HMRC Tax Rebate Stolen

uknick

This is quite interesting as to HMRC's liability.

There have been numerous cases in the press where a client, of say a builder, has been spoofed into paying what they owe to the wrong bank account, usually through fake emails changing bank account details. The legal position of that seems to be the builder is still owed the money by the client so the client needs to pay twice.

Therefore, on the face of it, why does HMRC not still owe the taxpayer his rebate?

sheramber

HMRC haven't been scammed, your son has been scammed.

You need to concentrate on how the company got his details?

If he definitely has never used this company to claim for work expenses, uniform cleaning etc could the form be for someone else with the same name and linked to the wrong person?

Did he sign anything for the person who paid him?

Is he working for an umbrella company?

Is there any other information on the form- dob, NI number, address etc. to link the form to him.

Is the tax claim company linked to his accountant?

NCC-1701

More to this than has been disclosed.

AnotherJoe

This wouldnt be the first time (by a long way) that someone claimed via one of these spoof sites that are HMRC-look-alikes and then claimed they never ever used them.
I dont know what the best way to combat this is if it really is a question of an organization somehow getting hold of his details and misrepresenting themselves as it being from hi, perhaps small claims court is best.

dad_researcher

Thank you for yor attempts to help, however it does seem that some of you are rather hung up on what type of compsny he works for who his accountant is etc. Perhaps I provided rather too much unnecessary information at the beginning. Basically he was due a legitimate tax rebate which HMRC have refunded to a company he has no connection with due to a letter of consent sent to HMRC in his name dated April this year, with a fraudulent signature. I have sometimes sought and received very useful advice on these boards in the past but feel there is a negative undercurrent of unwarranted suspicion in some of these responses, so will leave it there.

BoGoF

Well this 'bogus, company didn't just guess his UTR etc did they. Your reluctance to name them or provide further info is what is arousing suspicion.

If you don't like the responses then you were given dets of how to complain to HMRC were given early on in the thread

sheramber

With the lack of information provided to offer direct help we are using previous experiences to suggest how this may have happened.

Sometimes when subcontractors are advised about tax they are given forms to complete without realising or understanding wha these forms are for. They end up signing authority to make refund of tax to someone else who has submitted their tax return for them.
That person takes their fee from the rebate and repays the balance to the claimant.

Many accountants do this to save the claimant having to pay them direct. they get their money first then hand over the balance.

If you named the tax refund company someone may be able to find a telephone number/ contact for them.
There is expertise available on this forum but it needs more information to pursue it.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

I bet your son went to one of them Tax Rebates On Us dot Con sites?