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

Extent: E+W+S+N.I.

(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.

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Source: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/1/section/681I (the official version)
Page: https://openlegislation.uk/income-tax-earnings-and-pensions-act-2003/section-681I
Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0. Source: legislation.gov.uk, The National Archives.