Winter Fuel Payment, how to check if HMRC will take back your winter fuel payment

Did you know that HMRC will assess your total personal income for the tax year 6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026 to assess whether or not they will take back your winter fuel payment.

The rules, which is a change for HMRC, are actually quite straightforward:

• £35,000 or less → you keep your winter fuel payment
• More than £35,000 → HMRC will reclaim your winter fuel payment

If you share a household with someone else who receives the payment, HMRC still looks at income individually, not jointly.

Example:
You earn £36,000; your partner earns £22,000.
→ You will need to repay your winter fuel payment
→ Your partner will keep theirs

What income counts when checking your eligibility to the Winter Fuel Payment?

However, to see whether HMRC will reclaim your winter fuel payment, you must calculate your gross personal income for the tax year. This includes:

Income to include

• State Pension
• Private or company pension income
• Employment earnings
• Interest from savings
• Dividends
• Trust income
• Taxable state benefits

You should also include your net profits from:

• Self-employment
• Rental income (your share only)

You’ll need these figures to use HMRC’s online checker for the current tax year.

How will HMRC reclaim the winter fuel payment (if you are not in self-assessment)?

If you do not complete a Self-Assessment tax return, you cannot repay early. HMRC will recover your winter fuel payment by adjusting your future PAYE tax code.

If you received the 2025–2026 payment:

HMRC will adjust your tax code in 2026–2027.
Example:
A £200 payment → approx. £17 extra tax per month

If HMRC cannot collect the full amount through your tax code, you’ll receive a tax calculation after the year ends.

If you receive payments in 2026–2027 and 2027–2028

Repayments will be collected during 2027–2028.
Two £200 payments → approx. £33 extra tax per month

From 2028–2029 onward

HMRC will recover your winter fuel payment in the same tax year you receive it.

How will HMRC reclaim the payment (if you are in Self-Assessment)?

If you complete a Self-Assessment tax return, you will repay your winter fuel payment through your tax bill.

You do not need to declare the payment on your 2024–2025 return.

From 2025–2026 onward:

• HMRC will attempt to automatically include the amount on your digital return
• It may appear as a Winter Fuel Payment charge or Pension Age Winter Heating Payment charge
• You must check it appears correctly and add it manually if needed
• Paper filers must include the figure themselves

Repayment is made in the tax year the payment is received.

Adam Thompson, RPGCs Head of Private Client Tax added “We are already seeing where clients might be caught out by the new income threshold for the winter fuel payment. Many people with modest pensions or small investment portfolios don’t realise these changes apply to them. The key is understanding your full income picture early — not when HMRC adjusts your tax code. Our team is here to help clients assess their position and plan ahead, we want to ensure that all our clients know that there are no surprises in the future.”

How RPGCC’s Private Client Tax Team can help

The changes to the winter fuel payment are part of a wider shift toward income-based benefits and increased HMRC compliance activity. RPGCC’s Private Client Tax team supports individuals with all aspects of their financial and tax affairs, including:

• Personal tax planning ensuring you structure your income efficiently and avoid unexpected liabilities.
• Wealth management and long-term financial planning, helping you balance income, pensions, investments, and future goals.
• Inheritance Tax (IHT) planning, protecting family wealth and planning for intergenerational transfers.
• Self-Assessment tax returns, ensuring accurate declarations for pensions, property, investments and the winter fuel payment.
• Property tax and landlord support, including rental income, allowable expenses, joint ownership, and capital gains.
• Pension and retirement planning, understanding how different income streams affect tax thresholds — including the winter fuel payment criteria.

If you are unsure whether HMRC will reclaim your payment — or how the change affects your wider tax position — RPGCC’s specialists can provide clear, tailored guidance.

One final, but important note we would like to add to this article, is that whenever HMRC introduce a benefit and a clawback there is always the potential for scammers to act and try and catch people out.  Please remember that HMRC, or indeed any reputable business, will NEVER call you and ask you for your bank details or ask to check details or any kind of tax reference or code over the phone out of the blue.  Although this is not our area expertise, and we cannot assist here, if you do receive any such calls, please hang-up, speak to a friend or relative, and please do not give any personal data or information away. 

Adam has over 20 years’ experience advising private clients on a range of tax matters. 

Adam’s portfolio includes private clients, owner managed businesses, sole traders as well as SME’s and serial entrepreneurs across all sectors.  

If you would like to talk to Adam about any thing contained in this blog article, or indeed any area of private client tax, please get in touch, the RPGCC team are here and ready to help.