Halifax reward current account

Terry_Towelling

Hadn't really paid much attention to this before but just checked the Reward Payment info on this account. Halifax pays £2 per month but says the actual reward is £2.50 and that they pay £0.50 income tax on your behalf to HMRC.

OK, 50p per month for a year is only £6 but my income each year is below the Personal Allowance. I am wondering what are the chances that HMRC will automatically pay me back this tax at the end of the year, rather than me having to spend £7 on the phone to them trying to reclaim it?

Anyone else considered this?

Mnd

This has been discussed at length in previous threads

Zero_Sum

Its not interest. If you earn less than £12.5k then you should be able to claim it back

Terry_Towelling

Mnd wrote: »

This has been discussed at length in previous threads

Yes, thank you. I found one from early 2016 where there was clearly a lot of confusion around the issue and that was gradually ironed out during the thread.

I guess I was being lazy and trying to avoid trawling through many, many search results for the right information. What I was trying to do was find someone earning less than the PA that could tell me if they received a refund automatically or had to claim it.

pochisoldi

If you fill in a tax return, you put the gross amount and the tax deducted in the "Other UK Income" /"Other UK income not included on supplementary pages" section. In the white box. In the description box I enter the text "Halifax Rewards bank account payments"

Note that this money is not interest it is what's known as an "Annual Payment" which falls outside the scope of the "we don't deduct tax from interest" rules.

Of course if Halifax arranged their reward payment like Barclays with their Blue Rewards scheme, they could pay £2 a month without anyone incurring a tax liability.
Barclays' scheme effectively gives cash back on two direct debits (a month to month arrangement) , Halifax gives cash back because you have a bank account (an ongoing year to year arrangement) with two direct debits...

If you don't do a tax return, then you need to declare the payment and the tax paid to HMRC who will give you a refund.

Vortigern

Terry_Towelling wrote: »

I am wondering what are the chances that HMRC will automatically pay me back this tax at the end of the year, rather than me having to spend £7 on the phone to them trying to reclaim it?

It will definitely not be paid back automatically. You'll have to ring them to claim it.

Zero_Sum

Would it not be possible just to do an online tax return?

Terry_Towelling

pochisoldi wrote: »

If you don't do a tax return, then you need to declare the payment and the tax paid to HMRC who will give you a refund.

I don't file a tax return and the overriding sentiment coming my way is that Halifax won't be telling HMRC that the tax they are paying on my behalf actually relates to me, so I need to tell HMRC and ask for it back - and I need to find a way of doing it that doesn't cost me more than it's worth.

I recall seeing a link to a form in my online tax account that you could fill out to request a tax repayment - although that link seems to have disappeared from view at the moment - just like all the interest payment information that was there and then suddenly wasn't. I guess HMRC doesn't want everyone chucking stuff at them at this time of year.

Thanks all.

Vortigern

You could try using HMRC form R40

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/income-tax-claim-for-repayment-of-tax-deducted-from-savings-and-investments-r40

Badger51

Yes, form R40. "Any other income and benefits" 7.4 - 7.6. (Not "UK interest and dividends"). Can be submitted online or by post.

Poor_Leno

Didn't want to start a new thread about this but have Halifax finally given the chop they used to pay as a reward to customers for having  its current account ? It used to be £5, then dropped to £3 and last few months I see it dropped again to £2, though I see they payment has stopped, or so it seems at least, and I have always maintained the account as per minimum reqs.

Has anyone else noticed this or just me ?