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Received an HMRC Tax Refund Email? It’s probably a Phishing Scam!

May 12, 2016/in Advice, HM Revenue and Customs, HMRC, Phishing, Scams, Tax, Tax refunds/by Mark

Several Taxfile customers have recently told us that they’ve been receiving emails, supposedly from HMRC, inviting them to click links within the emails in order to apply for tax refunds. Regrettably, some have confirmed that they did indeed click the links then log onto fake HMRC websites, which looked every bit real to them, thereby giving away such sensitive information as their bank details and things like their mother’s maiden name. Handing over such sensitive information to fraudsters would be an expensive mistake. In view of this, we thought we’d give our readers more information on what to look out for, what to expect to receive from HMRC, and what not to.

Firstly: How to Recognise a Scam Email

Here is an example of a real phishing (scam) email recently received by one of our customers. We’ve highlighted various areas of the email to indicate some of the telltale signs that the email is, indeed, a phishing attempt by fraudsters rather than a genuine communication from HMRC.

Some of the many telltale signs that this email is fake include:

The sender is from a non-official domain (hmrcupdate.com is *not* a genuine HMRC website). Be careful, though, because some of the more advanced phishing emails do include genuine HMRC domains through what’s known as domain ‘spoofing’.
The recipient is not identified by name in either the ‘To’ field nor in the salutation (‘Dear Sir | Madam’ is a dead giveaway, as is the fact that the email was sent to ‘undisclosed recipients‘!). Genuine HMRC emails will always address you by the name you provided them.
Phishing emails often include silly errors that simply would not be published by the likes of HMRC. Under the logo, the date is wrong — it does not even mention a month!
The email states that you ‘are due some refunds‘ (plural). If HMRC did send emails announcing that a refund was available (and it doesn’t) then it would be singular, not plural! This is one of many hints that the sender has poor English (read on).
‘Press here‘ is another example of poor English. Of course, in the UK, we’d say ‘Click here’.
‘Povide us‘ is clearly spelt wrong — there should be an ‘r’ in ‘Provide’. Spelling errors are a common indication that the email is non-genuine and has instead come from overseas where English spelling and grammar are often not as accurate as they should be.
Further down it says ‘for refund‘ whereas it should say ‘for the refund’. Poor English/grammar again and another hint that this is a scam.
When you hover over the link included in the email (*without* clicking it), if your email application’s “status bar” is showing at the bottom of the screen, you can see where the link is pointing to. In this case it’s pointing to a goo.gl domain and this simply wouldn’t be the case if this was a genuine HMRC email.
Lastly, the email states that you have only 5 days to action the request. That is yet another telltale sign that this is a phishing scam. Fraudsters try to panic you into acting whereas HMRC would not make such a statement in a genuine email.

So you can see, when you look very carefully, that this is clearly a scam email. However, we should warn readers that other phishing emails are not so obvious. In fact, we’ve seen some real improvements in scam emails in recent months. One recent email was so genuine-looking that we’re not even 100% sure ourselves whether it’s a scam or not.

So what do you do if you are still not sure if an email is genuine?

If, after close scrutiny, you are still not sure whether the email is genuine, there are several things you can do … Read more

A Great Choice of Cloud-based Accounts Software Packages

April 8, 2016/in Accountancy, Accounts, Bookkeeping, Cash flow, expenditure, expenses, FreeAgent, Limited company, Sage, Software packages, South London, Special Offers, Tax, Tax calculation, Taxfile, Xero/by Mark

Sign Up & Your Favourite Charity Gets £25 Too!

[UPDATE: Please note that this offer has now expired]. If you are a limited company client that signs up to a new cloud accounting software subscription from Taxfile, we’ll donate £25 to your favourite charity. So, as well as saving yourself time and making your life easier, you’ll get a warm glow from making the world that little bit better! The accounting software packages that we currently offer and recommend are FreeAgent, Xero and Sage One, which are all leading accounts packages.

With any of the 3 cloud-based packages you’ll be able to:

Create and send invoices from within the software;
Automatically chase payments;
View real time cash-flow;
Track time and expenses;
Monitor Profit and loss;
Forecast your tax liability;
Connect and automatically import your bank statement data straight into the software;
And much more!

