Barclays Blue Rewards

Jsscmm

ColdIron wrote: »

I had some accounts that changed from gross interest to net but NS&I still pay some accounts gross, perhaps the law applies differently to them

https://www.gov.uk/apply-tax-free-interest-on-savings/overview

Whilst not as definitive as hmrc's website used to be, it does suggest that everything outside of an isa / ns&i should have BR tax deducted.

Thinking logically, until the changes next year (if they happen), if this wasn't with BR taken off, every customer would have to ring hmrc up to declare the income unless they earned less than the annual allowance + savings allowance... Not a great selling point!

Logic doesn't always win though.

Still need Barclays to confirm though.

fuzzgun19

Just signed up, and already have DD's. Paid in more than 800 in the last month so hopefully the rewards should be paid correctly.. I hope!

norm_

Archi_Bald wrote: »

I have no idea, sorry.

May be the Barclays UK boss, Ashok Vaswani, knows - he and Martin Lewis seem to be having a bit of a twitter spat over Blue Rewards in general. Why not tweet the man and ask him? https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/591258715346571266
https://twitter.com/MartinSLewis/status/591966274185523200

I don't get it. The Barclays boss simply pointed out it was more than a basic reward. Martin's attitude seems overly aggressive. I guess that's how you generate PR these days, mountain out of a molehill.

What baffles me more is how the boss of Barclays is allowed on twitter when his tweets aren't even grammatically correct, nor use the correct punctuation. He may be a foreign speaker, but it hardly sets the best example for employees. Wasn't it Barclays that had that big "Life Skills" advert on TV not long ago?

Lokolo

norm_ wrote: »

I don't get it. The Barclays boss simply pointed out it was more than a basic reward. Martin's attitude seems overly aggressive. I guess that's how you generate PR these days, mountain out of a molehill.

I actually felt sorry for the Barclays boss! Martin quite clearly used it to give abuse to the guy by letting all his followers see his response (placing a fullstop at the beginning of the reply) and get on it as well.

I don't much rate Martin anyway, he's a PR jounalist, his job is to stir s***. As you said, make a mountain. He has done very well in MSE and I have respect for that, but I respect members of this forum more given they give up their time to help others, without anything in return.

Steve_xx

I've been emailing Barclays about this tax issue for a day or two now. I'm getting bland, standard garbo back from them that doesn't tell me anything at all other than to contact HMRC.

I've just written again to them telling them that they need to escalate this query and put some more flesh on the bones of it.

Meanwhile I've been looking around on the net at tax issues and I'm wondering whether this would be regarded as a gift? Gifts as described in point 3 here:

http://www.money.co.uk/article/1004329-how-do-i-gift-money-without-being-taxed.htm

datostar

The payment certainly isn't interest because it is unrelated to the funds on deposit and no rate is quoted or even feasible, so it's hard to see how it can be taxed as interest. Santander 123 Cashback isn't taxed at all, nor are things like Clubcard, Nectar and Amex Reward points even though they have a monetary value. If it is taxable, can the £3 monthly fee be used as an offsetting expense? It strikes me that the monthly charge and the 'reward' are entirely separate. The monthly charge is a service fee for the account and the 'reward' payment is a reward for paying in £800 a month and having 2 Direct Debits.

Zanderman

datostar wrote: »

The payment certainly isn't interest because it is unrelated to the funds on deposit and no rate is quoted or even feasible, so it's hard to see how it can be taxed as interest. Santander 123 Cashback isn't taxed at all, nor are things like Clubcard, Nectar and Amex Reward points even though they have a monetary value. If it is taxable, can the £3 monthly fee be used as an offsetting expense? It strikes me that the monthly charge and the 'reward' are entirely separate. The monthly charge is a service fee for the account and the 'reward' payment is a reward for paying in £800 a month and having 2 Direct Debits.

The Halifax Reward Account's monthly £5 reward is treated as if interest. And it is paid net of tax (it's £6.25 gross) as if it is interest.

That Reward is paid at a flat rate regardless of the the amount of funds on deposit. Why it is 'interest' is not clear.

So if Halifax do this (and have for some years) it is not unreasonable to think that the same could have applied to Barclays Blue Reward. This isn't the case, apparently - but the Halifax example is real and doesn't fit with your explanation above.

Bestselling_Author

Yes, Halifax treat their reward as interest. I've just received (having asked for one) a Certificate of Tax Deducted on my reward account for my £5's.

Steve_xx

Has anyone tried adding Blue Rewards to more than one account with Barclays?

Steve_xx

The answer to my own question, according to a message I've just received from Barclays, is that you can only have Blue Rewards on one account. I think that this is contrary to what someone may have posted earlier in this thread. I think the earlier poster reckoned you could have as many accounts as you want.