HMRC Tax Refund Letter - Spotting the Fake

[ToothbrushMan]

Got home earlier to find a brown envelope on the mat from the HMRC but being the cynic that I am straight away I was thinking hmmmm not expecting a refund so is it some scam.

The envelope looks like a regular one from the DWP or HMRC and the return address is HM Revenue & Customs Newcastle NE98 1ZZ but of course thats bound to be right on a good fake anyway.

The letter itself was 2 pages and looks official with different inks for different headings. There is a scanning code box. my detail are all correct including all my past employer finance details down to the penny (not sure how a scammer would have got hold of this level of detail)......

My suspicions are only raised by a lack of a unique reference number (if they still give these out ) and my national insurance number has the correct two letters at the start with the last letter too but all the numbers are asterixed out. Would expect the full number to be shown but maybe thats HMRC guarding against postal theft?

It states to claim online at www.gov.uk/p800refund and the money will be put straight into my bank account (all previous returns have just been by way of a cheque they have sent to me to bank myself)......or claim within 45 days and you get the refund in 5 working days and if you dont request a refund then you will automatically receive a cheque in 2 months time - thats fine I can wait but i dont recall ever waiting for refunds before unless the whole rebate system has changed now. to me it smacks of pushing me towards logging onto the link using peoples natural leaning towards grabbing the cash ASAP and this could be the downfall of some if bank details are being requested - i have not even typed the link into my PC.

The letter does state "The Personal Tax Account is the new way of managing all your tax affairs. Go Online".

The refund relates to medical insurance.

The letter is dated 6th December and its now 14th Dec - should these letters take so long?

Anyone else had anything similar and any pointers or views?.

Edited by ToothbrushMan on Friday 14th December 13:23

[HRL]

Of course you could just ring them but it sounds pretty legit to me.

[Oakey]

gov.uk is a legit website

[Mammasaid]

It's legit, see below

https://www.gov.uk/tax-overpayments-and-underpayme...

[Saleen836]

Would be a first for a scam to be delivered in the mail! If you had said it was an email.....

[henrycrun]

There may be a 2nd letter from HMRC with a calculation.

[ToothbrushMan]

cheers. i know emails and SMS can be deadly but wasnt going to rule out the letter scam.

[AeroS]

Just had the same letter - it’s legit.

Gov.uk is legit and I also did the “enter the wrong details on purpose trick” to check whether the website was just a personal data hoover.

Enjoy the tax return I’m sure next year they’ll reclaim it back 😅😂

[eliot]

Only legit bodies can register with the gov,uk domain;
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/naming-...

[cranford10]

I got one of these a couple of weeks ago - all legit and got the refund in my account within a week

[Lauryn]

HMRC’s Mail (inbound and outbound) goes through a central system so it’s not unusual to receive mail from them around a week after the date on the letter.