couple of us at work followed the advice on this site and contacted the revenue to claim a refund for our work clothes. My colleagues both got about £60 each back, but instead of getting a refund, the revenue told me I owed them over £1,900!!!

Even though I rang them loads of times, I could never got a proper answer to tell me why. They were useless and changed my tax code to get me to pay it back.

Several of my colleagues at the hospital had used the Tax Refund Company and got decent refunds and the RCN had been telling us about them for a while so I contacted them. After several months and loads of letters, they got the revenue to admit they’d made a mistake and I didn’t owe this money. On top of that, they got the revenue to give me another £390 back for something to do with a job I had in 2006. The revenue never told me about that money and i didn't know i could have claimed it.

Both my colleagues who rang the revenue at the same time as me also used the Tax Refund Company and one of them has just got another refund of over £200, the other one got about £80 a few months ago. Both of them thought they'd get nothing as they'd contacted the revenue themselves already!!

Everyone is slagging The Tax Refund Company off but without them, the revenue would have “stolen” £1900 off me and I’d never have got my money back, or the refund of £390. Neither would my colleagues have got all the money the revenue owed them.

Before everyone rushes out to contact the revenue, they should think twice. if you don't know what you're doing, you could get into a right mess and end up paying money back you don't owe, or think you've got everything the revenue owes you and not realise they owe you more!!!

jazzygirl_3

FTBFun wrote: »

This company isn't a member of a single accountancy or taxation professional body. I think that tells you all you need to know.

I wonder if John Lewis know their name is being used as a testimonial:

My husband works for John Lewis and it was them who told him about the Tax Refund Company.

We both used this service and although my husband didn’t get anything back, I got £732.

We had no idea the revenue owed me anything, let alone this much and wouldn’t have known where to start even if we had thought they owed me something.

It turned out because I’d missed the revenues 6 year time limit to claim a refund, the revenue got to keep over £400 of the money I was due. I can’t thank John Lewis or the tax refund company enough. If it wasn’t for them, I’d have eventually lost it all.

jazzygirl_3

FTBFun wrote: »

This company isn't a member of a single accountancy or taxation professional body. I think that tells you all you need to know.

I wonder if John Lewis know their name is being used as a testimonial:

BTW Ive just rung the tax refund company and it turns out that they are regulated by the Charted Institute of Certified accountants.