Are you paying fraudsters when calling HMRC?

HMRC have revealed that they have 'saved the public over £2.4m' by tackling fraudsters that trick the public into using premium rate phone numbers for services that HMRC provide for free.

Scammers create websites that look similar to HMRC's official site, and then direct the public to call numbers with extortionate costs, in comparison to the low cost or no cost services HMRC provide. These sites promote non-HMRC premium rate phone numbers as a means of reaching HMRC, but these are merely call forwarding services which connect callers to HMRC at a significant price.

HMRC's own 0300 numbers are mostly free, or charged at the national landline rate. In other cases, fraudulent sites charge for forwarding information to HMRC, which can be delivered free of charge through HMRC's own website.

Please take care when contacting HMRC, to ensure you are using their contact numbers and services, by checking their website hmrc.gov.uk

If you would like to discuss this or anything else, please contact your usual Monahans tax adviser.