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

Silvertabby

Derventio_Dave said:

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

It could be an electronic signature, not a facsimile of your actual signature.

We have just bought a new car, and the garage sent umpteen documents for Mr S to 'sign' and return.  In each case, he just typed his name in the box and the document software converted the script into a legible 'signature'.  Nothing like his actual signature.

OP, is it possible that you or your wife thought that you were just asking for information, but 'signed' a contract instead?  And you must have supplied your NI numbers to enable the claims company to be able to act on your behalf.

I'm not saying that company is in the right - as far as I'm concerned they are all a bunch of leeches - just that this case may not be as clear cut as you think.

[Deleted User]

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.

You asked for advice and were given advice, the problem is you keep coming back and asking questions which no-one can answer and ignoring the advice. I didn't say your wife was an ex, you're confusing me with another poster. No-one has said you are trying to wiggle out of fees, but rather that is how the claims firm see it.
 
As you have been told several times, you need to complain formally to the firm - however, they will counter with the signatures etc. I would really recommend you talk to your wife and get the full story as clicking on a facebook advert does not equal the firm having a signed deed that HMRC accepted as proof they were able to represent you.

Then when all that is sorted, you can escalate the complaint to the ombudsman with your proof of their wrongdoing and hopefully get a refund, or the ombudsman will accept the firm's version of events and close the complaint.

[Deleted User]

Silvertabby said:

Derventio_Dave said:

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

It could be an electronic signature, not a facsimile of your actual signature.

We have just bought a new car, and the garage sent umpteen documents for Mr S to 'sign' and return.  In each case, he just typed his name in the box and the document software converted the script into a legible 'signature'.  Nothing like his actual signature.

OP, is it possible that you or your wife thought that you were just asking for information, but 'signed' a contract instead?  And you must have supplied your NI numbers to enable the claims company to be able to act on your behalf.

I'm not saying that company is in the right - as far as I'm concerned they are all a bunch of leeches - just that this case may not be as clear cut as you think.

This could actually be the case and then the company copied this signature on to other documents. So basically, they can put this signature on any document they see fit, regardless of whether we have actually seen it, with any terms, conditions and fees they choose and my wife and I would be non the wiser. Great. So they could just submit another Deed of Assignment at any time to collect anything that is owed to me and I wouldn't even know. Or they could use this signature on any document they see fit in order for financial gain. How is this legal?

[Deleted User]

Granniesue69 said:

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.

Tax on the INTEREST element of the PPI refund are done by the bank automatically, nothing to do with the government and it was not done incorrectly - most people are entitled to earn interest tax free each year but if your interest earnings takes you above the threshold then you owe tax - so it's simpler to charge the tax and then you reclaim what you owe.
Just fill in the normal tax refund R40 form for the interest, you don't need a firm to do it for you.
Remember when you do the form, your tax is JUST on the interest, the PPI refund itself is not taxed and you should not declare this.

JimmyTheWig

Dazed_and_C0nfused 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 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 🤔

If it was a case of "click here to sign the agreement" then there's nothing to suggest that the wife couldn't have clicked, pretending that she was the husband...

Dazed_and_C0nfused

JimmyTheWig said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused 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 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 🤔

If it was a case of "click here to sign the agreement" then there's nothing to suggest that the wife couldn't have clicked, pretending that she was the husband...

Let's hope the op is the forgiving type 🙂

JimmyTheWig

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

JimmyTheWig said:

Dazed_and_C0nfused 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 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 🤔

If it was a case of "click here to sign the agreement" then there's nothing to suggest that the wife couldn't have clicked, pretending that she was the husband...

Let's hope the op is the forgiving type 🙂

If not, he can sue his wife...