Crafty taxman

[Arthurgray50@blu]

Has anyone on this forum, had a silly phone call from the taxman, about his deductions in salary.

I had a phone from the Inland Revenue on Friday, asking me various questions, and yes it was the taxman, as l had to call them back on the number on the tax letter, They asked me silly questions, like, what is your fav colour, what was you first car, and its colour, they asked me what my first ever wage was, did l know what my stoppages from last last pay packet were.

I have heard of secruity questions, but this is stupid, Has anyone else had this situation.

[Scarlett]

Scam, clear and simple.

When the taxman wants you he sends you a letter (generally saying "you owe me money." but he-ho) with a phone number to contact them if you have an issue with the letter. They have never phoned me and asked me for details.

When I did have contact with them they only ever wanted name address and date of birth to prove my identity.

BTW. I have my own limited company and generally have contact with the tax office 2/3 times a year. (I've obviously been bad in a former life )

[joglynne]

It sounds really strange to me Arthur.

I have been dealing with the Inland Revenue both on a professional and personal basis for many years and as Scarlett says all the Tax Man normally needs for confirmation is your name address and date of birth.

Extra questions would be your National Insurance number or Tax reference with maybe confirmation of the Tax reference of your current or a previous employer if your inquiry involved an tax issue concerning a PAYE problem that you were raising about that employer.

I hope you didn't give any banking details out.

[Stuart]

Originally Posted by Arthurgray50@blu

Has anyone on this forum, had a silly phone call from the taxman, about his deductions in salary.

I had a phone from the Inland Revenue on Friday, asking me various questions, and yes it was the taxman, as l had to call them back on the number on the tax letter, They asked me silly questions, like, what is your fav colour, what was you first car, and its colour, they asked me what my first ever wage was, did l know what my stoppages from last last pay packet were.

I have heard of secruity questions, but this is stupid, Has anyone else had this situation.

I'd say you've been scammed.

For a start the inland revenue don't (in my experience) call people. They will write to you if they have a problem for any reason.

For a second thing, how on earth would the Inland Revenue know your favourite colour was (unless you had filled it out on a form), and unless they are tied into the DVLA database (which *is* possible but I don't know if they are), they are unlikely to know what your first car was. However, seeing as every adult in this country pays tax to them at some point, but not every adult can drive, they are unlikely to use someone's first car as a security question.

Even if the letter does say the number, please bear in mind that fake HMRC letters are relatively easy to create using a computer, a copy of Word, a laser printer and a little ingenuity..

HMRC have some advice on fraud at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/fraud-attempts.htm (which is basically don't respond to it). Also, see http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/security/

[Julian]

Has anyone on this forum, had a silly phone call from the taxman, about his deductions in salary.

I had a phone from the Inland Revenue on Friday, asking me various questions, and yes it was the taxman, as l had to call them back on the number on the tax letter, They asked me silly questions, like, what is your fav colour, what was you first car, and its colour, they asked me what my first ever wage was, did l know what my stoppages from last last pay packet were.

I have heard of secruity questions, but this is stupid, Has anyone else had this situation.

Just out of interest Arthur, the number you had to phone back on didn't start with 090 did it?