Have i been scammed by a tax refund company????

daisyjune1234

Hiya,

Im hoping someone can help me here! I followed a link through Facebook for one of these tax rebate company's. I received the form in the post, filled it in and sent it straight back. At the beginning of March i received a letter off the HMRC stating i was owed £890 in tax. My partner did his with another company and received a cheque a couple of weeks later. However mine never came. Upon chasing up the company i realised there are NO telephone numbers only a postal address. I have sent recorded delivery letters too them to chase it up however have heard NOTHING at all off them!!! I have spoken to the HMRC and they aren't really able to help me further as i agreed they were acting on my behalf!

The company - MY TAX REFUNDS LTD
Lodge House, Lodge Square, Burnley, Lancashire, BB11 1NN

Really hoping someone can help me or at least put me in touch with someone that can, as a single mother i could really do with this!!!!

Thank you!!!

Darksparkle

Personally I think all these companies are a scam. There is no need to use them when you can easily do it yourself.

The company does appear to be active according to companies house.

Has the money actually been sent to this company? Tell HMRC you want to remove authority for this company to act on your behalf otherwise they will get access to any future rebates also.

booksurr

yes you have "lost" £890 - money you would not have received anyway otherwise you'd have claimed it already yourself

it is time to learn from it and make sure you instruct HMRC that MY TAX REFUNDS LTD is no longer your AGENT and all future correspondence to or from HMRC must be direct to you

antrobus

daisyjune1234 wrote: »

...The company - MY TAX REFUNDS LTD
Lodge House, Lodge Square, Burnley, Lancashire, BB11 1NN

The company exists, but Lodge House is simply the location of a serviced office business

https://anvic.co.uk/lodge-house-burnley-bb11/

The company's sole director and shareholder can be found at 144 Abel Street, Burnley, Lancs, United Kingdom BB10 1QB

https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/09279804

daisyjune1234

booksurr wrote: »

yes you have "lost" £890 - money you would not have received anyway otherwise you'd have claimed it already yourself

it is time to learn from it and make sure you instruct HMRC that MY TAX REFUNDS LTD is no longer your AGENT and all future correspondence to or from HMRC must be direct to you

Yes the money has been sent to them, they have confirmed that much. Surely they can't keep the money when i agreed to only give them a percentage? Is this not breaking the law??

agrinnall

Have HMRC actually paid the refund to them yet? If not then removing the authority asap would seem like a very good idea. If they have paid it then a letter before action followed by a small claim may be required to get what you are owed (which won't be the full amount of the refund as presumably they take a percentage as their 'fee').

Edit: cross posted, so the final sentence of my post now applies.

Darksparkle

daisyjune1234 wrote: »

Yes the money has been sent to them, they have confirmed that much. Surely they can't keep the money when i agreed to only give them a percentage? Is this not breaking the law??

What percentage was agreed to?

Do you have any paperwork to confirm what was agreed and what timescale you should receive payment from them?

TheCyclingProgrammer

I assume it was this website?
http://www.mytaxrefunds.co.uk/terms-and-conditions/

If so, then the percentage is 15% and you would have agreed to them receiving the refund. Their website states it takes 6-8 weeks to process. Have you had confirmation that a refund has been issued and that they have received it?

IMO its a scam insofar as it preys on people's ignorance by doing something you could easily do yourself without handing over any of your money but as to whether they've made off with your money, its hard to say. But you have the company and director's details, you could certainly threaten them with small claims court action if they do not pay up.