HMRC has published the following guidance on their website:
Every year, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) has to visit a small number of customers who have not paid their tax or arranged to repay overpayments of tax credits, in order to collect the debt. Visits are undertaken by Debt Management and Banking's Field Force Collectors and can take place at a customer's home or business premises. Advance warning is always provided to a customer that a visit may take place if a debt is not paid. However, when faced with an unknown caller on the doorstep, our customers may still be concerned. To provide a safeguard against bogus callers in these situations, HMRC has introduced a new Field Force Verification Helpline, so that a customer can easily check whether or not a caller on their doorstep claiming to be from HMRC is, in fact, genuine.
To access the helpline, customers should follow these simple steps:
Ask to see the Collector's photo ID Make a note of the ID number on the photo ID call 0300 200 3862 Provide HMRC with the ID number you've noted
Our operators will then be able to confirm to you whether or not your caller is genuinely an HMRC Collector.
To help to explain the purpose of the visit and the rights and responsibilities of customers, we have also produced a new leaflet. Every customer visited, from 13 August onwards, will be given a copy of this by the Collector on arrival at the customer's premises. This also includes the Field Force Verification Helpline number. The number is also listed at our website.
Field Force Verification Helpline
Tax rebate scam results in five arrests
3 September 2013
Five men have been arrested and are accused of setting up false self-assessment accounts from June 2012 with the aim of stealing half a million in tax rebates.
In a BBC News report HMRC said that its online systems proved extremely resilient to these attacks and that they correctly identified and prevented the vast majority of false repayment attempts from the outset.
HMRC said its investigators had worked closely with their counterparts in Italy to secure his arrest.
The five men were arrested in London, at Stansted airport and in Chatham, Kent. One has been charged with cheating the Revenue and four have been bailed. The individual who was charged was detained at Stansted on Saturday afternoon after getting off a flight from Italy. HMRC said in the report, "These arrests clearly demonstrate that we can, and will, apprehend those suspected of attempting to cheat UK taxpayers by defrauding HMRC, with international assistance if necessary."
CIPP comment
Many members over the last few years have reported suspicious tax rebate emails to the CIPP and we have always reiterated HMRC’s advice about reporting any suspicion of fraud, however minor it may seem.
CIPP Policy News Journal
16/04/2014, Page 164 of 519
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