Will we lose all of child benefit payment?

[Snugglemonster84]

Aibu to be completely confused? My husband is about to get a paryrise and will earn 52k plus a 5% bonus.
I thought when you hit 50k you lost your child benefit, it just stopped. I've been reading and discovered it doesn't stop, my husband will have to pay it back in tax.

Does anyone mind who earns similar telling me how much you pay back at this salary?
Which would be the better option for us?

1. Stop recieving child benefit to keep things simple or
2. Still recieve it, inform them so tax code changes and husband pays it back (or some of it)

Ive also read that you have to complete a tax return? We haven't a clue how to do this as he's just salaried and why do you need to do that when you've informed them and the tax code should be altered accordingly?

@Ilikemyteaweak I remember having the same issue for DH a few years ago in his code was not coming through.

You may be able to do it without. If you go to the self-assessment login, rather than sign in with the government gateway (which needs the code) you can sign in with the verify. Hopefully it still works the same way, but you just had to go through ID checks (like which bank do you have an account with, what is your passport number - we selected Experian) and it verified him from records and let us in without the code.

Hopefully that may help you get in rather than wait and hope HMRC come through in time.

Still claim it, as you'll still be entitled to more than half of it. Does he salary sacrifice his pension, as that will help reduce the tax liability too!

As a standard PAYE employee (albeit at a slightly higher rate of tax) there is a simple two page version (or electronic equivalent) of the self assessment to complete. All the detail are on the P60 with the exception of interest from bank accounts and any other sources of income eg investments, pensions etc. It's generally a ten minute job. Don't forget you may get money back as a result of only getting basic tax relief in pension contributions.

If you are a SAHM then make sure it is in your name, not his, as it will count as your NI contributions for up to 12 years of the 35 qualifying years needed for your full state pension..

Yes, we are having to do the self assessment form. Last year we were asked to basically come forward as higher level income receivers commencing from 2012. I was pretty shocked at the time as I am a grandparent carer and gave up work to look after the children.

Fortunately for us it was £550 for the years involved. No fines involved, they were written off due to our circumstances.

PP's will tell you the form is straightforward but I found it okay until the end when I found the questions complex. Unfortunately for me, I ticked a box stating "No" and it indicated my dh had paid no tax, although he is a PAYE employee. Did we panic. However, rang HMRC and they corrected it for me and wrote confirming .

I had £1.040 to pay this year paid through my dh's salary. Just be careful you don't leave things to the last minute as others have said, you need some info through the post first.

My neighbour has recently told me that she received a bill from HMRC this year. I think she did not voluntarily come forward last year and this year I have heard of people receiving bills. Her bill is for over £6,000.

I hate doing the form and only continue claiming for my pension credits.

Technically I’m over the threshold but with childcare vouchers and pension contributions, it brings me back under. Otherwise it’s a right faff!

It’s worth noting for those that are talking about NICS, etc that you can still maintain this without claiming (and then paying back in tax) the child benefit. You just tick the box in the Higher Earners section, as in the picture I’ve posted, to say you do not want to claim but want to protect your State Pension Rights.

My OH earns £68k so we don't get anything but you should still fill out the form and send it away to get your NI paid. Your NI will still be paid if you don't qualify for/take the money as long as you send the form away.

You claim it. I got the money because a) I don't trust the government not to shift the goal posts later on and b) It was handy to have a wad of cash to "borrow" from and repay at leisure eg holiday deposits. Just get it in a savings account as soon as it comes in.
Also if you are claiming it and (god forbid) you separate it's all in your name from the get go.
The tax return is really quite easy to fill in tbh.

Transfer it to a savings account and then take it out when you have to pay some of it back. You pay it back in one go by Jan 31st each year.

Nope ! I’d stop claiming .
My friend didn’t realise the change and now they owe the tax man £1000’s .
We stopped claiming when this came in ,not really worth the hassle

Honestly the self-assessment isn't that difficult to do, and like others have said, things like pension contributions, childcare vouchers etc. all help reduce the adjusted income that is used to calculate what you need to pay back. Unless of course his bonus is likely to to take you well over £60K.

Just start the assessment in plenty of time (don't leave it until the last minute) and take your time to read all the notes etc. So for financial year end 2020, you can do it as soon as you have your P60. The earlier you do it, you can work out what you'll need to pay back and have time to put the money away before it's due.

I'm a sahm yes so looks as though the best decision is for me to continue to recieve the child benefit payments as usual and my husband to pay the 250 pounds he will owe back each year.
As long as we are aware of this from as soon as he gets his new wage increase and we file tax return on time we shouldn't get any nasty surprises should we?

You need to keep claiming it if you’re a SAHP as it counts as credits towards your National Insurance contributions and therefore, your retirement pension.

(I think the NI credits stop when the youngest child reaches 12 yrs.)

We are in this situtation. We kept claiming them to protect my NI contributions.

There are ways to reduce his taxable salary though - pension contributions, child care vouchers, bike to work scheme. We do all three.

@Ilikemyteaweak I'm waiting for mine. I got through to the tax office and he told me it was just busy at this time of year, but it should be through within four weeks. Apparently if it's your first year of self assessment you get a longer time to do it, (I think it's the middle of March) so don't worry yet.

And you can choose to do any repayments through his tax code spread over the 12 months of the next tax year, or pay a lump sum.

Does he have a payroll department is he employed I am assuming he is not self employed. If you work too, it should realign itself, HMRC should advise you by letter. In terms of the payment we still receive this for both DC’s I have had a number of fixed term contracts over the years and have contributed only on part time hours. My DH is self employed and this has varied over the years is my understanding of it. I need to have a look at the Government Website always helpful..

Even if you get nothing now, it forms part of your NI record for your future pension.

Tax returns aren't difficult these days, there's loads of inbuilt help and a telephone helpline and if you really don't want to do it yourself, pay someone to do it for you.

New Tax year in April 👍

We are also in the same situation. Reading with interest.

My husband (the higher rate taxpayer) wanted to stop claiming but I wanted the NI credits so we continued. The first year after deducting his pension contributions he owed nothing, the second year it was a very small amount. Depending on the pension contributions you can be a higher rate taxpayer but not have to repay anything. Please look at the figures before you decide what to do.

Also worth noting that if after pensions deductions your salary is still above £50k you can make extra payment to your pension which take it below. These will also attract tax relief at the higher rate so it doesn't cost as much as you think. If you are in the £50-£60k range its worth looking at what you can do to retain the child benefit. I had to pay it all back for a couple of years before I woke up to this. Agree with others that you should always retain the benefit t even if you have to pay it back. Better in your bank for a little while and you get the NI contribution acknowledgement,

We are also in the same situation - got a letter from HMRC in January asking if we need to pay High Income Child Benefit Charge. I’d not heard of this before, but it turns out we have been just above the limit from 2016-17 onwards!
We wrote back straight away to say yes!!!, what do we do now!!!, but no response as yet. I sent the letter signed for so know it’s been received. I’m expecting a big bill, but also really worried about whether we need to submit a tax return for 2018-2019 before 31 Jan - can anyone advise? Are we too late to register to do this online?

we claim although one of us is over the threshold - it means the SAHP maintains n I contributions toward state pension... this is only paid until your DC is 12yo, but imo it's worth doing