Admin

Almost 51,000 phishing emails were reported to HMRC around 2014’s tax credit season – April to July – marking a 100% rise in the number for the same period the year before, official figures show.

The scam messages frequently offered a refund from a “tax credit office agent”, or included a link to a fake version of the GOV.UK website.

Recipients were often asked to provide bank details or similarly sensitive information. Fraudsters then tried to take money from their victims’ account, or sell the people’s identities to fellow criminals.

HMRC are working with the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD) to pilot new services for hearing-impaired taxpayers.

People who handle their own affairs but are unable to speak to the Revenue directly can contact a British sign language (BSL) interpreter via a webcam, and the interpreter will talk directly to a tax department adviser on the phone to create a three-way conversation.

CRC v GB Housley Ltd, Upper Tribunal

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Serve admin aces to your clients

HMRC want volunteers to help them test the agent online self-serve (AOSS) now that it has successfully moved to a private beta phase.

The tax department is set to launch an expanded view of employer clients PAYE accounts, which will provide a monthly breakdown of employers’ PAYE liabilities and how payments received have been allocated to each period.

Agents wishing to take part in the latest stage of testing should complete the questionnaire on the taxman’s blog.

Dates for your 2015 diary

J Herbert (TC4395)

HMRC will spend £45m to improve their call-handling performance, the department has announced.

The funds will pay for 3,000 additional staff to join public-facing service teams, which will be further expanded by around 2,000 Revenue employees transferred from other areas to help in the run-up to the tax credits deadline on 31 July.     

The department has also bought new equipment that allows calls to be switched to offices outside of contact centres, allowing more HMRC workers to answer the phone.

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