HMRC say I work for someone that I dont!

jmb1

Don't know if this is the right forum, but this has happened to me twice now....

I have just received another letter from HMRC informing me of my tax code. I had one a couple of months ago. On there, along with my actual current employer there is some construction company listed. Dismayed, I contacted HMRC who said they were aware of it and have already removed it. Great, I thought, sorted. (They also locked access to my online personal tax account because of this, and a month later I still have no access, and no way to chase as they're still "investigating" the cause).

Today, another letter arrived, same as first but listing a different employer I've never heard of (another construction company). I contacted HMRC again who terrifyingly say they can actually see another three employers(!), besides my actual employer! They've said they are "referring" the case and I now just have to... wait.

Goes without saying I am very concerned about why this is happening and what affect it will have on my income tax (they say I'll be refunded for anything I overpay, but who knows how long that will take).

I apparently had my identity stolen in the past year only learning about it a few months ago when Klarna sent me a final demand for a purchase I knew nothing about. Klarna, eventually, say they've sorted that now. But I'm thinking it's all probably related

Any advice on anything else I can do here? Complain? Feels I am at their mercy whilst they "investigate further".

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Does sound worrying but has it actually resulted in a change to the tax code your genuine current employer is operating?

jmb1

Yes, for my (actual) current employer it states C1214L X replaces C1257L.
For the employer nothing to do with me it states CBR

Also states a tax free amount for actual, and a zero amount for the one nothing to do with me. Presumably because I've used my allowance in my real emploment.

Also says I owe £48.40 estimated tax and theyre reducing my tax free alowance by £422 to reclaim that by april 25.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

jmb1 said:

Yes, for my (actual) current employer it states C1214L X replaces C1257L.
For the employer nothing to do with me it states CBR

Also states a tax free amount for actual, and a zero amount for the one nothing to do with me. Presumably because I've used my allowance in my real emploment.

Also says I owe £48.40 estimated tax and theyre reducing my tax free alowance by £422 to reclaim that by april 25.

It seems an unusual thing to happen but I think, in the short term, you would be perfectly justified in insisting HMRC issued the original code again to your real employer so at least they use C1257L, not the lower code.

Marcon

jmb1 said:

I apparently had my identity stolen in the past year only learning about it a few months ago when Klarna sent me a final demand for a purchase I knew nothing about. Klarna, eventually, say they've sorted that now. But I'm thinking it's all probably related

Any advice on anything else I can do here? Complain? Feels I am at their mercy whilst they "investigate further".

Have you checked your credit report to make quite sure there's nothing on there that shouldn't be there? It's always a good idea to do so for some time after you've been the victim of identity theft, if only to set your mind at rest.

penners324

I'd write to the company claiming to be employing you and advise them that a new member of staff is using your NI code Fraudulently

FlyMeSomewhere79

I don't know if the OP has solved this yet but my partner has a situation where he got a letter from the DWP telling him he owed money for a benefit overpayment - as a full time employee of the NHS for the previous 20 years this came as a surprise! He also discovered huge chunks of his tax record was missing. It turned out that somebody had been able to set up a benefit claim using my partners name and national insurance number and our address! I was fuming that this could happen and that whoever set up the benefit claim could do this without any form of ID or anything!

In the end the tax office had to issue my partner a new NI number and reset his tax record back to what it should be! The funny thing is a few months previous he got a tax rebate cheque for £2000 but he didn't bank it because he felt it was a mistake somewhere because no way could he have overpaid tax to that degree. I'm guessing that given how things turned out, the rebate was because a benefit claimant was somehow matched to tax payment from my partners salary. Thank god the fraudster never got the cheque. I was angry because I thought what else is this person doing with my partner's identity? Was he or address going to end up blacklisted all because the benefit office never bothered to check ID and stop the fraud immediately!