Check genuine HMRC contact that uses more than one communication method

Sometimes HMRC uses more than one way to get in touch. For example, we may contact you by letter first before following up with an email, call or text message. This is because:

• it can provide an extra level of security
• it can help prepare you for the follow up contact
• these are the contact details HMRC has for you

All the HMRC contacts listed on this page can use more than one communication method. They are in alphabetical order.

Agents, small and mid-sized business survey

HMRC is working with IFF Research to understand users’ perceptions and experiences of interacting with HMRC.

The research will help inform how HMRC engages with businesses in future.

You may be contacted by IFF Research if you are:

• a small business
• a mid-size business
• an agent

If you are contacted, you may be asked to:

• take part in a survey
• take part in an interview
• help test possible solutions

You will not need to provide any details about your tax affairs.

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

Agents — preparation for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

HMRC is working with an independent research agency Verian, to understand agents’ preparation for the Making Tax Digital for Income Tax requirements.

You may be contacted by Verian if you are an agent.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in a:

• survey

• follow up interview

You will not be asked for financial information or information about your tax affairs.

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential

• used for research purposes only

Application for Action research

HMRC will work with Ipsos, an independent research agency, to carry out research with intellectual property rights holders to understand awareness and use of HMRC’s Application for Action.

The research will help HMRC:

• improve the effectiveness of the Application for Action

• provide better support for businesses

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• anonymous
• confidential
• used for research purposes only

Business investment and costs research

HMRC is working with the research agency Ipsos, to explore experiences of business investment and collect information about the costs involved with business investment projects.

If you’re invited, taking part in this research is voluntary. All responses and details given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

HMRC will not be able to identify participants.

Changes to your tax code 

If we believe you’ve been given an incorrect tax code after starting a new job, you may receive an email or text message explaining that your tax code will change.

You will not be asked for personal, business or financial information.

We may direct you to further support and guidance, including:

• guidance on changes to your tax code when you start a new job
• how to check your tax code

Claims for overpaid VAT on gaming machine income — pub company tenant claims

We are contacting tenants of pub companies who made claims on behalf of their tenants for overpaid VAT on gaming machine income.

If you are contacted, we will:

• tell you which pub company made the claim on your behalf

• ask you if you want to pursue your claim

If you want to make a claim we’ll ask you for your bank account details if you are no longer registered for VAT.

Client and tax adviser relationships

HMRC is working with Ipsos UK, an independent research agency, to explore the relationship between clients and their tax advisers.

You may be contacted by Ipsos UK if you have sent a Self Assessment, Corporation Tax, or VAT tax return and authorised a tax adviser to deal with HMRC on your behalf.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in:

• an online survey

• a telephone survey

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential

• used for research purposes only

CulturalCorporation taxTax reliefs— research about the time between incorporation and first filing

HMRC is working with theindependant research agency IpsosPeople for Research, to carryunderstand outthe researchexperience on:of businesses on the time between incorporation and first Corporation Tax filing.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in an interview.

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

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• Orchestraused Taxfor Reliefresearch purposes only

Corporation Tax — understanding small businesses who file company accounts or tax returns

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Data holder notice

If you have received either a formal notice or a formal notice of assessments by letter, HMRC’s Data Acquisition and Exchange may contact you or your representatives to discuss this with you.

You may receive a phone call or email to help you to follow HMRC’s data gathering legislation.

Economic crime supervision

The purpose of economic crime supervision is to:

• protect the UK against the risk of money laundering and terrorist financing
• help businesses understand their risks and obligations
• prevent non-compliance
• find and tackle unregistered businesses
• carry out effective intelligence and risk-based interventions

To do this, HMRC will:

• contact businesses by letter and phone
• carry out compliance visits
• issue email and text message alerts
• offer online education to make sure businesses meet money laundering regulations

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HMRC compliance check survey

We may contact you following a compliance, National Minimum Wage or securities check, to complete a short survey on your experience during it. The survey will allow HMRC to identify if we need to improve how we conduct checks.

The survey is voluntary and will not ask for any personal or financial information. If you need any further information, contact the caseworker who dealt with your check.

HMRC customer letters research

The survey will allow you to share your experience of receiving letters from HMRC.

Your feedback will be used to help us improve our customer services.

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

HMRC research to understand differences of interpretation of tax law

HMRC is working with independent research agency NatCen, to explore the differences in legal interpretation of tax law.

The research will help HMRC improve its services.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in an interview online or by phone.

Taking part is voluntary and will have no impact on your current or future relationship with HMRC. All information given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

HMRC penalty suspension research

HMRC is working with independent research agency Verian, to explore taxpayers’ views on penalties and penalty suspension.

The research will help HMRC understand the impact of penalties and penalty suspension on taxpayers and will be used to inform policy decisions.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in:

• an interview
• a survey

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

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HMRC is working with independent research agency Woodnewton,Ipsos, to understand stakeholders’the experience of interacting with HMRC and howattitudes weof communicate.

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You may be contacted if you are a stakeholder who interacts with HMRC, such as:

• anclaiming industryR&D representative
• atax professional bodyreliefs
• aclaiming taxR&D agent
• aallowance parliamentarian(RDA)
• ause softwareof developer
• the voluntaryadvance sector

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Jointly Managed Engagement Team — HMRC payroll enquiry

HMRC may contact employers or third parties to clarify payroll information submitted through Real Time Information (RTI).

