Winter Fuel Allowance and HMRC

Lackagh420

Can anyone confirm if you have to inform HMRC when you opt out of Winter Fuel Allowance?  I have opted out but don’t want to find my tax code altered next year due to DWP not speaking with HMRC.  One would expect that two Government departments would share the information but I’m not convinced that will happen!

subjecttocontract

It's one of the reasons that I didn't opt out. I didn't have confidence that hmrc/dwp would handle it correctly. That and I liked the idea of having an interest free £100 loan from the UK Gov'. 😁😁

Silvertabby

subjecttocontract said:

It's one of the reasons that I didn't opt out. I didn't have confidence that hmrc/dwp would handle it correctly. That and I liked the idea of having an interest free £100 loan from the UK Gov'. 😁😁

We had a chew over this.  Mr S is so close to the £35K limit it's literally a case of how they calculate his State pension.  

ie, 1 week at the old rate plus 51 weeks at the new = under £35K.
but
52 weeks at the new rate = over £35K

Didn't opt out in the end, but I will be keeping a very close eye on his taxes. As usual.

subjecttocontract

Lackagh420 said:

Can anyone confirm if you have to inform HMRC when you opt out of Winter Fuel Allowance?  I have opted out but don’t want to find my tax code altered next year due to DWP not speaking with HMRC.  One would expect that two Government departments would share the information but I’m not convinced that will happen!

According to the letter I received my self assessment form will already be populated with details of my Winter Fuel  Allowance. So it seems DWP & HMRC are communicating the information.