{
  "url": "https://openlegislation.uk/income-tax-earnings-and-pensions-act-2003/section-681I",
  "json_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/income-tax-earnings-and-pensions-act-2003/section-681I.json",
  "legislation": "ukpga/2003/1",
  "legislation_title": "Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003",
  "legislation_url": "https://openlegislation.uk/income-tax-earnings-and-pensions-act-2003",
  "path": "section/681I",
  "kind": "section",
  "number": "681I",
  "heading": "Winter fuel payment charge",
  "text": "(1) A person (“P”) is liable to a charge to income tax for a tax year if—\n(a) P is entitled to a winter fuel payment in respect of the qualifying week, and\n(b) P’s total income for the tax year exceeds £35,000.\n(2) The charge is to be known as the “winter fuel payment charge”.\n(3) The amount of the charge is equal to the amount of the winter fuel payment.\n(4) But P is not liable for the charge if P is entitled to a relevant benefit on any day in the qualifying week.\n(5) The following are “relevant benefits”—\n(a) income support under section 124 of SSCBA 1992 or section 123 of SSCB(NI)A 1992;\n(b) an income-based jobseeker’s allowance under section 1 of JSA 1995 or Article 3 of JS(NI)O 1995;\n(c) state pension credit under section 1 of SPCA 2002 or section 1 of SPCA(NI) 2002;\n(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;\n(e) universal credit under Part 1 of WRA 2012 or Part 2 of the Welfare Reform (Northern Ireland) Order 2015.\n(6) In this section—\n(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;\n(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.",
  "extent": "E+W+S+N.I.",
  "status": null,
  "version": "current",
  "annotations": [
    {
      "type": "F",
      "label": "F1",
      "text": "Pt. 10 Ch. 9 inserted (for the tax year 2025-26 and subsequent tax years) by Finance Act 2026 (c. 11), Sch. 10 paras. 1(4), 5"
    }
  ],
  "outstanding_effects": [],
  "provenance": {
    "source": "legislation.gov.uk",
    "source_url": "https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/1/section/681I",
    "retrieved_at": "2026-10-29T09:18:42.395488+00:00"
  },
  "licence": "Open Government Licence v3.0",
  "licence_url": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/",
  "attribution": "Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives."
}