If contacted by phone, you will be:

• told we have a payroll enquiry
• asked to complete standard security questions
• asked for a breakdown of pay and deductions for an individual

If contacted by email, you will be:

• told we have a payroll enquiry
• asked to contact HMRC by telephone
• asked for a breakdown of pay and deductions for an individual — if you are emailed after speaking on a telephone call

If contacted by letter, you will be:

• told we have a payroll enquiry
• asked for a breakdown of pay and deductions for an individual

Landlords and sole traders — preparation for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax

HMRC is working with an independent research agency Verian, to understand sole traders and landlords preparation for Making Tax Digital for Income Tax.

You may be contacted by Verian if you made a Self Assessment tax return.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in a short telephone survey.

Your feedback will be used to help us improve our services to sole traders and landlords.

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

Large Business Survey

HMRC is working with IFF Research an independent research agency, to explore large business customers’ experiences of interacting with HMRC.

The research will help HMRC understand the priorities and needs of large businesses and will be used to inform policy decisions.

If you are contacted, you may be asked to take part in:

• a survey
• an interview

Taking part is voluntary. All information given will be:

• confidential
• used for research purposes only

Logging into your HMRC tax account

Multi-factor authentication is an extra security feature which replaces 2-step verification. It helps prevent someone else from accessing your digital account, even if they know your user ID and password.

HMRC will send an access code by text message or voice call to your chosen mobile phone or landline number to activate the multi-factor authorisation. You will need this code to complete the access.

These text messages and voice calls will never ask you to give personal or financial information.

If you have activated multi-factor authentication you’ll only be able to access the account using the:

• Government Gateway user ID and password
• mobile or landline device which you have registered

National Minimum Wage and employment

We may contact employees to discuss details of their current or previous employment.

If we call you, we’ll:

• tell you our enquiry is about the National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage
• ask you basic questions about your current work or previous employment experiences
• complete some standard security questions

We’ll never ask for personal financial information such as bank details without writing to you first.

You can ask us not to tell your current or previous employer about the call.

HMRC will also contact employers in relation to National Minimum Wage or National Living Wage enquiries.

If you have received a letter, email, text or phone call from another HMRC office you can call the Income Tax general enquiry helpline to check this contact is genuine.

National Minimum Wage common errors

We may contact employers or third parties to share information on common errors with the National Minimum Wage and National Living Wage. The email will provide links to further information and support.

We may contact employees by letter to provide information on common errors to look out for in their pay.

The letter will explain how to make a National Minimum Wage complaint and contain links to further information and support.

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Overseas businesses that sell digital services to UK consumers

If you have an overseas business and sell digital services to UK consumers, we may contact you about your UK VAT obligations by email and letter.

The letter and email will explain why we are contacting you, and will ask you to contact us. We will not ask for any personal, business or financial information.

Overseas businesses that sell goods on online marketplaces to UK consumers

If you are based overseas and trading on online marketplaces, we may contact you to issue VAT assessments.

We will send:

• a formal notice of assessments by letter
• an email to inform you this letter has been sent

The email will:

• not request any personal, business or financial information
• inform you to pay your assessment by visiting www.gov.uk and searching ‘pay your VAT bill’
• contain a link to this webpage, so you can see that HMRC is using email for this purpose

Research and Development (R&D) tax relief

The session will allow you to share your experience of claiming R&D tax relief.

Your feedback will be used to help us improve our services to customers.

Taking part is voluntary. All feedback given will be:

• anonymised
• used for research and service improvement only

Self Assessment — missing tax return

HMRC may contact you if we’re unsure whether you filed a Self Assessment tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2024.

We may ask you to:

• check if you need to file a tax return for the tax year ending 5 April 2024
• send an overdue return
• let us know if you no longer need to file a Self Assessment tax return

The message will:

• direct you to Self Assessment information GOV.UK
• explain what will happen if you do not send us a tax return when you need to
• remind you of future filing deadlines

We will not ask you for any personal or financial information.

Self Assessment — request to appeal a late payment or filing penalty

HMRC may contact you by email or text message when you submit an appeal against a late payment or filing penalty. These messages will:

• be sent automatically when you submit your appeal
• provide you with updates on the progress of your appeal

If we email you, the subject line will be one of the following:

• we’ve received your appeal against a Self Assessment penalty
• update on the Self Assessment penalty we charged you
• update on your penalty and request to leave Self Assessment
• we’ve cancelled your Self Assessment penalty

You will not be asked for any personal or financial information.

Self Assessment — request to leave

HMRC may contact you by email or text message if you tell them:

• you want to leave Self Assessment
• you’re no longer self-employed

HMRC will contact you using the email address or phone number you have provided. The email will be titled ‘Your request to leave Self Assessment’.

You will not be asked for any personal or financial information.

Statutory notices requesting information

HMRC’s Data Acquisition and Exchange regularly issues statutory notices to the holders of certain types of information, asking them to provide relevant details to HMRC. The holders of the information have a legal obligation to provide the data requested.

The notices requesting information can be sent by post or email.

Notices issued by email will contain a link to this webpage, so you can see that HMRC is using email for this purpose.

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