Pictured: Henry Briggs

Taxpayers could fall victim of a "cunning" scam initiated by fraudsters who have hacked into the HMRC's computer system, a leading firm of Birmingham accountants has warned.

A Sunday newspaper investigation has revealed conmen are entering false information into taxpayers' details at HMRC - generating refunds they may not be due - and directing any subsequent refund to the fraudster's bank account.

"People should be very wary if they receive any communication from HMRC that doesn't make sense to them or they were not expecting and get on to it straight away by asking their accountant to deal with it," said Henry Briggs, senior partner of the Birmingham office of Haines Watts.

Mr Briggs said the fraudsters' actions could mean HMRC would generate a statement of account to the taxpayer which advises them of a repayment that they are not due.

"Given those circumstances, it would be understandable that people fail to advise HMRC of the error, which in turn could mean the refund could be made incorrectly to someone other than the taxpayer. The taxpayer's records at HMRC will be shown as having received the repayment, however, which will cause problems when the correct figures are processed."

Mr Briggs said he'd had experience of dealing with this sort of irregularity within the past week, and the problem could get worse unless HMRC acted quickly. 

"This is a cunning scam and people need to take some robust advice. In the example I experienced, when HMRC was alerted by phone, they advised that notification of the error may take two weeks to process internally. By then , of course, it may be too late. This could cause real worry to the taxpayer whose account has been hacked into and is likely to cost the Exchequer dearly, if HMRC do not get a grip of the fraud urgently."

For more information on Haines Watts, please visit their website here: www.hwca.com