Help me out here - child benefit

[Doigetchildbenefit]

I’m so sleep deprived I’m re-reading stuff online and have confused myself totally. Please help
me out here vipers

i had a promotion in April which means I’ll go from earning just under 50000 to almost 70000. Stupidly didn’t think about child benefit so that’s still been coming in

what I can’t figure out is at what point you earn too much for child benefit. Is it calculated on gross or net?

sorry to be a bit gross as I know it seems I earn a Lot but trust me for lots of reasons every penny is needed …I’ve read some people make extra pension contributions so as to still earn child benefit. is this a thing??

It’s based on taxable income, so after pension contributions but before tax. Unless you pay loads into your pension on £70k you’ll be very unlikely to still be entitled to it.

you will need to do a tax return and pay back what you’ve received.

If you or your partner earn over 60,000 before tax you won't qualify for CB

Even if you don't qualify for it it's worth applying and paying back through tax as it boosts your national insurance contribution — you make sure you don’t miss out onNational Insurance credits to protect your entitlement to State Pension
your child being automatically issued with a National Insurance number before their 16th birthday

You’ll still get paid the full amount of Child Benefit each month –, whichever one of you has the higher income will have to pay back the full amount in the form of Income Tax.
You’ll need to fill in a Self-Assessment tax return so HMRC can calculate the extra Income Tax you’ll have to pay.

I was in a similar situation and I stopped the claim altogether instead of laying back and fading about with tax returns.

On the NI thing it doesn't boost it it carries on at the same rate and as you are employed it doesn't matter.

Dear god I’m so tired the first two replies (which I appreciate) seem to contradict themselves - or have I misunderstood?

They will pay it to you

You will have to pay it back then next year (see it as a loan)

It's worth claiming because it gives you other benefits

HTH
Sorry you're tired...life stuff sucks some times doesn't it?

only my opinion mind you>>>> lots of people don't claim because it's a faff

At 70K income you will have to pay it all back via the tax system. If you are able and willing to drop your taxable income to 50K by making pension contributions then you can keep it all.

If you are going to earn more than 60K, meaning you can't keep any of it, you can ask for payments to be stopped so you don't have to then repay them. This isn't the same thing as cancelling your child benefit claim, which you should keep going in case you need it in future.

If you have a non-earning spouse, or a very low-earning one, it might be worth putting the claim in their name, even if you aren't actually taking any money, as they may get National Insurance credits that earn them some state pension, while the relevant child is under 12.

It is definitely worth considering though if you can make pension contributions to take your taxable income back under £50k. You'd be paying 40% tax on that portion of your income, and losing child benefit because of it too.

Obviously not an option for everyone, and if you do need the cash instead it's not possible but many people do do this.

Once you go over £60k all the CB would need to be paid back. You register for self assessment and declare the CB on there to pay it back. The alternative is to keep the claim but opt out of getting the money and then there will be nothing to pay back

I put everything I earn over £50K into my pension so I still get CB. So does DH. Means we don't pay 40% tax as well which is good.