Hi
So, just found out that 4 of my clients have had tax returns submitted on their behalf I can only presume via our online services - password now changed and online services reviewing how breach occurred. Small firm so no rogue employees... we are dealing with all that now, however....
My issue is no-one at HMRC, Halifax, RBS, the Police or Action Fraud appear too bothered..
Returns have been created and CIS repayments been requested all for around £3,800 each. They are all false and I have gone through the agent dedicated line and cancelled all repayment claims.
Whoever did this put in bank details for the repayments to go to, so I phoned the banks - data protection sir, nothing we can do, speak to HMRC
- HMRC - Nothing we can do - report it to the police
- Police - Nothing we can do report t to ActionFraud
- ActionFraud - as HMRC are ones who would have been out of pocket report it to them
- RBS - Data protection sir, we cant go any further
- Halifax - Same
So someone has tried to claim nearly £16k fraudulently and I cant report the to anyone??
Surely I cant let this go...
Anyone else got any experience of how best to approach this?
Thanks
Related resources
Replies (7)
Please login or register to join the discussion.
we are all fraudsters inc.
Silly boy/girl
These entities do not exist to take on extra work .
lThey are there to consume Eccles cakes and copious amounts of tea.
( or in the case of bankers exotic cocktails)
We once had a tax cheque made out to HMRC that was "intercepted" and the bloke had written his own name on it with a sharpie over HMRC and cashed it into his own account. His own name! Police and banks just not bothered. Staggering really.
How.....
.... did you find out? Interested to know, as short of going through every client showing on my agent login, how do you keep tabs on this, or were you alerted when the letter dropped through the letterbox?
One of the clients tax returns would not file via our taxcalc software with error message saying one had already been filed.
I checked and sure enough one had..... Not by me or client. So went through one by one and found 3 others...
Printed returns off so we have all the details in case they somehow got deleted.
Going to try again with the police as only they have authority to get info from bank..
Crime Number
I find the police useful if you want a speeding ticket or a crime number. Or if you have any tea that you need sussling.
I like the circular route HMRC>Police>ActionFraud>HMRC
Maybe you should report it to the Council and ask them if you get a refund on the police precept of your rates, since you appear to be getting no service.
Fashions in fraud
There was a time when it seemed to be almost fashionable to defraud HMRC by MTIC (or 'carousel') VAT fraud. It seemed to be very easy to trigger staggeringly large 'VAT repayments' from HMRC just by submitting a form with a few (entirely bogus) numbers on it.
Many, many millions of pounds later HMRC got wise & stopped it.
But there does seem now to be a growing fashion of defrauding HMRC (by much smaller amounts) just by submitting a self-assessment income tax return with a few (entirely bogus) numbers on it.
The clever bits in these frauds are getting the UTRs & login details and (as with the MTIC fraud) having an arrangement which enables the fraudster to collect the money & vanish.
There is so much tax fraud (& other fraud) going on & so little resources in terms of skilled manpower to investigate & prosecute these offences that - a bit like speeding on a motorway - it is only the 'unlucky' few who get caught.
David
Fraud
Of course nobody is fussed about it. Digging through a Hatton Garden vault wall is easier than getting a CIS rebate from HMRC nowadays.