I needed to contact the HMRC VAT helpline and via Google they give the number as 0903 1240 018 which costs £ 1.53 per minute!  Unfortunately SayNoTo0870 does not have an alternative which I found elsewhere as 0845 010 9000.
So a 10 minute call to HMRC to sort out their mysteries could cost £ 15.30.  Is this another form of stealth tax?

This is NOT a HMRC line. Their own rip-off is bad enough, but the number referred to is someone else trying to take a very big share.

The apparent misuse of the HMRC logo may well be an issue that would prompt HMRC, or some other body, to investigate. There are sadly many examples of this. The government are not directly responsible, but whilst they fail to react to justified claims that their own numbers are expensive, callers are not necessarily alerted to the fact that there is an even bigger rip-off going on.

David_Dundas wrote on Sep 6^th, 2012 at 2:53pm:

I needed to contact the HMRC VAT helpline and via Google they give the number as 0903 1240 018 which costs £ 1.53 per minute!

Let me guess - was that a sponsored search result (which I never see thanks to AdBlock)? These should always be ignored.

David_Dundas wrote on Sep 6^th, 2012 at 2:53pm:

I needed to contact the HMRC VAT helpline and via Google they give the number as 0903 1240 018 which costs £ 1.53 per minute!  Unfortunately SayNoTo0870 does not have an alternative which I found elsewhere as 0845 010 9000. So a 10 minute call to HMRC to sort out their mysteries could cost £ 15.30.  Is this another form of stealth tax?

The link is here: ** linked removed **

I just did a Google Search for HMRC VAT helpline

To the original poster, if you looked about 3 entries down the official HMRC site is listed, and for future reference HMRC is available at http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/

I would never ever call an 09 number to find out another number, that's worse than Directory Enquires!

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~ Edited by Dave: Link removed

CJT-80 wrote on Sep 7^th, 2012 at 9:26am:

The link is here: ** link removed ** I just did a Google Search for HMRC VAT helpline

Well I still don't see this when I do a Google search; all of the top results are from the HMRC site, so surely this must be a sponsored (advertising) result?

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~ Edited by Dave: Link removed

kasg,

I assume so.. do you "block" adverts?

Dave, I apologise for placing a link to the advert.  :(

CJT-80 wrote on Sep 7^th, 2012 at 10:58am:

kasg, I assume so.. do you "block" adverts? Dave, I apologise for placing a link to the advert.  :(

It appears that the site in question has been optimised to come high in the search engine rankings for searches such as «HMRC VAT helpline». I believe that it did was quite high the other day, but it doesn't seem so now. Presumably that is how the OP came across it.

I have removed the link because linking to the page is just what they want as it is likely to help it go up the rankings.

CJT-80 wrote on Sep 7^th, 2012 at 10:58am:

I assume so.. do you "block" adverts?

Yes, as posted earlier, I use AdBlock Plus. I dread to think what some sites look like without it!

Cheers,

I may look into that