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- Website charges fees of hundreds of pounds while HMRC system is free
- It claims it is clear that people are paying for a service
- But complaints flood in from those who feel duped
- Other copycat websites include EHIC, passports and driving licences
Hundreds of thousands of taxpayers scrambling to file their online self-assessment returns before the January 31 deadline are being warned to avoid a copycat Revenue & Customs website that charges fees of up to £1,000. The Mail on Sunday has received a stream of complaints from readers who have mistakenly used the taxreturngateway.com site in recent weeks. It is operated by a Sunderland-based company called Who4, which specialises in running copycat Government websites. As well as being subject to complaints from people who feel they have been duped into paying a fee for filing their tax return, it does the same on passport applications, driving licences and free European Health Insurance Cards.....Read more here
A controversial copycat of a Government website, which charges up to £1,000 for filing a self-assessment tax return, has begun to refund fees to clients who complained they were tricked into using its service. In recent days The Mail on Sunday has been contacted by readers who have just received letters from Who4, the Sunderland-based firm behind the Taxreturngateway website, confirming they will receive a refund as a ‘gesture of goodwill’. The undated pro forma correspondence states that the repayment follows a ‘review’ made by the com- pany, but that Who4 does not ‘accept any of the comments’ made by complainants.
It has also refunded taxpayers who used its service in the run-up to the January 31 deadline for submitting self-assessment forms, but were hit with a £100 late payment penalty from Revenue & Customs because Who4 missed the date. Who4 has refunded their fees and penalty charges.News of these refunds should bring hope to thousands of taxpayers who used the website believing it to be the official Revenue site and paid the fees in the mistaken belief that they were paying all or part of their tax bill.......Read more here