HMRC claiming employment expenses back

[strong123]

Please can anyone advise.

my husband was referred by a friend to a company that claimed employment expenses for individuals who are employed and on PAYE..

he contacted said company who did indeed claim employment expenses for him through HMRC.

Roll on 4 years later. HMRC have contacted my husband stating the the claim was incorrect and that he would have to pay the money back (Going back as far as 6 years) including interest. He explained that the claim was made through a company, that they had done it and he wasn't aware of anything that shouldn't have been claimed for. He has reported it as fraud, and has a fraud number but hmrc have made it very clear that its his responsibility. Now they want him to pay £3765.32 by 12 August!!

He has explained he cannot afford to pay that and they have told him all he can do is appeal, but whilst the appeal is going through daily interest of 7.5% will be added.

Please please can anyone advise?

Many thank.

[islandgirl]

Does the company still exist?

[strong123]

Yes they do unfortunately.
Since doing some digging, they have done this to thousands of people. They claim for expenses that we and it seems others are completely unaware of. They take 24% but we are liable for the full amount.
reading other reviews it states by many they are being investigated, by hmrc and police...

[strong123]

Also just to add, whilst we feel the company that made the false claim should be liable as not at any time was my husband made aware of what the expenses were that they were claiming for, and my husband is a victim. We did offer to make monthly payments as we couldn't afford the full amount and hmrc said the longest term they could offer was 4 months. We can already barely afford to live as it is!

[islandgirl]

Just so we understand - how did your husband give them the info? He must have provided all his purchases etc or listed them himself for them to be claimed? Did he sign any terms and conditions? Have you contacted the company with this problem and asked them to sort it with HMRC?

[strong123]

Hi,
He was asked to complete and sign a form (giving them permission to claim on his behalf) and provide a copy of his P60. He didn't provide anything else, was and was.not informed of what was being claimed for.
My husband has tried contacting by phone, which has a permanently engaged tone and emails which are not responded to.

HMRC are aware that this company claimed on my husbands behalf and that he has reported it as a fraud and as I said before, I have since read that my husband is not the only person this company has done this to.

[islandgirl]

I do not know how they could claim when they did not know how much he was spending on business expenses? It does not make sense sorry. Do you have a copy of the form or any conditions? Hopefully Des-8 or atticus may advise?

[atticus]

Sorry, no.

[strong123]

Neither do we, but they did...
Also, my husband doesn't have a company, he is employed by a very reputable parcel delivery company. This accounting company claimed for people who are employed. We trusted that whatever they were claiming for he was entitled to and hmrc agreed it and rebated him. We have since found out today through hmrc they claimed for business travel and subsista
ence expenses!!
I have attached the form that they sent to my husband for him to sign, as you can see nothing there stating what they were claiming for. This was the same form they sent every year.
Everything was done online.

[ULA]

If all your husband provided the company was a P60 without any other information then I am not sure how they could have claimed for business travel and subsistence expenses on his behalf, given that a P60 does not provide this information. From the document you have uploaded, the company is clearly claiming to HMRC that there were allowable expenses of £5,375 for which they have claimed tax relief @ 20% on behalf of your husband. If he was never in receipt of such allowances, then tax relief cannot be claimed on them. The company may well have submitted the form and acted on your husband’s behalf but my concern is that they asked him to sign the form and I presume that this went in as part of the submission.

Ultimately tax affairs are an individual’s responsibility and hence why HMRC have contacted your husband not the company in respect of their requirement to pay back monies that they believe should not have been claimed.

I am wondering whether you should do a Subject Access Request on the company for all information in respect of the detailed breakdown of the claim and what was actually submitted to HMRC on your husband's behalf.

[strong123]

Yes, it's as I thought.
we are not the only people they have done this to, I read one man has to pay over £11k.
Whatever this company are doing, they are doing it to lots of people getting 24% and getting away with it whilst people are being left with headache, stress and debt.
I will do a subject access request but i feel this is something we will be paying back and they get away with it...
thank you for your help.

[PallasAthena]

strong123

Please name this company! We can't look into their activities if you don't tell us who they are.

What you are describing is a scam that has been reported in many online forums. They are just crooks and scammers. Tell us who they are.

If they are typical of the many other online examples they will be registered at some brass plate business services address and will have disappeared by now. Sending them an SAR is worth doing as one (very small) part of your coming argument with HMRC but don't expect a reply. The people running the company will have disappeared and will never see it.

[strong123]

I will be more than happy to name them.

They are:
Apostle Accounting Ltd and people who own it are Zoe and Martin Goodchild

Massive scammers, we are unable to get hold of them.

We have sent a SAR but I doubt we will get a response.

[wales01man]

Simple google search reveals they are being investigated by the authorities as from end of May this year

[strong123]

Yes I did see that. I feel like they will still get away with it and open up under another name.
they are ruining people and whilst I hope they get the book thrown at them it's all who they scammed left paying the money back to hmrc. Which we would never have had to do had they not submitted dodgy claims.

I dont understand how they were able to claim without any supporting evidence. All they asked for was a P60. Hmrc just paid the rebate.