High earner partner moved in - CB lost

If he‘s only just over the limit he can put the extra into his pension to come in just under and you can still claim without penalty. It’s adjusted after pension contributions and charity donations etc

FFS read the thread! Many people have posted that she can be signed up to ensure the national insurance is paid but not collect the CB money, thereby keeping the contributions towards her pension but not making her partner go through the hassle of doing a tax return every year.

It's not just the loss of a benefit though, is it?

If she's on her own when she claims her pension she'll need it to be the full amount

It's free if you can do it yourself. Most people I know get eg an accountant to do it because it's not straightforward for most people.

Protect your house.
You are unmarried with 3 children.
Your childrens home should remain yours alone.
Never part with it, sell it, or jeopardise it to fund a joint one.
Do not be tempted to sell to fund a joint one.
So often that is hugely regretted on MN.
You are a lower earner.
Your house is your security.

It is your place to be very cautious OP, no matter how nice he is.
I wouldn't rush into marriage either as that would make your home a shared asset I believe.

There is nothing wrong with being bad minded and cautious, you have children to protect.

Seems very petty and pointless to do this.

But she’s not entitled to it, that’s why it needs to be paid back.

they are assessed as a household.

Due to op getting this £150 he needs to pay it to the tax authorities. She is not entitled to make him pay more tax.

I wasn’t querying anything, simply stating why unnecessarily do a tax return when you don’t need to (which he doesn’t if the op stops getting child benefit) and you somehow deduced that I don’t understand.

The greed is shocking 🤯 considering he pays what he does, be careful he doesn't wise up & realise he could probably just move out and be just as well off without the hassle!

So she then asks for her CB to be changed from non-payment to payment assuming she's stayed signed up to it on those terms

No, she has a problem with £150 she would recieve directly as an entitlement being replaced by £150 she will recieve basically if her partner feels like it. If one day he decides to stop paying for things they'll manage without holidays. The £150 will at least pay for some essentials.

How tedious 🥱 Is he your partner or your flatmate? I just don’t understand all this meticulous % splitting of bills with the person you love! I’ve only ever heard of it in MN, never ever in real life.

If I were you, I wouldn’t live together until you decide to get a joint account and pool finances properly. Preferably after getting married. For anyone saying that’s old fashioned, if he’s not good enough to marry and have a joint account with then he’s not the right person so don’t waste your time on him 🤷‍♀️

This

I mean I don’t have kids so not something I would ever have needed to know.

I just think it’s fascinating as it assumes anybody you live with has a financial obligation to any children in the home.

I wonder if there are exceptions - my friend lives with son and her sister. I wonder if her sister’s income is included as “household income”.

You can tick a box on the CB form saying you don’t want the money but still want the credits towards your state pension entitlement (national insurance). Whatever you decide make sure you keep getting the credits, even without the money.

Depends what you mean by household income though.

As part of a household if 1 person earns above £60k then some needs to be paid back regardless of whether all the children are biologically theirs. If 2 people in a household each earned £50k (total household income £100k) then no CB would need to be paid back

So many posters here unaware.

It's the way it works- CB is based on household income.

OP has 2 kids with another father (not with them) and one with her partner.

But the principle is the same.

A poster was querying a tax return v PAYE. If she's bothered she can find the up to date figures.

@VindiVici that must be an old factsheet as the starting salary to start paying back child benefit is now £60k with it all to be paid back at £80k

Doing a tax return is very simple and straightforward. The most difficult bit is registering and logging in. I do one every year and it's a 5 minute job and that's with a combination of different earnings etc. Sounds like an excuse to me

You're not unreasonable at all. You're in a very vulnerable position earning a lot less and being expected to fund mat leave from your savings when not married.

Ok he's paying half but it's probably a much more expensive lifestyle than you would have if you were single, meaning you have no chance to save. If you were to split you'd be penniless while he's had chance to save despite his bigger contributions.

Presumably you are working fewer hours while doing more childcare and he works longer hours and earns more?

This is not just about child benefit but as a minimum you should have your own savings and pension that you regularly pay into. Consider the time spent on childcare as a starting point for what contribution he should be making towards this.

It's free to do a tax return

I do understand.

the only reason he needs to do the tax return is because the op insists on collecting the child benefit knowing full well that it will need to be repaid. Therefore it is completely unnecessary. If she doesn’t get the child benefit he doesn’t need to do a tax return.

It's the rule from HMRC. You're coming over as if you don't understand, but maybe you do?

If one person in the household earns above £X the child benefit is reduced or in some cases (higher earners) it's none.

This might help- see the part where it says you have to complete a tax return.

High Income Child Benefit Charge

You or your partner may have to pay a tax charge, known as the ‘High Income Child Benefit Charge’, if you get Child Benefit and either of you has an individual income over £50,000.

To pay the tax charge the person with the highest income must complete a Self Assessment tax return.

You can opt out of getting Child Benefit payments so you won’t have to pay the charge and you will still protect your State Pension.

assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5cbf1b7d40f0b63cacd6dcaf/Child_Benefit_factsheet.pdf

Why is it irresponsible to not do a tax return, the vast majority of people don’t do it as they don’t need to as all tax is PAYE.

its just unnecessary hassle