How the Severely Sight impaired could benefit from a £3000 top up.
If you are living with Severe Sight Impairment (SSI), you may be entitled to a valuable tax break, the blind person’s allowance provides a top up to the tax-free personal allowance. In the current tax year, it’s worth £3070. With the personal allowance at £12,570 this means that blind people can currently receive an income of £15,640 before they need to start paying tax.
The top up is payable to all eligible claimants irrespective of age or overall income, although the personal allowance has been frozen at its current level until 2028.
It is possible to transfer your blind person’s allowance to a spouse or civil partner you’re living with even if they do not have a visual impairment. You’ll want to do this if you don’t pay tax or do not earn enough to take advantage of the full allowance.
The ability to transfer the allowance means your household can still benefit from paying a reduced amount of tax. The blind person’s allowance is not a payment but rather a way to reduce your tax bill.
If you haven’t claimed the blind person’s allowance, you may be able to save even more as claims can be backdated by up to four years.
In England you will need a certificate confirming that you are blind or severely sight impaired or a document confirming the diagnosis from your doctor, you will also need to be registered with your local council as either blind or severely sight impaired.
If you are registered as SSI or Blind and have not yet obtained blind persons tax allowance, but would like to, please call the office on 01480 453438 and we can arrange for a call from an Outreach Worker to discuss.
Source GOV.UK Blind Person’s Allowance: Overview – GOV.UK