Last year HMRC informed me that I have been awarded a £1,617.60 tax refund. However, the money has been paid to a company called Tax Returned Ltd which, unbeknownst to me, has become my agent. I’ve tried to contact it by phone, but it never answers, and there’s been no reply to my email or letter. HMRC insists it requires a letter of authorisation from Tax Returned before it can remove it from my account and put me back in charge of my own tax affairs.
OF, Padiham, Lancashire
You’ve tumbled into a sinister corner of the tax world in which companies you may never have heard of can signed you up, without you realising, to a deed that entitles it to receive all your refunds of overpaid tax for up to four years – whether or not it was they, or you, who submitted the claim. Worse, you can’t get rid of it unless it gives HMRC written permission to remove it as your representative. And why would it when it can pocket up to 50% of your rebate in fees? In your case, you haven’t yet seen a penny of the payment.
