UK considers taxing pensioners to claw back winter fuel payment

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The contentious winter fuel payment could be restored to all pensioners under plans being considered by Downing Street, with the sum being recouped from higher income pensioners through their tax returns.
Government officials confirmed the idea is being looked at after Sir Keir Starmer this week announced a U-turn on last year's decision to scrap the benefit for all pensioners, limiting it to those already in receipt of pension credit.
Starmer said last week he wanted more pensioners to receive the payment after about 10mn were stripped of the benefit last winter, a reversal of a policy that proved highly unpopular with voters in this month's English local elections.
But Downing Street said that it was still looking at how and when this might happen and that final decisions would be taken at 'a fiscal event' — expected to be this autumn's Budget.
Creating a new means test for the winter fuel payment would be highly complex and ministers are considering a simpler option, the officials said, which is restoring it as a universal benefit and then recouping the money when high income pensioners fill in their tax returns.
'There are a number of options being considered and that is one of them,' said one official close to the discussions. The payment is worth either £200 or £300 a year per recipient.
A similar approach was taken by former Tory chancellor George Osborne when he reduced the eligibility to child benefit for better off parents and it was this week endorsed by former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls. Read More Frasers' concept store at Overgate set to open in May
'What they should do is a big U turn — just say, we're going to restore the winter fuel allowance to everyone and then withdraw it through the tax system from the highest-income pensioners,' Balls said.
Speaking on the Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with Osborne, Balls told the former Tory chancellor; 'That's what you did with child benefit — and you can do that because the higher income pensioners will be doing their tax return, you have got their income information.'
The winter fuel payment cuts were announced by chancellor Rachel Reeves last July, just weeks after the general election, and limited the benefit in England and Wales to pensioners who receive means-tested pensions credit.
The reforms removed the benefit from people with incomes of more than £11,800 a year or £18,000 for a couple. Analysts said widening the eligibility for the payments would be complex, because there was no simple way to identify households with income just above the cut-off for pensions credit.
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Modelling access to the winter fuel payment on the way child benefit has been withdrawn from higher earners would not be without problems, analysts said.
The high-income child benefit charge (HICBC), which child benefit recipients pay if their income goes past a certain threshold, has proved controversial since its introduction in 2010 and has resulted in several high-profile cases at the tax tribunal against the levy.
Emma Rawson, director of public policy at the Association of Taxation Technicians, said the government would be 'unwise' to use the HICBC as a model for restricting access to winter fuel payment, adding there were many outstanding problems with the policy. Read More Интернет-казино без https://cn-tour.ru/ первоначального взноса
Not all higher income pensioners need to fill in a self-assessment tax return, as Balls had suggested, she added, only those who have additional income to pay or capital gains to report.

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Enzo Fernandez: $130.5 million Coming off of winning the FIFA Young Player Award at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Enzo Fernandez secured a $130.5 million transfer from Benfica to Chelsea in January. While the 22-year-old wasn't able to turn Chelsea's season around, he was one of the few bright spots for the Blues during a season in which they finished 12th in the English Premier League. 7. Joao Felix: $137 million Joao Felix's $137 million move from Benfica to Atlético Madrid was historic for both clubs, as it was Benfica's biggest sale in club history and Atlético's biggest-ever transfer. Unfortunately, Felix hasn't made much history in Madrid outside his price tag. While the 2019 Golden Boy-winner helped Atléti lift its first La Liga trophy in seven years in 2021, injuries and disagreements with the club's legendary manager Diego Simeone have prevented him from living up to his price tag. 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Pegged as the perfect replacement for club legend Andres Iniesta, Philippe Coutinho transferred to Barcelona from Liverpool for a fee of $145 million in 2018. What followed was the nightmare scenario for Barcelona. Coutinho, Barcelona's most expensive player of all time, played only one full season for the club before he was loaned out to FC Bayern before the start of his third season. Coutinho returned to Barcelona for the 2020-21 season, but a season-ending knee injury limited him to just 14 appearances in all competitions. In January 2022, Coutinho transferred to Premier League club Aston Villa for $26 million. Coutinho ended his Barcelona career with 25 goals and 14 assists in 106 appearances with Barcelona. With Liverpool, he had 54 goals and 45 assists in 201 appearances. 4. Moises Caicedo: $146 million The Ecuador midfielder's move was previously the most expensive deal by a British club, with Chelsea buying him from Brighton in August 2023, before Liverpool purchased Florian Wirtz. Caicedo appeared in 38 matches for Chelsea this past season, helping the team keep 11 clean sheets while finishing fourth in the English Premier League. 3. Florian Wirtz: $156 million (if add-ons achieved) Wirtz is one of the brightest young stars in world soccer. As a 20-year-old, he had 11 goals and 11 assists in 32 matches as he helped Bayer Leverkusen win its first Bundesliga league title. He followed that up with a 10-goal, 12-assist season as Leverkusen finished second in the Bundesliga and also made it to the Knockout Stage of the UEFA Champions League. Because of the lofty price tag, Wirtz will have loads of pressure on him when he arrives at Liverpool and slots in next to Alexis Mac Allister and Ryan Gravenberch in The Reds' midfield. 2. Kylian Mbappe: $194 million In hindsight, $194 million feels like a steal for a player of Kylian Mbappe's caliber. Though the 24-year-old did not win the Champions League with Paris Saint-Germain, he brought a record five consecutive Ligue 1 titles and eight domestic cups to the club since joining them from Monaco in 2017. He was also named Ligue 1 Player of the Year four times as a PSG player. In March of 2023, Mbappe passed Edinson Cavani's to become PSG's all-time leading goalscorer, and he did it in 54 fewer games. After seven seasons with PSG, Mbappe transferred to Real Madrid. 1. Neymar: $239 million It was always going to be difficult for Neymar to live up to the $239 million price tag that PSG paid Barcelona for his talents in 2017, but injuries made it even harder for him to justify it. He wasn't able to bring PSG its Champions League victory. 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