Businesses across the UK, including those operating in our industry, are being urged to be  vigilant after HMRC issued a warning that fraudsters posing as the tax authority are actively sending letters demanding confidential business information and bank statements.

The letter has a fake letterhead with the HMRC logo and pretends to have been sent from the ‘Indv and Small Business Compliance’ team.

While the letters look realistic, there are some signs that expose they are fake, including a dubious email address: companies-review@hmrc-taxchecks.org

All HMRC email addresses end with @hmrc.gov.uk.

It is also worth noting that HMRC rarely requests any information by email, with the default method of communication by letter or through the online portal and digital tax accounts.

The scammers falsely claim that the letter, which asks the recipient business to verify their financial information by sending a host of documents, is being sent as a result of a ‘government initiative aimed at verifying declared income’ to ‘prevent tax evasion and tax fraud’.

The fraudsters also request digital copies of everything from PDF copies of business bank statements for the last 13 months, VAT returns, filed accounts the full profit and loss accounts, which are not available on Companies House for smaller companies reporting under micro accounts or filleted accounts rules.

Furthermore, identity fraud, digital copies of passports or driving licences are also demanded by the fraudsters, with ‘paper copies and screen shots’ deemed unacceptable.

Sajid Ghufoor, director of tax investigations at Azets, who previously worked as a senior investigator for HMRC, said: “This is probably the best scam letter I have seen up until now. They have sought to use an HMRC team and use the right technical legislation and language – previously others have used non-UK tax legislation.

“If you provide the fraudsters with these details, there is a strong chance of identity theft taking place of both the company and directors in order to clear out bank accounts and open up the opportunity for VAT fraud.

“The aim of the request is to panic staff, so they unwittingly divulge sensitive financial information and, by doing so, become victims of fraud and more vulnerable to further fraud attempts.”