Revenue and Customs on fishing expedition

nickcc

My Wife has just received a letter offering her the chance of fessing up to having not paid tax on property sold abroad or a second property, not being her sole place of residence, sold here in the UK. Revenue and Customs have kindly offered to reduce the size of the fine if she admits to this illegal activity. As neither my Wife or I have ever owned a second property how on earth would R&C suspect that this is or was the case. I can only assume that her smallish savings account with Tesco bank, where she pays no tax as she has no other income, has triggered the R&C investigation snoopers, perhaps they would be better employed chasing the vast sums of money being deliberately evaded/avoided by some major industries.

zagfles

Why do you think it has anything to do with her savings account? Most likely they've confused her with someone else (eg someone with the same name), or she's a victim of identity theft and someone is trying to money launder etc.

May be worth checking her credit record to see if it shows anything unusual, and asking HMRC why they think the property is anything to do with her.

And of course confirm that's it's really HMRC and not some fraudster pretending to be.

nickcc

Letter certainly looked official including the correct envelope. Address on the letter was also R&C's and included the name of the campaign director based in Glasgow a Marian Wilson. We check our credit reference on a regular basis as this is included as one of our banks services. They also suggest you refer to their web page for excellent guidance https://www.hmrc.gov.uk/campaigns/psc.htm seems real to me and quoting someone's full name and correct address leads me to believe that they believe that they have the correct person. Thanks for your advice.

antrobus

nickcc wrote: »

My Wife has just received a letter offering her the chance of fessing up to having not paid tax on property sold abroad or a second property, not being her sole place of residence, sold here in the UK. Revenue and Customs have kindly offered to reduce the size of the fine if she admits to this illegal activity. As neither my Wife or I have ever owned a second property....

Then that's what you tell them in your response.

HMRC may well then tell you why it thinks your wife had a second property that she sold. Until that happens, there is not a lot that can be done.

nickcc

antrobus wrote: »

Then that's what you tell them in your response.

HMRC may well then tell you why it thinks your wife had a second property that she sold. Until that happens, there is not a lot that can be done.

No response requested, letter states "may have" so that's why I headed post as fishing expedition. Maybe the next idea will be to send self employed people a letter suggesting that they may have received cash payments they haven't declared so pay up or we may fine you, the possibilities are endless. I started the thread to find out if any other forum members had received a similar request, as neither my Wife or myself have anything to hide from Revenue and Customs I see no point in replying to a letter that is just designed to make Revenue and Customs job easier.

zagfles

nickcc wrote: »

No response requested, letter states "may have" so that's why I headed post as fishing expedition. Maybe the next idea will be to send self employed people a letter suggesting that they may have received cash payments they haven't declared so pay up or we may fine you, the possibilities are endless. I started the thread to find out if any other forum members had received a similar request, as neither my Wife or myself have anything to hide from Revenue and Customs I see no point in replying to a letter that is just designed to make Revenue and Customs job easier.

I don't think HMRC write to people at random like this with no evidence. The likelyhood is they have found some evidence, and personally I'd be wanting to know what it is in case it causes problems later.

I suppose it might be that someone who has the same name has been dodging tax and HMRC have been unable to establish an address for them, and so wrote to everyone with the same name?

googler

Ever seen Brazil? The Terry Gilliam film?

Dontcha think it sounds like HMRC are interested in (maybe) Mrs Nickcg, not Mrs Nickcc ...?

In which case, wouldn't it be a good plan to advise HMRC that Mrs Nickcc isn't Mrs Nickcg?

paddyrg

HMRC are the much disliked tax collectors for the government, but ultimately they mean we have hospitals, schools and defence, so are doing a good thing at the end of the day. Means we're not like Greece with a larger black economy and in the dire straits they find themselves in.

They are kind of fishing, but I doubt it is totally at random. By offering reduced fines for those many people who owe money to come clean, they don't spend more taxpayers money on a big investigation and court case. It's a good thing.

The fact they are being quite specific about an overseas property suggests they have a reason rather than just sending out a threatening catchall letter. Talk to them, you can clear this up, don't ignore them. Maybe it's mistaken, so help them see that it is. I know one Peru sure way to get on the investigations list is if you have financial dealings with someone else they have investigated and found guilty, perhaps there is some link there.

nickcc

paddyrg wrote: »

HMRC are the much disliked tax collectors for the government, but ultimately they mean we have hospitals, schools and defence, so are doing a good thing at the end of the day. Means we're not like Greece with a larger black economy and in the dire straits they find themselves in.

They are kind of fishing, but I doubt it is totally at random. By offering reduced fines for those many people who owe money to come clean, they don't spend more taxpayers money on a big investigation and court case. It's a good thing.

The fact they are being quite specific about an overseas property suggests they have a reason rather than just sending out a threatening catchall letter. Talk to them, you can clear this up, don't ignore them. Maybe it's mistaken, so help them see that it is. I know one Peru sure way to get on the investigations list is if you have financial dealings with someone else they have investigated and found guilty, perhaps there is some link there.

If they were being specific then we would have something to deny but just stating that my Wife may have sold a property abroad or a second property in this country leads me to believe that this is a nothing more than a scare tactic. I do understand how the tax system works after paying tax for the last 50 odd years and will be doing so until the day I turn up my clogs, my Wife finished paying tax when we had our first Daughter and has never been in paid employment since.

gb12345

nickcc wrote: »

If they were being specific then we would have something to deny but just stating that my Wife may have sold a property abroad or a second property in this country leads me to believe that this is a nothing more than a scare tactic. I do understand how the tax system works after paying tax for the last 50 odd years and will be doing so until the day I turn up my clogs, my Wife finished paying tax when we had our first Daughter and has never been in paid employment since.

In that case, she writes back to them telling them that she has never owned a property abroad or an investment property and that her only income and savings are a small account (and the interest it provides) with Tesco that is excempt from tax due to being below LEL. If they have proof then they will eventually have to provide it.

antrobus

gb12345 wrote: »

In that case, she writes back to them telling them that she has never owned a property abroad or an investment property and that her only income and savings are a small account (and the interest it provides) with Tesco that is excempt from tax due to being below LEL. If they have proof then they will eventually have to provide it.

That's what I've suggested he should do. Not responding is, of course, an option. But then again, the lack of response might lead HMRC to issue an estimated assessment, which isn't something you really want landing on your doorstep.