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Red flag

Cold calls about unclaimed refunds

A call out of the blue about money your business is owed can be a legitimate introduction. It can also be the start of a claim nobody has assessed. Treat it as a proposal, not a discovery.

A red flag is a reason to ask more questions. It does not mean an adviser has done anything wrong. This page describes a practice in general terms and is not about any particular firm.

When it is a problem

  • The caller says your business is owed money before knowing anything about your work.
  • The urgency is the caller's: an offer that closes this week, a deadline that is not explained.
  • The next step is a signature rather than an assessment of whether your work qualifies.
  • The caller will not say who they are, who they work for, or whether they are paid for the introduction.

When it is not a problem

  • The approach is a plain introduction: the caller explains what they do and offers to look at your work, without a promise.
  • A genuine time limit for a past year is explained and you can check it.1Source 1Time limits for amending a return or claiming for a past year: Internal Revenue Code section 6511(a) (United States); HMRC CIRD81800, Finance Act 1998 Schedule 18 paragraph 83E (United Kingdom); Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 29-02-03, section 2.6 (Ireland); Income Tax Act section 37(11) (Canada); Department of Industry, Science and Resources, "Apply for the R&D Tax Incentive" (Australia); Inland Revenue, "Research and development tax incentive due dates" (New Zealand); IRAS, "After filing Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C" and Income Tax Act 1947 section 93A (Singapore). More detail on your country page.
  • The caller is happy for you to take time, read a proposal, and ask the questions on this site.
  • The business does qualifying work it has never claimed for, and an unsolicited approach is simply how it found out that a claim exists.

What to do

  1. Do not agree to anything on the call. Ask for a written proposal. The script for declining a cold call gives you the words.
  2. Ask who the caller is, who they work for, and whether anyone is paid for the introduction.
  3. Treat the proposal like any other: compare it with at least one more, and ask the twenty questions.
  4. Check any deadline you are given against the country pages.

Sources

  1. Time limits for amending a return or claiming for a past year: Internal Revenue Code section 6511(a) (United States); HMRC CIRD81800, Finance Act 1998 Schedule 18 paragraph 83E (United Kingdom); Revenue, Tax and Duty Manual Part 29-02-03, section 2.6 (Ireland); Income Tax Act section 37(11) (Canada); Department of Industry, Science and Resources, "Apply for the R&D Tax Incentive" (Australia); Inland Revenue, "Research and development tax incentive due dates" (New Zealand); IRAS, "After filing Form C-S, Form C-S (Lite) or Form C" and Income Tax Act 1947 section 93A (Singapore). More detail on your country page.  Back
The matching green flagNamed people with qualifications you can check

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