NEWS
September 30, 2024
Unfortunately, scam warnings have become a regular occurrence. The latest scam highlighted by HMRC is rather ‘old school’, involving letters posted to companies instead of the more usual digital communication.
The scam letters being sent out are quite convincing. They come with a genuine-looking HMRC letterhead, and purport to come from the ‘Indv and Small Business Compliance’ team.
Targeted companies
The scam focuses on the claim that a targeted company is required to verify their income in order to identify any business not declaring their full income. They then request:
- business bank statements for the past 13 months;
- the latest set of filed accounts, including information which – for smaller companies – would not be available from Companies House;
- VAT returns for the last four quarters; and
- for each director, a copy of their passport or driving licence.
Scammers can easily use copies of a director’s passport or driving licence to steal their identity for fraudulent purposes, possibly even accessing the company’s bank account.
The scam letter uses intimidation tactics, threatening an investigation and a potential freeze on business activity if a response is not received.
Spotting the scam
These scam letters use correct technical legislation and avoid obvious spelling and most linguistic mistakes that are usually clear giveaways. Two things to bear in mind when looking out for such frauds:
- HMRC does usually request information from companies by letter or via a business tax account, rather than by email.However, HMRC email addresses end @hmrc.gov.uk, while the email address used in these fraudulent letters is: companies-review@hmrc-taxchecks.org.
- A legitimate HMRC letter will include the company’s unique tax reference (UTR).
HMRC has published a list of their recent letters to help you confirm if a letter is genuine. The list can be found here.
Related articles
HMRC launches VAT registration estimator
PLEASE NOTE: By the very nature of this type of information the details of tax law might have changed since they were published, so contact your Barnes Roffe partner before acting on any matter contained in this document.
West London
3 Brook Business Centre,
Cowley Mill Road,
Uxbridge, UB8 2FX
T +44 (0) 1895 256423
East London
Leytonstone House,
Leytonstone,
London, E11 1GA
London, E11 1GA
T +44 (0) 20 8988 6100
South London
Charles Lake House, Claire Causeway, Crossways Business Park, Dartford DA2 6QA
T +44 (0) 1322 275335
London Bridge
1st Floor,
73–81 Southwark Bridge Road,
London, SE1 0NQ
73–81 Southwark Bridge Road,
London, SE1 0NQ
T +44 (0) 20 3814 9990
City London
46 New Broad Street,
London, EC2M 1JH
London, EC2M 1JH
T +44 (0) 20 3890 7360
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PLEASE NOTE: By the very nature of this type of information the details of tax law might have changed since they were published, so contact your Barnes Roffe partner before acting on any matter contained in these documents.
