To be bemused by the self assessment procedure for high earners still receiving child benefit

[Mosschopz]

Yeah I know this has been done to death...

Me: high earner, standing to lose about half of my CB I think. OH: not high earner so angry at the removal of this payment, nothing we can do though is there?

Never received a letter notifying me of how my circumstances would change so left it assuming someone would be in touch. Nothing. It's been praying on my mind that I might stand to get a big bill so last night filled in the self-assessment form.

Filled in self assessment form online and that was simple enough, but what now? Am I supposed to work out how much I owe them? Or wait?

You won't have received anything informing you if this. I found it odd too.

I filled in my self assessment and got a letter back informing me that they would take it out of my PAYE if possible, and the amount I owed. Thats the last I've heard.

I think I only owed them about 45 quid for the year, as once I'd done my self assessment it turned out they owed me some too

I find the lack of informing very odd too. DW receives the payments, if she was lying then I'd be building up a huge liability for me only, which I know nothing about

We are completely flummoxed too. I think I have filled in the right forms but now don't know what to do. as we haven't received anything whatsoever about this through the post, if we hadn't have known about it through reading papers, we wouldn't know. I think if any if us are fined, there should be mass uproar!

Thebluedog makes a good point. We ended up being owed more by HMRC than we owe them in child benefit after we claimed all the relief we are allowed to claim but haven't claimed in the past.

What's the point in that? We are both PAYE so wouldn't have bothered with self assessment had it not been forced on us by child benefit changes.

After the deadline back in October you have to calculate your own tax and pay it by the 31st Jan. I would contact HMRC urgently as you have filed late and are late paying.

We thought about it and decided at the time you could opt to 'not receive the payment' was the best choice as it meant that was it no more form filling.
It seems daft as according to the system we still 'receive' CB (so I'm covered for NI contributions and DS will get a NI at 16) just at a rate of £0.
TBH I think they have made the whole thing rather more complicated than usual coupled with poor communication (typical government scheme) and it's only natural that people are going to get caught out.

Ahhhh, seriously linear??? i've ducked up then as didn't know that.

I got a letter saying telling me all about it and what to do etc. However, whilst I am a higher rate tax payer, I don't earn over the threshold for reduced CB. So, I get info but don't need it and some who need the info didn't get it!

Linear = lonecat

Hemlock - you are the only person I know then who has been 'personally' told about it.
Can anyone help me please - I am a sahm not earning. Dh earns 90k and is self employed. I got the cb but stopped it in October. So we must owe about 1k. I filled in the sa form, and got a letter back saying I don't need to cos I don't earn enough. Dh filled in his sa form as usual for 31 Jan, but there was no question about cb? Does anyone know please?

I went over the cb limit which forced me to actually do a self assessment tax form. Then got a tax rebate due to pension and charity donations being eligible for high rate tax rather than standard. Nice little unexpected bonus. They've adjusted my tax code now so I'm paying slightly less in tax each month.

Team Edward your husbands additional pay falls into tax year 2013/2014 whereas the self assessment process that has just completed was for 2012/2013.

Next year by 31 January 2015 he will need to do a self assessment form and confirm that your household received £x in CB. Then probably his tax code will be amended or there will be a small repayment to HMRC.

One thing to be aware of is that your tax code for this coming year will take into account your child benefit (if you earn over 50k). They take the amount of your child benefit and factor that into your personal allowance, so in essence they take it off before you get it iyswim. They are doing this automatically unless you ask them not to.

The best thing to do is to call them up. DH had to do a self assessment form for this last year and it turned out they owed him money from overpayment of tax in a different area.

TeamEdward - the CB is withdrawn if his income for the tax year is over £50,000. By income they mean salary from P60 plus any other income less any personal pension contributions less any gift aid contributions. It's not quite clear from your post whether he is a higher rate taxpayer, which starts around £42k or whether his income actually exceeds £50k.

If his income does exceed £50k then he needs to do a tax return and pay back 1% of the child benefit for every £100 that his income exceeds the £50k threshold. So if his annual income is £53,000 then he would have to pay back 30% of the child benefit received in the year. You would keep the other 70% because his income doesn't exceed £60k.

But as his increase only came about during the 2013/14 tax year then his tax return and payment aren't due until 31 January 2015.

Arethereany. It's only the CB you received between a date in January 2013 and 5 April 2013 that would be taken into account for this years self assessment.

The payments you received between 6 April 2013 and October 2013 will need to be accounted for in next years tax return.

Yes don't worry about the current tax year. All self assessment is relative to 12/13. After April you can file a return for 13/14 . Self assessment works a year in arrears . You just need to make sure you file it on time

Arethereany. You are still claiming the CB but not receiving the actual cash though aren't you. You need to claim to get the NI credits as a SAHM.

They'll contact you with a bill of what you owe. It happened within about 3 weeks of is filling in the self assessment.

Arethereanyleftatall - the CB needs to be paid back by the highest earner, not necessarily by the one who is receiving it. Therefore the relevant amount should have gone on your husband's tax return.

Moss chops didn't it say at the end of the online sa form how much you had to pay?

We had a cheque back within a few days.I'd imagine you'd have a bill pdq if applicable.They're not shy in coming forward.

I take your point but the deal with tax is that it is the responsibility of the tax payer to ensure they are paying the right amount. Others such as HMRC or employers have a duty of care and should provide certain information e.g. tax codes, but the onus is fully on the taxpayer. The rule changes have been very well publicised so anyone saying they didn't know what they were meant to do won't get that much of a hearing. FWIW if a higher rate taxpayer makes personal pension contributions or donates regularly to charity, self-assessment could potentially earn them a rebate.

We ditched our private health cover to bring us under hence getting a cheque as they messed up the dates it stopped.

It's madness as surely it would be better for the national coffers if families used private health cover paid for by companies.