Winter Fuel

wrf12345

Very weird doing tax online, they send me notification of my tax code in relation to my state pension (on paper) but when I go to later fill in the tax form online, they have my SIPP drawdown correct and the tax paid but I have to fill in the state pension amount myself. They did give me the tax refund automatically within a week of filling but I still had to fill in my bank details despite them having it for my state pension.

Getting the wfp back is probably going to be automatic within their system so the cost will not be great, it would have been much tougher if they had based it on household income as that would require a rewrite of code to recognize addresses and even then might fail if it is a house of multiple occupation. Still not clear if income from an ISA is recognized as income in the case of 35k, it is not part of the tax return, though it is probably recorded somewhere else in their system.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

wrf12345 said:

Very weird doing tax online, they send me notification of my tax code in relation to my state pension (on paper) but when I go to later fill in the tax form online, they have my SIPP drawdown correct and the tax paid but I have to fill in the state pension amount myself. They did give me the tax refund automatically within a week of filling but I still had to fill in my bank details despite them having it for my state pension.

Getting the wfp back is probably going to be automatic within their system so the cost will not be great, it would have been much tougher if they had based it on household income as that would require a rewrite of code to recognize addresses and even then might fail if it is a house of multiple occupation. Still not clear if income from an ISA is recognized as income in the case of 35k, it is not part of the tax return, though it is probably recorded somewhere else in their system.

It is only taxable income which counts towards the £35k.

https://www.rossmartin.co.uk/income-claims-reliefs/8566-winter-fuel-payments

Scot_39

wrf12345 said:

Very weird doing tax online, they send me notification of my tax code in relation to my state pension (on paper) but when I go to later fill in the tax form online, they have my SIPP drawdown correct and the tax paid but I have to fill in the state pension amount myself. They did give me the tax refund automatically within a week of filling but I still had to fill in my bank details despite them having it for my state pension.

Getting the wfp back is probably going to be automatic within their system so the cost will not be great, it would have been much tougher if they had based it on household income as that would require a rewrite of code to recognize addresses and even then might fail if it is a house of multiple occupation. Still not clear if income from an ISA is recognized as income in the case of 35k, it is not part of the tax return, though it is probably recorded somewhere else in their system.

The hmrc and dwp computers are i guess seperate, as could be their account details for you.

Didn't realise isa income would count - i thought it was 35k taxable - which of course includes the state pension and in past some benefits.

The above links say it uses the same definition as income tax, s.35 it 2007 is a reference to section 35 Income Tax Act 2007 so would expect isa interest excluded.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Scot_39 said:

wrf12345 said:

Very weird doing tax online, they send me notification of my tax code in relation to my state pension (on paper) but when I go to later fill in the tax form online, they have my SIPP drawdown correct and the tax paid but I have to fill in the state pension amount myself. They did give me the tax refund automatically within a week of filling but I still had to fill in my bank details despite them having it for my state pension.

Getting the wfp back is probably going to be automatic within their system so the cost will not be great, it would have been much tougher if they had based it on household income as that would require a rewrite of code to recognize addresses and even then might fail if it is a house of multiple occupation. Still not clear if income from an ISA is recognized as income in the case of 35k, it is not part of the tax return, though it is probably recorded somewhere else in their system.

The hmrc and dwp computers are i guess seperate, as could be their account details for you.

Didn't realise isa income would count - i thought it was 35k taxable - which of course includes the state pension and in past some benefits.

The above links say it uses the same definition as income tax, s.35 it 2007 is a reference to section 35 Income Tax Act 2007 so would expect isa interest excluded.

ISA interest isn't counted.

But non ISA interest will all count, even if it's taxed at one of the 0% rates.

GibbsRule_No3.

Is it correct that only 20% of the £200 will be taken anyway, so not worth opting out as I’d get £160 of the £200?

Eldi_Dos

GibbsRule_No3. said:

Is it correct that only 20% of the £200 will be taken anyway, so not worth opting out as I’d get £160 of the £200?

Think that was answered quite succinctly by poster on 7/9/25  at12.57 pm.

brewerdave

Eldi_Dos said:

brewerdave said:

Eldi_Dos said:

The_Hawk said:

This is my take on it:

Option 1 - Do nothing and I get the money up front and they will slowly take it back (through a tax code adjustment) over the following year; or

Option 2 - Go to the trouble of opting out, then the threshold changes and I go to the trouble of opting back in.

I'll stick with option 1, it's an interest free loan from the government.

Wonder what the admin costs will be to reclaim this money, costs that all taxpayers will have to carry.
Afterall if you are on a income over £35k you are not living in penury.

We are still waiting for them to sort out the overpayment of tax for my wife on interest she never had last year or this. Wrote over 8 weeks ago - still nothing.

You have my sympathy on that one, it can be a nuisance sorting that out.
If you are able to do it online via a HMRC account it clears a lot quicker than that.

Edit: on your other point I do not see HMRC trying to claim it back if it has never been paid , as it will not be reported to them.

We have an online account set up for my wife. HOWEVER, doesn't seem possible to actually provide a correct untaxed interest payment for the last tax year or this. Furthermore ,my wife actually exceeded the "tax free" dividends limit of £500 last tax year ,that has been "corrected " online ~ 8 weeks ago - but still isn't showing.
 That is why we have resorted to a letter .!!

Eldi_Dos

brewerdave said:

Eldi_Dos said:

brewerdave said:

Eldi_Dos said:

The_Hawk said:

This is my take on it:

Option 1 - Do nothing and I get the money up front and they will slowly take it back (through a tax code adjustment) over the following year; or

Option 2 - Go to the trouble of opting out, then the threshold changes and I go to the trouble of opting back in.

I'll stick with option 1, it's an interest free loan from the government.

Wonder what the admin costs will be to reclaim this money, costs that all taxpayers will have to carry.
Afterall if you are on a income over £35k you are not living in penury.

We are still waiting for them to sort out the overpayment of tax for my wife on interest she never had last year or this. Wrote over 8 weeks ago - still nothing.

You have my sympathy on that one, it can be a nuisance sorting that out.
If you are able to do it online via a HMRC account it clears a lot quicker than that.

Edit: on your other point I do not see HMRC trying to claim it back if it has never been paid , as it will not be reported to them.

We have an online account set up for my wife. HOWEVER, doesn't seem possible to actually provide a correct untaxed interest payment for the last tax year or this. Furthermore ,my wife actually exceeded the "tax free" dividends limit of £500 last tax year ,that has been "corrected " online ~ 8 weeks ago - but still isn't showing.
 That is why we have resorted to a letter .!!

It is not the easiest to find but if I remember correctly it is.

PAYE> Add Missing Income then after a couple of steps you can change incorrect income.

matelodave

Is it correct that only 20% of the £200 will be taken anyway, so not worth opting out as I’d get £160 of the £200?

As far as I understand it HMRC will be recovering the whole £200 rather than just adding £200 to your annual income and taxing it at your marginal rate. So your tax code will be adjusted for 2026/2027 to recover it - approx £17 a month or £4 a week

look here - https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/how-much-youll-get

wrf12345

The £200 is not taxable income so you either get it if under 35k or it is taken back in whole through their system, which possibly they have not set up yet. Would have made more sense to just make it taxable and get their money back off everyone except for those on really low incomes (under personal tax allowance).