HMRC is urging their Self Assessment customers to be vigilant of fraudsters and scams asking for personal information or bank details.
Self Assessment customers, who are starting to think about their annual tax returns for the 2021 to 2022 tax year, should guard against being targeted by fraudsters, warns HMRC. At this time of year, fraudsters are particularly active since they know that many of us are awaiting genuine communications from HMRC. They hope that by targeting us at this time of year, we will be more likely to be fooled by their scams.
Criminals claiming to be from HMRC have targeted individuals by email, text and phone with their communications ranging from offering bogus tax rebates to threatening arrest for tax evasion. While most of us would think twice about whether it really was HMRC ringing up to arrest us, some scams can be much more subtle, and in particular people who have not done a Self Assessment return previously might be tricked into clicking on links in emails or texts and revealing personal or financial information to criminals.
If you are contacted by someone claiming to be from HMRC in a way that arouses suspicion do not respond until you have checked the scams advice from HMRC and are certain the communication is genuine. Your accountant can advise you as to the type of communications you should expect to receive from HMRC, when these are likely to come, and through what methods.
You can report any suspicious activity to HMRC through the following methods:
Forward suspicious texts to 60599
Forward suspicious emails to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk.
Report phone calls using the HMRC online form.