Online tax rebates ltd?

ss1591ss

HMRC have issue me a tax refund but it has gone through a company called ONLINE TAX REBATES LTD which charges a cheque processing fee + additional charges to the sum of £100+

Now they don't have a contact no so I have emailed them to request that I be removed/unregistered and go back to having my cheques directly from the HMRC but they have responded with:

"we can raise the paperwork to lift the deed of the assignment over the previous claim for an admin fee of £50 payable by cheque ONLINE TAX REBATES LTD"

which I still don't quite understand, do I pay £50 to leave or do I pay £50 to have this particular cheque re-issued by the HMRC?

All I want is to be removed/leave this company entirely and completely, please help..

Thanks

somethingcorporate

Did you solicit the use of this company to pursue a tax rebate on your behalf? Otherwise sounds like a scam...

ss1591ss

I may have unknowingly knowing that they charge fees

somethingcorporate

It's not entirely clear if you want to leave if you just pay £50 to leave or have to pay £50 + the current claim fees.


Have they clarified whether it's just £50 if you want to withdraw?

Pennywise

HMRC won't cancel the rebate they've already issued and issue a new one directly to you. That ship has sailed. It was paid to that claims company so HMRC have done their bit and won't change it now. Your £100 fee is history - unless you can prove you didn't have a contract with the tax refund company, you won't get it back unless you can sweet-talk them into doing it.

The £50 will be a charge to cancel your authority for future demands. You don't need them to do it, you can do it yourself by contacting HMRC yourself.

When you signed up with them in a previous year, their terms & conditions which you agreed probably authorised HMRC to make future repayments to the refund company and for the refund company to charge for processing and forwarding the refund to you.

glider3560

Their T&Cs seem quite clear...

When entering a claim you agree to legally assign payment of any refund for the previous 4 years to Online Tax Rebates Limited, when payment is made to us we will forward the residual balance to you net of our agreed fees.

Should we agree to raise the deed of assignment over a taxpayer's account any such action will be subject to a £50 + VAT administration fee.

https://www.onlinetaxrebates.co.uk/terms

You can contact HMRC and have them remove this company's details, however they may start proceedings against you if you owe them fees.

Dazed_and_confused

I think the whole point of the £50 fee is that this type of authority will always apply for the tax years you signed up for.

So you can tell HMRC that this firm is no longer your tax agent but I don't think you can stop HMRC from sending any further tax refunds for the same tax years to this firm unless you were to pay them £50.

Although chances are you probably won't be entitled to any further refunds for the same tax year(s). But people often realise new things affecting tax years after the event so you can never really be sure.

Pennywise

The moral is clear. Don't use these tax refund companies. Use a qualified accountant or phone HMRC and do it yourself.

csgohan4

expensive lesson to learn

ss1591ss

Dazed_and_confused wrote: »

I think the whole point of the £50 fee is that this type of authority will always apply for the tax years you signed up for.

So you can tell HMRC that this firm is no longer your tax agent but I don't think you can stop HMRC from sending any further tax refunds for the same tax years to this firm unless you were to pay them £50.

Although chances are you probably won't be entitled to any further refunds for the same tax year(s). But people often realise new things affecting tax years after the event so you can never really be sure.

ok, the cheque is dated may 2017, I don't think I will have any further refunds for this year

AnotherJoe

The cheque is dated May 2017?

Or it refers to a claim from May 2017?