Is child benefit worth it if your partner earns more then 60k and will have to pay the extra tax?

[Brightandbreezey]

Just that really… I have a DD and never claimed child benefit. Due to have twins soon and wondered if it was worth it if partner has to pay higher tax because of it?
Anyone else been on similar situation?
Cheers!

Can you claim it in your name depending on your own salary?

It's absolutely worth you claiming it for your NICs if you are a stay at home parent or working very part time.

Are you working?
If not, you get NI credits
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-credits-for-parents-and-carers-cf411a#:~:text=If%20you're%20a%20parent%20or%20carer%20of%20a%20child,from%20a%20spouse%20or%20partner

If someone in the household is earning over £60k it's irrelevant what the OPs salary is, it still needs to be included in the tax return of the higher earner.

It's a stupid system and leaves women financially vulnerable.

Depends how much over 60k. 61k... definitely worth it.

100k... probably not unless you a SAHM.

It tapers from 60 to 80 so you only pay back a percentage
Its also taxable income so pension contributions for example don't count.

If they earn between £60 and £80k then only some is paid back and it's all paid back once you reach £80k. If he earns under £80k then its worth claiming as you get to keep a proportion of it.

It depends on how your family finances are arranged, because although you pay it back in tax you only pay back what you receive. It doesn’t result in a net loss.

So if you have separate finances and the child benefit comes to you, and gets repaid by your DH, it’s a hand way to ensure the money goes get separated out.

If you have joint accounts then it might not be worth it.

As others have said, it’s worth registering for the NI credit if you are not working. It is possible to receive just the NI credit and not the money in the bank, which can be easier if you think you might struggle to repay.

If you are likely to take time off work register and opt out of payments, to receive ni credits. Your oh should submit a tax return and that will include repaying any overpaid cb , if you choose to receive it. Up to 80k it won't be all.

Thank you for the replies… I appreciate it! Think I will look into the NI credit at least. I took 6 months career break with last DD… not sure what I’ll do this time but that sounds worth it! Wonder if I can get claim anything back from the career break?
Luckily finances have always been evenly split (as in a % of each of our salaries put in joint account to cover everything) when I was working full time before children. Partner very supportive of my career break and covered all costs plus gave me an “income” so I could pay for petrol, day trips out with DD etc. I’ve never felt it’s unfair or uneven. So I know I’m lucky here.

Unless your partner earns over £80k after pension contributions (and accounting for anything like a company car or private healthcare) it's worth claiming as you will get some of the money. Every little helps and all that.

Plus you might need the NICs for a full state pension but that sounds less likely as you've been working and you have nearly 50 years to amass the necessary 35 years of credits, so have plenty of leeway anyway to account for a few years of no/very low earnings.

Claim it. Pension contributions are deducted so even though my DP's salary and bonus puts u over the threshold, pension brings it down and we get to keep most of it.

Some friends I know just put it in a high interest account and repay what they owe once they have done a tax return. My DP does his tax return so we repay any we owe via PAYE.

We stopped claiming because DS was earning far more than £60K. (I kept a £0 claim in place due to NI contributions, but have actually worked since).

Roll on 10 years, times have changed significantly. We both earn under £60K, so presumably we can restart our claim? DC are 13 and 16 (y11).

You can claim just the NI component and not the money.

@IbizaToTheNorfolkBroads you can yes

I meant that DH was earning more than £60K. I'd be delighted if DS earnt a single penny.

Thank you @MidnightPatrol

it also depends how much over the 60k is earned.

Before it was upped to 60k i didn’t normally earn over the CB 50k amount, but we recently had a big job on with a shit ton of overtime which took me over. Instead of losing CB and paying increased tax I paid in voluntary pension contributions to take me back under.

so if you’re earning just a bit over look at increasing pension contributions in the short term. You won’t be much worse off if at all and you might get to retire a couple of years earlier!

Agree. The figure after pension contributions is the one that matters here. Even partial eligibility is worth having, especially with 3 kids.

We’ve never claimed it as we’re not eligible and as we both work enough to comfortably have 35 years+ NI contributions each then there is no NI/pension benefit for us.

The only really minor thing to note is that if you don’t claim you will need to apply for your DC to get their own NI number when they reach 16 as it isn’t generated automatically if you’ve never claimed the benefit. It’s a really simple process though and doesn’t take long to arrive.

How can you reclaim if you stopped? I didn't realise that the limit had changed from 50-60k. Was that recent?

You can restart your claim. Think the limit may have changed in April 2024. If you had a claim and opted out you may need able to backdate it too.

@qwertyasdfgzxcv
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge/restart-child-benefit

We've always claimed it and put it in a high interest account or premium bonds. DH has to do a tax return anyway so it's not exactly extra work. With three children it's not an insignificant amount of money.

If you're borderline whether you have to pay it all back it's worth looking at increasing pension contributions so you get to keep it. There's a calculator you can play around with called the child benefit tax calculator.

I didn't realise that the limit had changed from 50-60k. Was that recent?

It was the last Tory budget.

DH was brushing up to 50K limit and avoiding with more pension contributions - but he was thinking not worth the hassle post 16 for youngest. Now we can keep on and it should cover her bus fare to college for two years.

Only budget that left us noticeably better off.

Thank you- so is that 60k gross or after tax and pension etc? I think DH earns about £70k gross so it might be worth us claiming now..