HMRC wrongly sends letters demanding £7,500 with bailiff threats

The woman's daughter reached out to HMRC asking for urgent help with the issue

A woman was left in distress after mistakenly receiving a series of letters from HMRC demanding a £7,500 payment. Her daughter reached out to HRMC for urgent assistance to resolve the problem.

She stated: "My mother is receiving letters from you addressed to someone else demanding money. She has returned 20 letters to you but they keep coming.

"This week she received a bailiff letter and is getting very distressed. She's tried calling you. Please advise urgently? " HMRC responded by saying that the woman had been "doing the right thing" by returning the letters.

A representative asked: "Does she know which department is issuing these letters?" The daughter explained that all the letters had been in brown envelopes until there was white envelope from a debt collection firm "for unpaid HMRC balance of £7418.54".

She added: "She's very upset and we're very concerned this is affecting her health and credit score." The tax authority then reassured that given that she had been sending back the letters, HMRC would be investigating the problem.

The group suggested she could push for further action to sort out the problem by contacting the helpline or webchat, as "they'll take more details of the letters from you". HMRC also provided her with a link to a webpage for making enquiries about income tax, explaining she could click a button to 'Ask HMRC online' to talk to an advisor about the problem.

However, the daughter stated that she had already attempted this and was informed that no advisors were available. She reiterated the need for help, saying: "This is incredibly urgent and we need to speak to someone now please."

HMRC advised her to continue trying, explaining that "once one becomes available they'll start the chat", and noted that the service operates until 7:30 pm.