The taxman is asking workers and businesses to declare money that they wrongly claimed for emergency coronavirus support.A new question on the 2020-21 self-assessment tax return asks for information
Paul Lewis: HMRC leaves door wide open to scammers
With an epidemic of scam calls claiming to be in its name, the taxman should revert to good old-fashioned snail mail
By Paul Lewis 14
th May 2021 12:05 pm
HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) is sending out more than three million cold texts, emails and letters inviting self-employed people to claim the fourth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS 4) grant.
Is this wholly appropriate at a time when scams are so rife?
Just this week, I have seen tweets from people warning, ‘Scam call from HMRC telling me I will be arrested if I don’t press 1,’ and, ‘Just had a scam call supposedly from HMRC.’
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BBC News
By Michael Buchanan
Published
image copyrightGetty Images
Fraud and error on the main universal credit benefit have reached record levels, according to new official figures.
According to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), £8.4bn was lost in 2020-21, up from £4.6bn the previous year.
Officials say the rise is almost entirely due to fraud.
The number of people on universal credit has doubled to six million since the start of the pandemic.
Officials say the increase in universal credit fraud is a product of more people applying for the benefit, and the value of each fraudulent case rising, rather than a higher proportion of people engaging in fraud.
Universal credit benefit fraud and error reaches record high with £8.4billion lost in a year - as number of claimants doubles to six million during pandemic
Universal credit benefit fraud and error has nearly doubled in a year during the pandemic to hit record high
Officials say shockingly high figure, up from £4.6billion the previous year, is almost entirely down to fraud
The number of people on universal credit has also doubled to six million since the Covid-19 crisis began
Increase in fraud is put down to more Britons applying for the benefit and the value of each case going up