to not understand the new Child Benefit rules on Higher Income

[Summeblaze]

Its just so confusing. DH and I filled in a tax return a few weeks ago as this year he fell into the Higher Income bracket for Child Benefit.

We went on to the site tonight to fill in one for the previous year (see previous thread) and it says on the top line "you have nothing to pay" and then underneath says we owe nearly £2000. Kind of contradicts each other and offices are closed til tomorrow. Will they take this off next years tax or do we have this to pay.

Anyone else already done this and can shed light on the procedure.

We've been told we have to pay it all back in a oner before the end of Jan. Supposedly the deadline to have the option to pay it back via PAYE is sometime in December. We have tried to negotiate a monthly amount and they are not exactly being flexible as yet.

Its genuinely quite hard to work out your adjusted net income. It includes pensions, childcare vouchers, etc. I realise that most wives know roughly what their husbands earn, but this level of detail definitely not. When salaries change year by year aswell it's not obvious at what point you are eligible for some of it, with the rising scale from 50-60k.

It's a bit of a shambles.

You can claim child benefit but opt out of the payment and that protects your NI credits

The Dec 31st deadline is also not publicised. There is no mention of it in the Higher Earners Child Benefit section of the Govt website.

From .gov website:

You can choose not to get Child Benefit payments, but you should still fill in the Child Benefit claim form. This will help you getNational Insurance creditswhich count towards yourState Pension.

www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns/deadlines - this page mentions 30th December deadline if you want to pay back via your tax code

Yes we have just opted out, it is crazy to be hit with a bill for over £1k and be given a matter of weeks to pay it. The customer service at HMRC seem to think we have pots of gold waiting at home to send over to them which is absolutely not the case sadly.

Best you complain to the tax office too then Stickerrocks!