A firm that charged taxpayers significant sums to claim for tax refunds has been stopped from operating, as regulations targeting third-party agents begin to bite.
Tax Credits Ltd (TCL) can no longer trade as a repayment agent after HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) found it had committed anti-money-laundering breaches.
As a result of breaching the regulations, which are predominantly designed to prevent businesses being exploited by criminals to launder money, it is now a criminal offence for TCL to trade as a tax repayment agent.
The move comes weeks after HMRC outlined greater protections for customers after receiving nearly 75,000 reports of bogus tax rebates in 2022.
Taxpayers can use repayment agents to make claims for repayment of tax and, while many customers are happy with the service they receive, a large number have complained about the lack of transparency in agents’ processes for signing up clients and high charges for using their services.
In recent years, Raw Deal has received a number of complaints from readers about high fees charged by third-party tax agents.
Angela MacDonald, HMRC’s deputy chief executive, said: “We will not allow a small number of bad actors to tarnish the reputation of the whole tax agent sector.
“It is crucial taxpayers understand the entitlements they can claim directly from HMRC and are properly protected from the misleading tactics used by some repayment agents. The greater protections we’re bringing in will help to stop people unwittingly losing their hard-earned money to misleading agents.”
About 11,000 TCL clients, whose claims had been paused during the investigations, will now receive their tax refund directly from HMRC. HMRC will contact all affected clients by the end of March. Refunds will be made automatically – customers do not need to contact HMRC.
HMRC unveiled a package of measures last month which included stopping the use of legally binding “assignments” that transfer the benefit of the taxpayer’s repayments to the agent, improving agent standards, and a requirement for repayment agents to register with HMRC.
HMRC urges anyone thinking of using a tax repayment agent to carefully consider their options when appointing a tax adviser to act on their behalf. Taxpayers are urged to do their research before committing to anything, and are reminded that they, not the agent, are ultimately responsible for their tax affairs.
People are advised to be careful when clicking on online ads as some unscrupulous repayment agents have made their customer sign-up pages appear to be mere requests for more information. Anyone who thinks they are owed a tax rebate can make a claim direct with HMRC via gov.uk. They can do this for free and will receive 100% of any refund.
If a taxpayer can show a tax repayment agent has made an invalid claim with HMRC on their behalf, they can contact HMRC.
Katherine Hart, lead officer with the Chartered Trading Standards Institute in Scotland, welcomed the news third-party firms were now under scrutiny and urged Scots to be careful if using these services.
She said that, while it can seem convenient to have someone else make a claim for you, you could end up paying excessive fees.
“We have come across some third-party claim companies who charge 50% commission or more to get tax rebates people could have claimed themselves for nothing,” she said.
“Others say they have to keep chasing some companies for their money after it has been collected and some don’t see their share for months, if at all.”
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