Taxpayers reported almost 75,000 scam emails in six months earlier this year, marking a massive increase in known phishing attempts by tax fraudsters.
HMRC was notified of 74,743 scam messages between April and September: a 70% rise on the equivalent period in 2013.
The Revenue worked with other law enforcement agencies over the same months to close more than 4,000 websites responsible for sending the emails, which promised a tax refund in return for the recipient’s name, address, date of birth, bank and credit card details.
Open and closed issues in summary
HMRC are set to launch a test version of their latest web tool for tax advisers, as the department continues to ramp up its digital services.
The offering known as agent online self-serve (AOSS) will be made available by the end of the year to volunteers, to provide access to details of employer PAYE clients’ tax liabilities and payments.
Users will experience:
HMRC’s have moved all of their self assessment (SA) guidance to the GOV.UK domain, as part of the ongoing migration of information from the Revenue’s own site.
The department has pledge to “make sure nothing gets lost during this transition”, and bookmarked links will automatically redirect to a page on either the government web hub or, in cases of outdated details, the National Archives site.
Update on the migration of content from HMRC’s website to GOV.UK
Payroll Alliance wants examples of diminished information on GOV.UK
Employer Bulletin 48 published
Springfield China Ltd (TC3508)
HMRC are set to hold a series of live webinars for tax agents and advisers throughout June and July.
The first session, scheduled for Wednesday (18 June), will provide practical guidance on how penalties will be applied under the existing regime for inaccuracies in information in documents and returns supplied to the Revenue.
The webinars will run for approximately 45 minutes to cover:
HMRC should design all future services with agents in mind, says review
HMRC are offering online tutorials to help landlords understand when and how to pay tax on property they let out.
The digital training pack is part of the Revenue’s let property campaign launched in September.
The disclosure opportunity aims at people who rent out residential property and have either not registered to pay tax, under-declared their earnings or under-paid tax.