HMRC sent a cheque to tax refund company and one directly to me. Some advice, please.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

The HMRC have said that there is now a "deed of assignment" in place from the years 2016/17 to 2019/20 with this company 

A deed of assignment is a legally binding agreement that means any tax refund for those particular tax years is assigned to the claims company.

Wife fills in online survey to see if we are eligible for a married persons tax allowance refund. Does not proceed. End of. Or so we thought.

Not sure what sort of "survey" this was (originating from Facebook by any chance?) but most married couples in the UK will be eligible for Marriage Allowance.

But only a small proportion can benefit from applying.

For HMRC to send any tax refund owed to you to a third party should only happen if they have your authority.  

The refund may have arisen because your wife has applied for Marriage Allowance but she cannot give your tax refund away to whoever she likes without your authority.

Blackbeard_of_Perranporth

Derventio_Dave said:

I definitely did not give any form of permission to continue or form any sort of contract. Neither of us received an form of Ts & Cs, statement of fees or documentation to sign either electronically or on paper, yet the HMRC claim to have a signed deed of assignment from me. I have tried to contact the company involved but they are not returning my calls. I am beginning to wonder if I should seek legal advice.

Although you seem to have conveniently forgotten the website, other than the dot gov uk one, you visited, you obviously submitted your, and your ex wife also submitted hers, and gave authority to the claim company to deal with this claim.

I understand that these service providers, by submitting your details, allow them to deal on your behalf! An example terms and conditions are found here!
https://www.rescuetax.co.uk/terms-and-conditions-of-service/
You should note section 3.1

[Deleted User]

Neither my wife or I gave any authorisation of any sort for anyone to make a claim on my behalf. I have signed no paperwork.

I have not, as you put it, conveniently forgotten the website. I know exactly what the website was but I am not going to name the company involved on a public forum at this stage. I have seen no terms of service or statement of fees.

This company has plainly submitted a claim under false pretense. Incidentally, I have been trying to contact the company involved by phone and email but they refuse to respond. Furthermore, we haven't seen a penny of the money, yet.

[Deleted User]

Derventio_Dave said:

Neither my wife or I gave any authorisation of any sort for anyone to make a claim on my behalf. I have signed no paperwork.

I have not, as you put it, conveniently forgotten the website. I know exactly what the website was but I am not going to name the company involved on a public forum at this stage. I have seen no terms of service or statement of fees.

This company has plainly submitted a claim under false pretense. Incidentally, I have been trying to contact the company involved by phone and email but they refuse to respond. Furthermore, we haven't seen a penny of the money, yet.

You're missing the important subtext here - as ever with disputes there is your view, their view and the truth sits somewhere between the two. The firm clearly believes they have a valid contract to get the money on your behalf. Now there could be one of a few things here - maybe when your wife did the survey she did more than you are aware and actually did do some sort of contract and you aren't aware of this. Maybe they wrongly believed they had the power to act. The fact that HMRC are dealing with this company means they must have some sort of authority to act on your behalf (such as a letter of authority) else they'd have told the firm to jog on.

You're ignoring the advice you have been given here - you need to ask HMRC for their paperwork and you need to ask the firm to provide their records (DSAR if you have to). Then you can determine if she did sign up with them or not. If she did, it's one of those things, suck it up. If she didn't then you can complain formally to the firm, then take the complaint to their ombudsman if needed. Keep in mind that evidence will trump your opinion e.g. the firm providing an agreement your wife signed up to will destroy any argument you want to make about not signing up to use them. If they can't provide an agreement, you can start the process of demanding the money back and removing the deed.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Deleted_User said:

Derventio_Dave said:

Neither my wife or I gave any authorisation of any sort for anyone to make a claim on my behalf. I have signed no paperwork.

I have not, as you put it, conveniently forgotten the website. I know exactly what the website was but I am not going to name the company involved on a public forum at this stage. I have seen no terms of service or statement of fees.

This company has plainly submitted a claim under false pretense. Incidentally, I have been trying to contact the company involved by phone and email but they refuse to respond. Furthermore, we haven't seen a penny of the money, yet.

You're missing the important subtext here - as ever with disputes there is your view, their view and the truth sits somewhere between the two. The firm clearly believes they have a valid contract to get the money on your behalf. Now there could be one of a few things here - maybe when your wife did the survey she did more than you are aware and actually did do some sort of contract and you aren't aware of this. Maybe they wrongly believed they had the power to act. The fact that HMRC are dealing with this company means they must have some sort of authority to act on your behalf (such as a letter of authority) else they'd have told the firm to jog on.

You're ignoring the advice you have been given here - you need to ask HMRC for their paperwork and you need to ask the firm to provide their records (DSAR if you have to). Then you can determine if she did sign up with them or not. If she did, it's one of those things, suck it up. If she didn't then you can complain formally to the firm, then take the complaint to their ombudsman if needed. Keep in mind that evidence will trump your opinion e.g. the firm providing an agreement your wife signed up to will destroy any argument you want to make about not signing up to use them. If they can't provide an agreement, you can start the process of demanding the money back and removing the deed.

I agree with most of your post but one thing which I still don't get is that even if the op's wife had signed up with the firm and applied for Marriage Allowance it is the op, not his wife, who is entitled to the tax refund so although they have the wife's authority to apply for Marriage Allowance wouldn't HMRC need the op's authority to send any of his tax refund to the firm?

