Winter Fuel Payment

[mgr 179]

Good morning all,

 

Does anyone here know whether the Winter Fuel Payment is tax-free or not? I have a sneaky feeling that it is tax-free in the UK. If it were, would that mean it should also be considered as such by the Steueramt? Any ideas or actual experience?

 

Friendly greetings....

[keith2011 2,496]

Unhelpful moan sorry but:-

They wouldn't give it to me  although I applied for it they refused saying I no longer had a strong enough connection to the UK despite having only a British passport and being a regular visitor and with all my close relatives living in the UK.

[RedMidge 6,606]

6 hours ago, keith2011 said:

Unhelpful moan sorry but:-

They wouldn't give it to me  although I applied for it they refused saying I no longer had a strong enough connection to the UK despite having only a British passport and being a regular visitor and with all my close relatives living in the UK.

Well, it is meant for those Resident in the UK! Not just visitors.

[keith2011 2,496]

40 minutes ago, RedMidge said:

Well, it is meant for those Resident in the UK! Not just visitors.

Actually it is available to non resident UK pensioners who live in countries that are as cold or colder than the UK in winter, a former colleague of mine who left the UK just one year later than me and now lives in the Netherlands gets it!

I may try to apply again, I seem to be eligible on all counts.

Quote

If you do not live in the UK, you’re only eligible for the Winter Fuel Payment if:

• you moved to an eligible country before 1 January 2021
• you were born before 26 September 1956
• you have a genuine and sufficient link to the UK - this can include having lived or worked in the UK, and having family in the UK

 

https://www.gov.uk/winter-fuel-payment/if-you-live-abroad

 

 

[Dembo 479]

I notice that doesn't say AND. I can satisfy conditions 1 & 3. 

[keith2011 2,496]

12 minutes ago, Dembo said:

I notice that doesn't say AND. I can satisfy conditions 1 & 3. 

 

I believe condition 2 increments each year i.e. you need to be at pensionable age I think, so sooner or later you will satisfy all the conditions but whether you get it or not maybe down to how they arbitrarily interpret condition 3!

[HEM 10,981]

On 29.11.2022, 11:42:41, keith2011 said:

They wouldn't give it to me  although I applied for it they refused saying I no longer had a strong enough connection to the UK despite having only a British passport and being a regular visitor and with all my close relatives living in the UK.

 

I was also refused on grounds of not having close ties to UK (having moved out here in 1982).

An aunt (will be 100 on Saturday) & a brother probably are insufficient "close ties".

 

Quote

• you moved to an eligible country before 1 January 2021
• you were born before 26 September 1956
• you have a genuine and sufficient link to the UK - this can include having lived or worked in the UK, and having family in the UK

 

I tick all 3 of those boxes (lived 30 years in UK & worked for a UK employer for 11.5 years). 

It was a few years ago that I tried (my records show it was 2018).

 

Anyhow...

 

[keith2011 2,496]

19 minutes ago, HEM said:

 

I was also refused on grounds of not having close ties to UK (having moved out here in 1982).

An aunt (will be 100 on Saturday) & a brother probably are insufficient "close ties".

 

 

I tick all 3 of those boxes (lived 30 years in UK & worked for a UK employer for 11.5 years). 

It was a few years ago that I tried my records show it was 2018).

 

Anyhow...

 

Hmm, I moved here in 1986 also having lived in the UK my entire life up till then and worked 20 years. I have a mother sister son and daughter plus grand children still in the UK but seems they were not close enough ties either. I applied in 2017 but it seems unlikely that the UK Works and Pensions are now in a better financial state than then and are, I think,  even less likely to be more generous.