Best of all, though, will be the time-saving benefits that you’ll get from professional accounting packages like these. With the software working hard for you in the background, you’ll have more time to get on with something else.

Contact Ryan, our resident accounts package specialist, for advice on which package will best suit you and your specific circumstances. He’ll be able to walk you through the details of the many features and benefits of each package as well as any further information you require. Ryan can be contacted on the usual Taxfile number: 0208 761 8000 or, if preferred, fill in an enquiry form here and Ryan will call you back at a time that suits you.

Save money & hassle with our latest PDF newsletter!

November 17, 2015/in 2014, 2015, 2016, Accountancy, Accountants, Buy to let, CIS, Construction Industry Scheme, Deadline, expenditure, Filing deadlines, Furnished Holiday Lettings, Key dates, Landlords, Lettings income, penalties, Refund, Self-assessment, Subcontractor, Tax, Tax advice, Tax refunds, Tulse Hill/by Mark

Check out our latest A4 newsletter — which is jam-packed with ways to save money when dealing with your tax affairs and is more comprehensive than our recent e-newsletter. Savings include our 5% Early Bird discount for help with your tax return or accounts before Christmas, our offer to reduce your Taxfile bill by a further 12½% if you introduce a friend who then becomes a Taxfile client, a shout out to all sub-contractors in the construction industry who, if they act fast, can have their CIS tax refunds in time for Christmas, plus Key Dates in the tax calendar, a warning to Landlords — and a whole lot more.

Download the newsletter here (Acrobat PDF format – right-click to save the PDF to your hard drive then open it in Acrobat Reader or alternatively left-click the link to view the newsletter directly in most browsers).

Beat The January Rush and Save!

November 11, 2015/in 2015, Accountancy, Accountants, CIS, Construction Industry Scheme, Refund, Save money, Self-assessment, Self-employed, South London, Subcontractor, Tax advice, Tax advisers, Tax refunds, Tax returns, Tulse Hill/by Mark

TaxFile are offering a 5% reduction for clients who can submit their accounts to us before December 21st this year. This helps both of us — you receive a 5% reduction in your bill and it eases the rush in the New Year, our busiest time.

For example you could use this opportunity to reduce our charges for help with your self-assessment tax return submission if you’re self-employed, or for help with your CIS tax refund application if you’re a sub-contractor working in the construction industry, or if you’re one of our many clients who simply require tax advice and accountancy-related assistance from time to time.

Don’t delay – this discount is only available for a few weeks so call us on 020 8761 8000 or call into our Tulse Hill branch in SE21 for a chat and we’ll be delighted to help. You can also email us by clicking here or alternatively you can make an appointment with one of our tax agents here.

Want to save money before Christmas?

November 5, 2015/in Accountancy, CIS, Discount, Save money, Self-assessment, Tax refunds, Tax returns, Taxfile, Tulse Hill/by Mark

Check out Taxfile’s latest e-newsletter to find out our latest tax news and easy ways you can save money — but only if you act fast.

Taxfile’s friendly staff are always available to help on all matters regarding tax and if you come in before 21st December we’ll give you a discount – check out the e-newsletter for full details and other ways to save even more. Up to date bulletins can also be found here on our tax blog.

If you’d like to save money on your self-assessment or tax refund, including CIS refunds for sub-contractors, call into Taxfile’s Tulse Hill Branch in SE21, or telephone 020 8761 8000. You can also contact Taxfile online here or book a free introductory appointment with a tax advisor here.

If you’d like to be included in our future e-newsletter mail-outs, please click here. We only send a few each year and you can unsubscribe at any time with a simple mouse-click. Your details will, of course, not be passed on to anyone else — they are only used to send out our own newsletters and tax news.

Airbnb in HMRC crack-down on hidden income from renting out rooms

Hosts renting out rooms to be targeted by HMRC

September 23, 2015/in Higher rate tax payers, HMRC, Information sharing, Land and property, Landlords, Lettings income, London, Rent a Room Scheme, South London, Tax, Tax advice, Tax advisers, Tulse Hill/by Mark

Hosts who rent out a spare room could soon see themselves being straddled with an unexpected tax bill if companies like ‘Airbnb’ are forced to share data with UK authorities.