How could the firm get the tax refund from just the wife's authority 🤔

[Deleted User]

Deleted_User said:

Derventio_Dave said:

Neither my wife or I gave any authorisation of any sort for anyone to make a claim on my behalf. I have signed no paperwork.

I have not, as you put it, conveniently forgotten the website. I know exactly what the website was but I am not going to name the company involved on a public forum at this stage. I have seen no terms of service or statement of fees.

This company has plainly submitted a claim under false pretense. Incidentally, I have been trying to contact the company involved by phone and email but they refuse to respond. Furthermore, we haven't seen a penny of the money, yet.

You're missing the important subtext here - as ever with disputes there is your view, their view and the truth sits somewhere between the two. The firm clearly believes they have a valid contract to get the money on your behalf. Now there could be one of a few things here - maybe when your wife did the survey she did more than you are aware and actually did do some sort of contract and you aren't aware of this. Maybe they wrongly believed they had the power to act. The fact that HMRC are dealing with this company means they must have some sort of authority to act on your behalf (such as a letter of authority) else they'd have told the firm to jog on.

You're ignoring the advice you have been given here - you need to ask HMRC for their paperwork and you need to ask the firm to provide their records (DSAR if you have to). Then you can determine if she did sign up with them or not. If she did, it's one of those things, suck it up. If she didn't then you can complain formally to the firm, then take the complaint to their ombudsman if needed. Keep in mind that evidence will trump your opinion e.g. the firm providing an agreement your wife signed up to will destroy any argument you want to make about not signing up to use them. If they can't provide an agreement, you can start the process of demanding the money back and removing the deed.

I have posted on here looking for advice and for the most part, all I have had is people making assumptions.

I have not missed any subtext here. I have taken the advice given to ask the HMRC to send me a copy of the Deed of Assignment.

My wife and I are still married. Nowhere have I stated that she is my ex wife!

I am not trying to wriggle out of paying any fees.

I simply want control of my tax affairs back and I want to know how a company can get that authority from me, without my consent.

I have since asked for copies of the paperwork supposedly signed, from the company involved. What they have sent me is a document that has clearly had signatures copied and pasted into it from elsewhere, which I can prove. It will be interesting to see whether it matches the documentation sent to HMRC.

Granniesue69

hi everyone, my husband found a message from a law company on his face book page informing everyone of tax refunds for PPI claims. Apparently the govt, charged tax on all claims and shouldn’t have done. The article invites you to click here and supply all your details. I haven’t done this, Uber suspicious of unsolicited messages, but is this true? Are we due tax refunds on PPI claims and if so , does the company who originally and successfully dealt with our claim, have any claim to any refund.
we are both retired and haven’t paid tax in the last four years. The claim was made and fulfilled last year.
any advice as to whether we should do anything would be most welcome.

[Deleted User]

Granniesue69 said:

Uber suspicious of unsolicited messages, but is this true? 

What is Uber's involvement in your PPI complaint and why are they so suspicious?

If you paid tax on the redress and believe you were under the threshold, then simply reclaim it yourself.  

Never reply to any cold callers. Remember that half of what you see on Facebook is a scam.  And so is the other half.

HampshireH

Derventio_Dave said:

Deleted_User said:

Derventio_Dave said:

Neither my wife or I gave any authorisation of any sort for anyone to make a claim on my behalf. I have signed no paperwork.

I have not, as you put it, conveniently forgotten the website. I know exactly what the website was but I am not going to name the company involved on a public forum at this stage. I have seen no terms of service or statement of fees.

This company has plainly submitted a claim under false pretense. Incidentally, I have been trying to contact the company involved by phone and email but they refuse to respond. Furthermore, we haven't seen a penny of the money, yet.

You're missing the important subtext here - as ever with disputes there is your view, their view and the truth sits somewhere between the two. The firm clearly believes they have a valid contract to get the money on your behalf. Now there could be one of a few things here - maybe when your wife did the survey she did more than you are aware and actually did do some sort of contract and you aren't aware of this. Maybe they wrongly believed they had the power to act. The fact that HMRC are dealing with this company means they must have some sort of authority to act on your behalf (such as a letter of authority) else they'd have told the firm to jog on.

You're ignoring the advice you have been given here - you need to ask HMRC for their paperwork and you need to ask the firm to provide their records (DSAR if you have to). Then you can determine if she did sign up with them or not. If she did, it's one of those things, suck it up. If she didn't then you can complain formally to the firm, then take the complaint to their ombudsman if needed. Keep in mind that evidence will trump your opinion e.g. the firm providing an agreement your wife signed up to will destroy any argument you want to make about not signing up to use them. If they can't provide an agreement, you can start the process of demanding the money back and removing the deed.

I have posted on here looking for advice and for the most part, all I have had is people making assumptions.

I have not missed any subtext here. I have taken the advice given to ask the HMRC to send me a copy of the Deed of Assignment.

My wife and I are still married. Nowhere have I stated that she is my ex wife!

I am not trying to wriggle out of paying any fees.

I simply want control of my tax affairs back and I want to know how a company can get that authority from me, without my consent.

I have since asked for copies of the paperwork supposedly signed, from the company involved. What they have sent me is a document that has clearly had signatures copied and pasted into it from elsewhere, which I can prove. It will be interesting to see whether it matches the documentation sent to HMRC.

Where would they have got your signatures from to copy and paste them

[Deleted User]

That is one of the things I am trying to find out.