Member Article

Be vigilant with your online HMRC accounts.

Tax Director of the Liverpool office, Dave Waddington, is encouraging individuals and businesses to take extra care when accessing their online HMRC account.

Dave said “Many people will be aware of ‘phishing’ email scams, whereby HMRC are purportedly contacting taxpayers by email to inform them of a tax refund. HMRC has stated that taxpayers will never be contacted via email communication with respect to any potential tax refunds.

More worrying, is that HMRC have now been writing to taxpayers to notify them of unauthorised access to their online HMRC account. In the cases I am aware of, the taxpayer has not been subject to any financial loss, but it is possible that the taxpayer data may have been accessed and compromised.“

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Dave added “There will also be cases whereby the unauthorised access is aimed at directing tax refunds to the bank accounts of the persons who are accessing a taxpayer’s online account.

All taxpayers need to be aware of the online security risk within HMRC and take steps to protect their online HMRC account and of course any suspect or fraudulent activity should be reported without delay to HMRC. If you are unsure as to whether something is fraudulent or not, please contact us in the first instance to discuss.“

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Haines Watts Liverpool Limited .