Pictured: Pat Corfield
Staffordshire County Council's Trading Standards Department is
warning local businesses about a VAT registration scam which is
making it's way around the county.
A letter addressed to local businesses claims that they are
required to pay a £320 fee to register their company for VAT
with the European Union. In an attempt to make it more
authentic the letter appears to be on European Union headed paper,
but this is also unofficial. This is a fairly common scam and
should be ignored.
County Councillor Pat Corfield, Cabinet Member for Communities,
Culture and Customers, said: "This scam appears to be a fairly
sophisticated one but it is just a variation of the letters that
demand you pay £75 to register with the data commissioner
because you hold data on your computers.
"The letter refers to a website where a credit card payment can
be made and also refers to a company registered in Poole or
London.
"We do get a lot of these types of scams around at this time of
the year. We would ask businesses who receive a similar
letter to ignore it, and report it to their local Trading Standards
team on 0300 111 8000. .
"Anyone who has any queries about VAT registration should
contact HRMC."
For more information about Staffordshire County Council, please
visit their website here: www.staffordshire.gov.uk