Airbnb, the website that allows you to list, find or rent a room in a private residence, has announced that it now has to share details of its users’ rental profits with the tax authorities in Ireland. Airbnb was already required to share this information in America but, until now, has not been required to do so in the UK. However, HMRC are cracking down on unpaid tax from hidden income and this may result in companies like Airbnb soon having to share details of income earned by its UK customers.

Airbnb, which has headquarters in Ireland and America, say they are not currently governed by the same legalities in the UK and so will not be reporting income automatically in the UK but, as part of its crack-down on unpaid taxes, HMRC has said it will be approaching intermediaries like Airbnb for data on their clients. Read more

Received a ‘P800 tax calculation’ from HRMC in the post?

August 19, 2015/in P800, Tax, Tax calculation, Tax liability, Tax overpayment, Tax underpayment/by Mark

If you have paid either too much or too little tax during the financial year, HMRC will send you a ‘P800 Tax Calculation’ some time between now and October 2015.

If you’ve paid too much tax

If you’ve paid too much tax then you will receive a cheque for the overpayment within 2 weeks of the P800 being issued.

If you’ve paid too little tax

If you’ve paid too little then the P800 will explain how much you owe and how HMRC intend to collect it. Usually this will be by adjusting your tax code so that the tax is recouped via future tax on earnings, however exceptions to this would include, for example, a situation where the taxpayer is now unemployed, in which case HMRC would explain alternative options for paying the money due. Read more

Summer Budget 2015 – Key Tax Takeaways

July 17, 2015/in 2015, Annual Investment Allowance, Budget, Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, National Minimum Wage, Non-domiciled residents, South London, Tax advice, Tax advisers/by Mark

The Summer Budget was announced last week and in this blog post we’ll take a look at only those changes which will affect ordinary taxpayers and SMEs.

In his opening remarks, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, promised:

A Budget … to keep moving us from a low wage, high tax, high welfare economy; to the higher wage, lower tax, lower welfare country.

So, taking each of those goals in turn …

Higher Minimum Wages

With regard to the higher wages promise, Osborne announced that there would be a new National Living Wage of £7.20 per hour from April 2016 for those aged over 25 and over, rising to more than £9 per hour by the year 2020.

Lower Tax

With regard to the lower tax promise, the Personal Allowance (the amount people can earn before paying any tax) will increase – as anticipated – from £10,600 in the financial year 2015-16 to £11,000 in 2016-17. A longer term plan is to increase this still further to £12,500 by 2020. The ultimate ambition is pass a law to make sure that those working 30 hours a week and earning the National Minimum Wage will pay no tax whatsoever, although clearly this will need further clarification in due course.

Dividend tax will also be reformed. Here the existing dividend tax credit (this reduces tax paid on dividends from shares) will be replaced by a new £5,000 tax-free allowance on income from shares from April 2016 and this will be available to all taxpayers. To offset the cost of this to the Exchequer, those with more significant dividend income will see an increase in the tax rate they pay.

Inheritance tax will also be subject to changes from 2017-18. The idea is to allow individuals to each have a ‘family home allowance’ which they can pass on to their children or grandchildren, tax-free, when they die. This allowance will be added to the existing Inheritance Tax threshold currently set at £325k and will potentially allow property up to the value of £1m to be passed down from 2020-21 (see table below). For those with estates valued over £2m the allowance will be gradually withdrawn.

This is how the effective Inheritance Tax thresholds will look in 2020-21: Read more

Case Study: a high rate taxpayer in a complex tax situation

June 30, 2015/in Case Studies/by Mark

The Client

A new client, Mr ‘K’, is a higher rate taxpayer who previously used to file his own tax returns.

The Problem

Mr K got into a complicated financial situation in 2013/14 due to having received redundancy pay, severance pay waiver, investment income, PAYE income and pension income. He needed professional guidance and advice regarding his tax liability.

