Unauthorised access affects 0.2% of individual taxpayers

Scammers stole £47m from HMRC as a result of unauthorised access to taxpayers’ accounts that took place last year HMRC revealed during a Treasury committee meeting.

HMRC bosses told MPs that it is in the process of contacting 100 000 individuals after their accounts were locked down because they had noticed an anomaly in them earlier this year.

They suffered no financial loss said HMRC first permanent secretary J P Marks although there was the loss to taxpayers. This was organised crime phishing for identity data ‘outwith’ HMRC systems and trying use that data to create PAYE accounts to obtain a repayment and/or access an existing account. He said criminal investigations are under way including in jurisdictions outside the UK with arrests made in the past year.

HMRC deputy chief executive officer Angela MacDonald stressed that...