A large business (FTSE 100) was about to make a significant repayment claim (which they often did). A VAT 484 Form had been submitted to change the bank details of the business prior to the return being submitted. HMRC staff were suspicious enough to contact the business to find out that they had not changed bank details.

The fraudsters were exploiting HMRC’s inability to confirm details in writing within a reasonable time frame.

If your business is a regular repayment one (house builder, exporter, food retailer, farm), check your bank account details online before you submit your next VAT return to ensure that they’ve not been changed to those of a fraudster.

Any questions on this or any other VAT related matters, contact our VAT Director Ian Marrow .