Beware tax credit renewal scams

Archive for July, 2021

Beware tax credit renewal scams

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

Tax credits applicants should be vigilant and alert to potential scams, HMRC has warned.

In the 12 months to 30 April 2021, HMRC responded to more than 1,154,300 referrals of suspicious contact from the public. More than 576,960 of these offered bogus tax rebates.

In the same period, HMRC has worked with telecoms companies and Ofcom to remove more than 3,000 malicious telephone numbers, and with internet service providers to take down over 15,700 malicious web pages. HMRC responded to 443,033 reports of phone scams in total, up 135% on the previous year.

Anyone doing their tax credits renewal who has received a tax or benefits scam email or text might be tricked into thinking it was from HMRC and share their personal details with criminals, or even transfer money for a bogus overpayment.

HMRC’s Cyber Security Operations identifies and closes down scams every day. The department has pioneered the use in government of technical controls to stop its helpline numbers being spoofed, so that fraudsters can no longer make it appear that they are calling from those HMRC numbers.

What is the Unclaimed Estates List?

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

If an individual dies and for whatever reason executors or the Treasury Solicitor’s department are unable to track down beneficiaries, the unclaimed estate falls under the care of the Bona Vacantia and Government Legal Department.

The Division publishes a list of unclaimed estates which have been recently referred, but not yet administered, and historic cases which have been administered but not yet been claimed within the time limits for doing so.

You can view the unclaimed estates list by following the download link at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/unclaimed-estates-list.

In a recent announcement, government sources provided the following advice on this process:

Some people have experienced an intermittent problem downloading the Unclaimed estates list. We are investigating the cause of the issue.

The list is published in a Comma Separated Values (CSV) file format. This acts like a spreadsheet and although it can be opened in any text editor it is best viewed in a spreadsheet application, such as Microsoft Excel, Google Docs or OpenOffice Calc.

If you are looking for a particular estate you can search by using Ctrl-F in your browser, text editor or spreadsheet application.

The list is updated every working day and newly advertised estates appear at the top of the list. After one day of publication, new estates drop into the rest of the list in alphabetical order.

Any estates where the Bona Vacantia division (BVD) no longer has an interest, for example, when a claim to an estate has been admitted, will be removed daily. Estates where the 30-year time limit from the date of death has expired are also removed.

July 19th – normality to be resumed?

Thursday, July 1st, 2021

Release from social distancing restrictions, in England, is deferred until 19 July 2021, which for most of us, means no change up to that date. We are still required to work from home when we can and maintain the other Step 3 social distancing provisions.

However, there are a few additional concessions that will apply up to the 19th. We have summarised these below:

  • The 30-person gathering limit for weddings, receptions and commemorative events is removed and replaced with any limits set by venues to maintain social distancing guidelines.
  • An extension of pilots for large events at higher capacities, including some at full capacity such as the Wimbledon finals.
  • Easing rules in care homes, including removal of the requirement for residents to isolate for 14 days after visits out.
  • Allowing out-of-school settings to organise residential visits in bubbles of up to 30 children, in line with the current position for schools.

Fingers crossed that come the 19th, infection rates will be under control, and we really can start to get back to normal. Anyone remember what that was like?

testimonial
testimonial2
testimonial3
testimonial4
testimonial5
testimonial6