Section 681I — Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003: Winter fuel payment charge

Winter fuel payment charge 681I 1 A person (“ P ”) is liable to a charge to income tax for a tax year if—

a P is entitled to a winter fuel payment in respect of the qualifying week, and b P’s total income for the tax year exceeds £35,000.

2 The charge is to be known as the “winter fuel payment charge”.

3 The amount of the charge is equal to the amount of the winter fuel payment.

4 But P is not liable for the charge if P is entitled to a relevant benefit on any day in the qualifying week.

5 The following are “relevant benefits”—

a income support under section 124 of SSCBA 1992 or section 123 of SSCB(NI)A 1992;

b an income-based jobseeker’s allowance under section 1 of JSA 1995 or Article 3 of JS(NI)O 1995;

c state pension credit under section 1 of SPCA 2002 or section 1 of SPCA(NI) 2002;

d an income-related employment and support allowance under section 1(2)(b) of WRA 2007 or Part 1 of the Welfare Reform Act (Northern Ireland) 2007 ;

e universal credit under Part 1 of WRA 2012 or Part 2 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015 .

6 In this section—

a a “ winter fuel payment ” means a payment under the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations 2025 , the Winter Heating Assistance (Pension Age) (Scotland) Regulations 2024 or the Social Fund Winter Fuel Payment Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2025 ;

b the “ qualifying week ”, in relation to a tax year, means the week beginning on the third Monday in the September of that tax year.