To be pissed off about paying back child benefit

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I am in a sector that was awarded a pay rise this year - though our union is fighting for a higher one. The rise was from September but our school (yes, it's teaching) didn't pay it until November when we got months at once. HR always send us a pay statement at this time of year and I have just opened mine and seen I am now on approx £52k (been teaching 18 years and am head of a core subject in a large secondary school). I understand I now have to pay back some of my child benefit. This is a pisser as things are pretty tight and I'm a lone parent who gets no CM (ex is a total waste of space - I've gone through CMS). Also, I wasn't expecting it this year (I was on £49k last year and now I'm worried I've missed some sort of deadline for paying it back as technically I've been on this for 5-6 months, but only just realised.

I really haven't got the head space for this now and a quick Google has just brought confusion. As soon as you move forwards a bit in this shithole country you move backwards it seems. Any advice would be great!

this Is true - you shouldn’t have to pay anything back unless you don’t pay pension

Ignore the snarky comments OP. Some women see others as competition so are negative about their success. Well done for working so hard to get to where you are. My pension contribution is 9.6% and I earn less than you so yours is potentially more which would keep you under.

Relatively high salary, but a single salary. So it works out as the same as two on a low salary. Yes she will pay less in food but I imagine her bills will be no different. Have some sympathy.

@Symposium123

Especially when like us you are a sahp due to complex sn that dwp can't understand (she can eat on her own and prepare food but won't! Same goes for showering, even remembering to use the toilet)

Me too. I earn just over the threshold to repay in full so we do but my DH earns below the tax threshold so it is frustrating that many households are on significantly more jointly and get to keep it.

Yanbu. It's a dreadful system for lone parents.
Can you shovel extra money into your pension from now on to cancel out the pay rise?

Yanbu, we were in a similar position when it was bought in probably over 10 years ago now.
It's completely unfair 2 income households could potentially earn 100k and keep it and a family with 1 income of 50k start to lose it and completely lose it at , I think 60k. Also dont think the thresholds have been raised since it came in.
I hope you can sort something out with your pension so you can still get it.
On the positive side you have a fantastic job and career and can support your family, but I get it's not easy.

they don't pay the whole lot back, its a charge on the amount over 50k

If it's a shitholes country don't let the door hit you, this country is educating your children paying you child maintenance before you hit the limit.

But its a shitholes country, please leave.

The whole system is so confusing! I just heard about the over £50k rule and DH started a job on £65K in November. Previously on £45k. I immediately opted out of CB once I learned of the threshold. No idea what’s going to happen now or if we’ll be fined out have to pay something. I’m hoping with pension contributions and the fact I opted out fairly quickly, we might be ok. But bloody hell why do they have to make it so hard. Just stop paying it to people once they earn over the threshold. Why make people do a self assessment and pay it all back.

It actually works out as less than two on a low salary, as OP will only get one tax free allowance, plus will pay more student loan

I had to pay back three bloody years of it!
2 parents can earn nearly £100,000 grand and be entitled to it
But when one goes over £50,000 then it all changes

So you’re taking home about £3k a month as a lone parent. Hardly minimum wage.

Most people aren't being snarky, they're just pointing out that OP isn't any worse off by having to pay some money back on her child benefit than she was before the pay increase when she could claim the full amount.

I doubt you'd have the same response if a parent went back into full time work and complained they weren't allowed to still claim their previous UC entitlement.

Which financial year have you exceeded £50k in? Was it 2021/2022 or is it this financial year 2022/23? This will make a difference on when you need to file a self assessment form.

Also, do you have any salary sacrifice schemes/ options to pay in additional pension?

The tax year runs from April - April. 5th or 6th of April I think?

We’re in tax year 2022-23 now.

You should get a P60 from your employer shortly after the end of the tax year, which will have details of your total pay for tax year 2022-23, amount of tax deducted from your pay etc.

If the P60 says you’ve been paid more than £50k in the tax year, then you might have to do a tax return because of the child benefit. Although depending on how things shake out with your pension contributions, it’s possible that you may not owe anything.
And it’s a sliding scale with child benefit. You won’t have to pay all of it back unless you’re earning £60k+.

HMRC do not automatically inform people if they need to do a tax return. The absence of a letter from HMRC demanding a tax return does not necessarily mean that no tax return is required. As far as HMRC are concerned, it’s up to the taxpayer to be proactive about knowing whether or not they need to do one.

If you do need to do a tax return for tax year 2022-23, you’ve got until 31st Jan 2024 to submit it.
If it’s the first time you’ve done a tax return, you’ll need to contact HMRC by the beginning of October to get registered on their systems before you can do the tax return, so allow extra time for that.

You won’t have to repay, it’s calculated after pension deductions as pp said

It’s definitely an unfair system. Very frustrating for those who lose out.

• Single parent living in London, earning just over £60k, that salary doesn’t stretch far in an expensive city. Not entitled to Child Benefit.
• Couple living in a cheaper rural area, both earning 49k each. Can claim child benefit.

Should be based on household income in my opinion.

It's a shit system which both penalises households with unequal incomes between partners even if they earn less than other households who don't need to pay the tax charge and it also forces loads of people who are on PAYE to do tax returns which is just a massive expense in adminstrative terms.

However while we have the system please try and look up the deductions that you can make. A key one is pension and you may be able to use voluntary pension contributions to help you out. The second I've found useful is any gift aid donations you have made through the year as these are deductable too so please get into the habit of a) making any charitable donations you do make using gift aid (helps the charity too) and b) recording all your gift aid donations.

Wait until April and you should get your P60. Then check your taxable pay for the past year. If it’s below £50k, which I’d expect you to be with pension contributions, you’re good to go. If it’s above £50k, you need to register for self-assessment. You’d pay back a fixed amount per year so even if your taxable pay was £52k, you’d still keep about 80% of your child benefit. That’s my understanding, anyway - my DH is similar to you and almost at the next tax band.

I think you’ll probably be paying enough into your pension that it won’t count. You could pay a bit extra if needed (although I doubt it would be needed if you’re only 2k over).

Is there anyone from the union who could advise? My mum was a teacher and I know she somehow got financial advice through the union so it definitely used to be a thing.

I have been through this minefield op. We are grandparent carers and I gave up my job to have the boys placed via the courts. My DH then took on overtime and we went on the sliding £50-£60,000 scale. For some reason DH could not use his pension, but cannot recall why.

Going back many years, the self assessment form was a nightmare. A neighbour gave up on page 1 back then. Now it is more straightforward. I dont think you will have much to repay on £52,000 but frustrating to realise your overtime will be taken into account. Deal with it asap or give up your child benefit. You have to decide which way you want to go and work it out. I gave up CB.

Do remember, hilariously the head of HMRC said no-one is fined for an honest mistake! Tbh, in my case they did consider I made an honest mistake and my fine was written off but I had to pay interest,

I assume your annoyance also comes from the fact your ex fails to pay CM. I wish this situation was pursued with the same vigour by CMS as it is by HMRC. Speak to them if you can, but by god, you will have a long wait for an answer.