HMRC online tax returns – the good news and bad news

Graham Cluley
Graham Cluley
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Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has told The Register that a record number of British taxpayers have filed their returns via the internet.

Nearly 5.8 million people are said to have filed their returns online before the January 31st deadline, and, according to the HMRC, 67% of UK taxpayers used the online system to file their self-assessment tax returns this year.

Although The Register reports that there have been some grumbles from users who found the site bogged down in traffic, the HMRC is presenting this as a success story.

As Paul Baccas explains on the SophosLabs blog, however, an increasing number of people using online systems to manage their finances is only likely to encourage more phishers to try their hand at stealing money.

Ironically this particular phish…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Bluesky, or drop him an email.