HMRC scam email, call or text: is this HMRC contact genuine?

HMRC is warning small business owners to watch out for scams as the Self Assessment deadline approaches.The tax body saw more than 207,800 reports about tax scams from the 12 months up to January 2024 – with 79,000 relating to fake tax rebates.

You might receive an HMRC scam email, or a scammer could pretend to be HMRC over the phone or through a text message. HMRC says common tricks from scammers include offering a rebate, requesting you to update tax details, or threatening arrest for tax evasion.

HMRC has given examples of genuine messages and contact details to help you work out whether you’re being scammed. They’re more common around the Self Assessment deadline (31 January), so read on to find out how to spot fake communication.

Have I got an HMRC scam email?

HMRC might get in touch with you over email for lots of different reasons, including:

to send you an annual tax summary
to confirm your details for Making Tax Digital
to promote the personal tax account

HMRC emails won’t ask for your personal or financial information. Here’s a list of genuine HMRC email contacts.

annual tax summary – you might get an alert to say your tax summary is ready, which will use the subject line ‘Your Annual Tax Summary is ready’. It won’t ask you for any personal or financial details
selling products through online marketplaces – HMRC is reminding businesses that sell goods through online marketplaces about their VAT obligations. The email will ask you to get in touch with HMRC
employer bulletins – if you have staff and you’ve signed up to get informational bulletins from HMRC, you’ll get emails with the subject line ‘Important information for employers’
help and support emails – HMRC sends guides to help taxpayers, sometimes with links to webinars, YouTube videos, and other digital products
Making Tax Digital for VAT – if you’ve signed up for Making Tax Digital, HMRC will send you an email within 72 hours confirming that you can send VAT returns
promoting the personal tax account – when you call HMRC to discuss your taxes, they might direct you to signing up for a personal tax account if you haven’t already, which helps you manage your taxes online. If you don’t want to do it over the phone, you can do it over email – HMRC will send you the necessary information
VAT – HMRC sends a number of emails about VAT. These include debt reminders, information about VAT registration, and reminders about when VAT returns are due. As usual, they won’t ask for personal or financial information

This is a selection of communication your business might get from HMRC, but be sure to check the full list of HMRC emails you could get.

Quick tips: five ways to spot fake HMRC scams

1. Fake HMRC email address

These can be tricky to spot, as fraudsters often use addresses that look official at first glance, containing words like Revenue, HMRC, and gov.

The key to spotting whether the address is real or not is to hover over the ‘from’ address. The actual link the text leads to will not end in @hmrc.gov.uk (which all official emails from HMRC will).

Here’s an example of a fake HMRC email address sent on a letter, so it’s always good to be mindful of every type of communication from HMRC.

Woooah… this is a very smart/evil scam. The web savvy will immediately spot the dodgy email address, but I bet plenty won’t. pic.twitter.com/qURy2GUnBh
— Dan Neidle (@DanNeidle) August 16, 2024

If you’re unsure, HMRC has compiled some examples of phishing attempts, plus how to report them.

2. Tax rebate offers

If you get an HMRC tax refund email, it’s almost certainly a scam. Emails from HMRC will never offer you any repayment, tell you about a tax rebate, or ask you to send personal information (such as an address or bank details).

3. Request for immediate action

Fraudsters will often try to scare you into complying by telling you that you need to do as they ask quickly, or face the consequences.

Emails that use phrases like ‘you only have three days to respond’ or ‘urgent action required’ are likely to be scams, so don’t fall for the scare tactics and contact HMRC if you’re unsure.

4. Fake links and dodgy attachments

Any emails that contain links to a web page or have an attachment should be treated suspiciously. The links may go to a site that looks like the real HMRC homepage, but will ask you to input personal information so they can steal it.

Similarly, don’t open any attachments that you aren’t expecting. These could contain viruses that will give scammers a backdoor into your computer and allow them to make off with personal information on you, as well as your clients or customers.