The Solution

Taxfile looked into all the records and correspondence regarding the redundancy and severance pay so as to make sure of the right tax treatment for each. We also calculated the various tax rates for each type of income and advised that the remaining tax liability should be collected through the tax code system.

The Result

The client was reassured that the tax calculation was done professionally and accurately and was able to pay the right amount of tax in the most appropriate way.

Client Feedback

The client was impressed with how quick and efficient Taxfile’s service was and, as a result, is continuing to use our service now and into the future. Read more

Construction Industry Scheme (CIS): How to Claim a Tax Refund

March 24, 2015/in Accountancy, Advice, CIS, cis gross payments, CIS4, CIS5, CIS6, Construction Industry Scheme, Contractor, Contractor Monthly Return, Multilingual staff, National Insurance, New CIS, NI, NIC, Non-domiciled residents, Rebate, Refund, South London, Subcontractor, Tax, Tax refunds, Tulse Hill, UTR/by Mark

It’s now time to start the process of claiming your tax refund if you are a subcontractor working within the construction industry and have been paying tax, in advance, through the Construction Industry Scheme (‘CIS’). In this article we will tell you how you qualify and how to claim your tax refund. First, though, a little bit of background to the scheme:

The CIS Scheme

The Construction Industry Scheme, or CIS, is a scheme whereby a contractor in the construction industry usually deducts a proportion of the money due to their subcontractor, at source. The deducted amount is then passed direct to HMRC and counts towards the subcontractor’s tax and National Insurance, the tax element effectively being paid in advance. The exact proportion deducted depends on whether the subcontractor concerned has registered under the CIS system. If the subcontractor has not registered, the deduction will usually be made at a rate of 30%. If they have already registered, then the deduction will usually be made at a rate of 20%. Either way, by the financial year end, the amount of tax deducted at source will usually end up being more than they really needed to have paid, simply because it won’t have factored in the personal allowance which every UK taxpayer is entitled to (most UK citizens can earn up to £10,000 before paying tax at time of writing, this figure being set to rise to £10,600 in the tax year 2015-16, 10,800 a year later then increasing to £11,000 by 2017-18 following the recent budget proposals). Hence, many subcontractors in the construction industry will be due a tax refund because of the overpayment. The good news is that the time to apply for the refund is pretty much now, so get in touch if you’d like our help claiming.

What kind of work does CIS cover?

You qualify to be in the CIS system if you are a subcontractor who supplies construction work to buildings. This includes labouring, decorating, site preparation and refurbishment but excludes things like architecture, surveying services, the hire of scaffolding without labour, the fitting of carpets, the delivery of materials, and finally non-construction type services such as site facilities (canteens etc.).

What if your business is not in the UK?

Even if your business is abroad, the same rules apply if you work as a subcontractor within the UK. However there are some slightly different rules regarding the treatment of taxation for non-resident workers from countries which have ‘Double Taxation’ treaties with the UK (we can, of course, also help with that — just get in contact).

Registering for CIS

If you haven’t already registered for CIS as a sub-contractor, Taxfile can help to do this for you. You’ll need to be registered for Self Assessment (we can also help with this) and this will give you your UTR (unique taxpayer reference) number. We’ll also need your name, National Insurance number, your legal business/trading name and contact details. Once registered with CIS one of the immediate benefits will be that you’ll then have tax deductions made at the 20% rate rather than at 30%, which would otherwise be the case. If your business is a legal partnership you will also need to register it for CIS but this would need to be done in addition to being registered as an individual or sole trader. Of course, Taxfile can help with that too. Once you have been registered with CIS and have passed certain eligibility criteria, it is also possible to apply for ‘gross payment status’ meaning that you’ll then be paid by the contractor without the usual ‘at source’ deductions. Instead you’ll need to pay any outstanding tax and National Insurance at the financial year end; however HMRC will review your business each year to check that you still qualify for this status (paying tax late and/or submitting returns late would put your gross payment status at risk).

Offsetting Expenses against your tax

Taxfile can also help you to offset certain expenses against your subcontractor income. This means that any tax refund will be larger — or any tax outstanding will be lower. We can offset Read more

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