Every January, as the self-assessment deadline looms and everyone is thinking about tax anyway, the fake HMRC messages arrive in force. A text about a refund waiting, an email demanding immediate payment, a voicemail warning of arrest. They work on timing and on the small jolt of fear the word “HMRC” produces. The good news is that you do not have to judge each one on its merits, because the real HMRC has a short list of things it never does.

HMRC will not text or email you a link to log in and claim a refund. It will not ask for payment by text, and it certainly will not ask for it in vouchers, gift cards or a bank transfer to a “holding account”. It does not threaten you with immediate arrest or send the police round over an unpaid tax bill. And it will never ring and ask you to confirm your full bank details or move money to keep it safe. Any message doing one of those things is not from HMRC, whatever the sender name says.

The refund text is the most common because a small unexpected windfall lowers people's guard in a way a demand does not. “You are due a tax rebate of £247.50, click to claim.” The link leads to a convincing copy of the government sign-in page, and what you hand over is your Government Gateway login and often your card details. Genuine refunds appear in your online account or arrive without you clicking anything at all.

So the rule for the season is simple. Do not act on the message itself. If you want to check whether you really owe or are owed anything, go to GOV.UK by typing it in, or through the HMRC app, and look at your own account. Then report the scam, because reporting is what gets the fake numbers and pages taken down for the next person.