5. Beware generic greetings

Be wary of emails that start ‘Dear Sir/Madam’, ‘Dear customer’ or simply ‘Hello’, rather than your name, as they’re highly likely to be fraudulent. Emails from HMRC will address you by your name.

HMRC scam calls – will they ever call you?

You might receive a call from HMRC if you’re behind on payments or if you’ve been chosen to take part in research.

Debt management – if you’re behind on payments, HMRC might send you a voice prompt. This can be to your landline or mobile and will give details for paying HMRC, or a helpline for you to get in touch with. You might also receive messages about the importance of using the right payment details when making payments, but these won’t ask for personal or financial information.

Research – HMRC sometimes conducts research among businesses. For example, a previous study aimed to find out how common it is for people to have casual work arrangements, as well as which sectors have these arrangements. A research agency working on behalf of HMRC might call you, but taking part is voluntary and your responses are confidential.

But HMRC tends to contact you in other ways, like by email. And when they do call, it’s typically pre-arranged – so be cautious of calls out of the blue.

Scammers often exploit a phone call’s sense of urgency and can apply pressure to get what they want. If you feel pressured into giving personal or financial details, don’t be afraid to put the phone down – you can always find an organisation’s official details and get in touch with them separately.

Keep up to date with genuine HMRC phone contacts on the UK government website.

Have I got an HMRC scam letter?

Gov.uk only lists one instance of HMRC contact by letter.

Claiming repayment for Self Assessment – if you’ve claimed for a repayment, HMRC may contact you by letter to ask for more information. You need to respond to the letter as soon as you can to get your repayment quickly. HMRC says you can call 0300 200 3310 or use the income tax enquiries service to check that the letter is genuine.

Read more about genuine HMRC contact by letter.

Have I got an HMRC scam text?

As with other types of communication, HMRC won’t ask you for personal or financial information in a text. Business owners should be sure to look out for texts about:

If you have debts or outstanding returns due, HMRC may text you to request payment, request overdue returns, or update your personal or business address. The texts will either direct you to gov.uk or ask you to call HMRC.

HMRC might also text you about tax credits, surveys, and other claims – see the full list of text contacts here.

What other HMRC contact should I watch out for?

HMRC says that sometimes you’ll get more than one type of message from them, for example, a letter followed up by an email. This is to give customers extra security. Here’s what to watch out for – as always, you won’t be asked for personal or financial information.

Multi-factor authentication – when you try logging into your online tax account, you’ll get an access code by text or voice message as an extra security step. This is to stop someone logging in, even if they know your details. If you activate multi-factor authentication, you’ll need your Government Gateway user ID and password, and a mobile or landline device to log in.

National minimum wage errors – if you employ people, HMRC might get in touch to give you information about common errors surrounding the national minimum wage and national living wage. Look out for emails with information, as well as letters. You can check it’s genuine by calling 03000 557755.

VAT register inactivity – you might get a phone call or email if HMRC doesn’t think you need to be VAT registered anymore, based on VAT account inactivity. You’ll be asked to confirm whether you still need to be registered and to give some basic information on where you’re trading.

See more reasons why HMRC might contact you using more than one communication method.

HMRC email address to report suspicious contact

You can report suspicious messages to HMRC online, by email and by text. HMRC might share your contact details with other organisations to help stop the scams. As always, remember that HMRC won’t ask you for personal or financial information or send tax rebate notifications over email or text.

Email – use this HMRC email address to report a suspicious email – [email protected]

Online – if you’ve had a suspicious phone call from someone claiming to be from HMRC, you can contact HMRC online. You’ll have to enter your email address into the form.

Be sure to mention what you’re reporting in the subject line, for example ‘Suspicious tax rebate offer’.

Text – if you’ve got a text you think is a scam, forward it to 60599.

If you’ve answered suspicious communication with your details, get in touch with your bank (and other organisations, depending on the information you’ve given) straight away.

You can also use these resources to help report scams and get tips on avoiding them:

How have you handled any scam messages in the past? Let us know in the comments below.

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Photograph: Miljan Živković/stock.adobe.com

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