{"id":523819,"date":"2026-04-10T18:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/523819\/"},"modified":"2026-04-10T18:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-10T18:47:11","slug":"dwp-confirms-tax-code-change-for-state-pensioners-in-april-personal-finance-finance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/523819\/","title":{"rendered":"DWP confirms tax code change for state pensioners in April | Personal Finance | Finance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"HMRC<\/p>\n

HMRC will take Winter Fuel Payments back from high income pensioners via a tax code change (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) has confirmed a tax code change for state pensioners in England and Wales in April who exceed an income threshold.<\/p>\n

The change will be made to pensioners with an income over \u00a335,000 so that HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC<\/a>) can reclaim Winter Fuel Payments<\/a>. Payments between \u00a3100 and \u00a3300 were issued automatically to eligible households in November or December last year, but those with a total income above the \u00a335,000 threshold will now see the Winter Fuel Payment<\/a> taken back by HMRC. The DWP<\/a> said this will be done either by changing your tax code or adding the amount to your Self Assessment tax return. This only applies to pensioners who exceed the income threshold and didn\u2019t opt out of getting the Winter Fuel Payment in the 2025\/26 tax year.<\/p>\n

Those who didn\u2019t opt out will receive a letter or email notification from the DWP this month confirming a tax code change to take the Winter Fuel Payment back.<\/p>\n

Read More: DWP confirms automatic \u00a3300 payments for state pensioners <\/a><\/p>\n

Read More: State pensioners over 80 handed \u00a3110.75 extra cash per week <\/a><\/p>\n

According to the DWP, for a typical Winter Fuel Payment of \u00a3200, you\u2019ll pay around \u00a317 per month in extra tax to pay the money back.<\/p>\n

It means that pensioners will pay more tax each month until the full Winter Fuel Payment they received in the 2025\/26 tax year is paid in full. Pensioners need to wait for HMRC to take the payment and cannot pay it any sooner.<\/p>\n

Those who are in Self Assessment should have had the Winter Fuel Payment automatically included on their tax return for the 2025 to 2026 tax year as a tax charge.<\/p>\n

The DWP said: \u201cWe\u2019ll take your payment for the 2025 to 2026 tax year by changing your tax code for the 2026 to 2027 tax year. This means you\u2019ll pay more tax each month\u202fto repay the full amount you received in the 2025 to 2026 tax year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn April 2026, you\u2019ll get a letter or an email notification to tell you that we\u2019ve changed your tax code to take back your Winter Fuel Payment. This will show as an underpayment.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce we\u2019ve confirmed your income for the 2025 to 2026 tax year, we\u2019ll check whether you still need to repay this amount. If we\u2019re unable to collect the full amount due during the tax year, in your tax code, we\u2019ll send you a tax calculation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DWP has also now confirmed Winter Fuel Payments for the 2026\/27 tax year, which will once again see pensioners with an income over \u00a335,000 per year have their payments clawed back by HMRC.<\/p>\n

To opt out of getting Winter Fuel Payments, you need to either complete the opt-out form<\/a> before 11:59pm on September 20, 2026, or call the helpline before 6pm on September 18, 2026.<\/p>\n

If your total income is over \u00a335,000 and you don\u2019t choose to opt out, HMRC will take your Winter Fuel Payment back automatically – you cannot return it yourself.<\/p>\n

Explaining the process for the 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028 tax years, the DWP added: \u201cUnless you opt out of receiving the payment, we\u2019ll collect your payments for the 2 tax years by changing your tax code for the 2027 to 2028 tax year.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, if you receive a payment in each tax year of \u00a3200, we\u2019ll deduct about \u00a333 per month extra in tax in the 2027 to 2028 tax year.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you receive a payment for the tax year 2028 to 2029 or onwards, we\u2019ll collect your payment by adjusting your tax code for the tax year in which you receive the payment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"HMRC will take Winter Fuel Payments back from high income pensioners via a tax code change (Image: Getty)…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":523820,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[84,2215,4176,18203,2218,15635,4174,4175,2899,181943,1892,56,54,55,43393,48759],"class_list":{"0":"post-523819","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dwp","10":"tag-finance","11":"tag-heating","12":"tag-hmrc","13":"tag-income-tax","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-state-pensioners","17":"tag-tax-code-change","18":"tag-taxes","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom","22":"tag-winter-fuel-payment","23":"tag-winter-fuel-payments"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523819","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=523819"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/523819\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/523820"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=523819"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=523819"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=523819"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}