How do I tackle fraudulent use of a clients SA tax return?

How do I tackle fraudulent use of a clients SA...

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I had a letter from HMRC today, saying a bank transfer was being made for £2450.80 for the 2015 SA tax return (to a bank a/c not listed to my client)

Checking online - a SA was completed showing £32,000 earnings, £7,010 tax paid resulting in the refund.

Client is very nice lady who does house cleaning and is honest enough to do a SA even though most of her income is  cash. She came to me in a panic this evening - what's this all about, she says her husband couldn't have done it, no one visiting her house could have accessed her files.

My computer security is pretty good, one of the family is a computer security officer - so pretty hot on my security.

Any suggestions how I tackle this, and how are our beloved HMRC likely to respond - anyone had similar problem

Replies (8)

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David Winch
By David Winch
30th Apr 2015 23:27

Report it to HMRC pronto

Report it to HMRC initially.  It could simply be an innocent error - or it could be a fraud.

David

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By Cathy R
01st May 2015 08:06

Last year we had this happen to a few clients at the same time.  HMRC spotted them before the refunds were issued, it was a fraud, not undertaken by our clients.  HMRC advised us which clients were affected and the clients were issued with new UTRs.  As David has said, you should advise HMRc as soon as possible. 

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By buttercup books
02nd May 2015 09:53

Thank both for your comments.  I did of course report it to HMRC - who said "Oh - that's unusual- I'll have to refer to my manual to see what to do about it - oh yes - I'll get the fraud team to get in touch in  the next 5 days" - In the mean time we'll freeze the account - - good job it isn't January.

I had a PM from someone who had several clients hacked, which might be associated with a virus on her computer, so it is perhaps not that uncommon,

I've been right through my client list and no other clients have been hacked. This lady filed her own 2013 SA and the family concerned have a young teenager, who might well be playing the sort of computer games that invite virus' in.

 

Thanks again for your comments - we'll see what transpires - perhaps I'll blog the response.

BB

 

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By Marion Hayes
02nd May 2015 11:39

Innocent error

as David says is extremely possible at this time of year.

A paper return resulting in a refund must be the most common piece of post at the moment and if one number of UTR is mistyped ....

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7om
By Tom 7000
05th May 2015 18:00

call HMRC immediately

Last year we had this happen to a few clients at the same time.  HMRC spotted them before the refunds were issued, it was a fraud, not undertaken by our clients.  HMRC advised us which clients were affected and the clients were issued with new UTRs.  As David has said, you should advise HMRc as soon as possible

 

heard that from more than one accountant

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By buttercup books
05th May 2015 21:32

Thank you Tom,

 

Yes I did that  - I just hadn't come across the problem before and wondered how HMRC would deal with it - but having said "OHHH thats unusual" - clearly not - they simply said the account would be frozen to stop further fraud until the matter is investigated.  Someone will ring me within 5 days  - 

They did say - when someone gets a pay out like this they sometimes go back in and amend the SA to generate another pay out.

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By User deleted
06th May 2015 06:39

We came across this a few weeks ago when employees (unrepresented) of a particular hospital alleged that someone representing UKtaxrefund Ltd or something similar visited them and got a certain form signed, with the result that refunds genuinely due to them found their way to a certain bank account! I think that refund processing a big business and HMRC's systems are more mechanical in that respect.

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By buttercup books
08th May 2015 15:07

I've had several PMs that say they've had similar problems.

HMRC rang today to say that the file had been passed to the Records Protection Team who would be in touch........ but they were able to say that the fraudulent SA had been filed on line - this wasn't a paper filing.

 

 

 

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