An ICAS member has reported that a newly incorporated client company received a scam letter asking them to pay £320 to register on the ‘Intracom VAT Registry’.
Other instances of this particular scam have been reported recently
An ICAS member has reported to us that a newly incorporated client company of theirs received a fraudulent letter asking them to pay £320 to register on the ‘Intracom VAT Registry’. The form and style of the letter suggested to the recipient that it had the official backing of the UK or EU tax authorities.
The letter purported to come from the ‘Intracom VAT Registry’ and stated:
“Under European Directive 2006/112/EC of 28 November 2006 on the common system of value added tax (VAT) and in accordance with tax legislation in force in the United Kingdom, your company established in 10-2011 is from now on subject to VAT.
“In your capacity as legal representative, you are the sole person authorised to register your company on the Intracom VAT Registry.
“Registration of your company and payment of fixed fees for £320 can only be performed on line by credit card. This is the only procedure available to activate your registration on the Intracom VAT Registry.
“To proceed with registration, please go to the following Web address http://vat.euin.eu and enter your confidential access code.”
The required access code was quoted on the letter.
The letter was a scam that has appeared elsewhere, apparently based on publicly available information from Companies House regarding companies either newly incorporated or with recent name changes. We believe that innocent businesses could easily be taken in by this scam, and we have asked HMRC to add a warning about it to their website.
While this particular scam letter is being sent to companies on paper, it requests online payment and this might seem credible in view of HMRC’s enthusiasm for doing business online.
As a separate matter, HMRC already offer extensive advice about online security, and this can be found here:
Advice about online security
Donald Drysdale is an Assistant Director of Tax at the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland. Formerly a Tax Partner at KPMG and National Director of UK Tax Technology at KPMG and then PwC, Donald is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Tax Adviser, Trust and Estate Practitioner and Chartered IT Professional.
Outside work, Donald enjoys driving his meticulously restored 1964 Morris Minor 1000 Tourer known as 'Trafalgar'.