Paying back the Winter Fuel Payment
Find out if you’ll need to repay the Winter Fuel Payment or the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment and how HMRC will collect it.
If you have received the Winter Fuel Payment (in Scotland this is known as the Pension Age Winter Heating Payment) HMRC may take it back depending on your personal income.
Check if HMRC will take back your payment
If your total personal income for the tax year is:
- £35,000 or less — you’ll keep your payment
- more than £35,000 — HMRC will take back your payment
If you live in a household with someone else who has also received a payment, we’ll look at each person’s individual income separately. For example, if you earn £36,000 and your partner earns £22,000, we’ll take back your payment, but your partner will keep their payment.
Use this online tool to work out your total personal income and check if we’ll take back the payment, for the current tax year (6 April 2025 to 5 April 2026).
To use this tool, you’ll need the total amount of income you expect to receive in the tax year, before any deductions. You may know this as the gross amount.
You should include any personal income you receive from:
- State Pension
- company and personal pensions
- money you earn from employment
- interest from savings
- dividends from company shares
- income from a trust
- any state benefits that are taxable
You’ll also need to include any net profits:
- if you’re self-employed
- from rental income if you rent property
If you have income from a joint source, for example interest from a joint savings account, you should only include your share of the income.
How HMRC will take back your payment if you’re not in Self Assessment
You’ll need to wait for us to take back the payment, you cannot pay it sooner.
We’ll take your payment for the 2025 to 2026 tax year by changing your PAYE tax code for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. This means you’ll pay more tax each month to pay back the full payment that you received in the 2025 to 2026 tax year.
For example, for a typical payment of £200, you’ll pay approximately £17 per month extra in tax.
You’ll get a letter or a notification in the HMRC app to tell you that we’ve changed your PAYE tax code.
We’ll review all of the tax you paid against the tax you were due to pay. If we have been unable to collect the full amount due during the tax year, in your tax code, we’ll send you a tax calculation.
If you receive payments in the 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028 tax years
Unless you opt out of receiving the payment, we’ll collect your payments for the 2 tax years by changing your PAYE tax code for the 2027 to 2028 tax year.
For example, if you receive a payment in each tax year of £200, we’ll deduct approximately £33 per month extra in tax in the 2027 to 2028 tax year.
If you receive a payment for the tax year 2028 to 2029 or onwards
We’ll collect your payment by adjusting your PAYE tax code for the tax year in which you receive the payment.
How HMRC will take back your payment if you complete a Self Assessment tax return
You’ll pay the payment back through your usual Self Assessment tax return, you cannot pay it sooner.
You do not need to include the payment in your 2024 to 2025 tax return. This is because we’ll not take back any payment you received in the 2024 to 2025 tax year.
Your payment will need to be included on your tax return for each tax year from the 2025 to 2026 tax year.
If you file your tax return online, where possible we’ll automatically include the amount of your payment. It will show on your 2025 to 2026 return, as either a Winter Fuel Payment charge or Pension Age Winter Heating Payment charge.
You should check that your Winter Payment is automatically shown on your online return and include it if not.
If you file a paper Self Assessment tax return, you’ll need to add the payment to your 2025 to 2026 tax return.
You’ll then pay the payment back through your Self Assessment tax bill in the tax year in which you receive the payment, unless you opt out of receiving the payment.