To cancel child benefit now I earn over £60K?

[quizmasterr]

Is there a reason to keep claiming?

I've just signed up for self assessment for the first time and so will have some CB to pay back. My salary is now over £60k so I think I have to pay it all back that I receive from that point.

I recall I have read on here that there are benefits to claiming it - is that the case?

Keep claiming as it gives you home rights protection - you can pay back the cb amount and get credits for pension etc.

You might not always have a job? Companies sadly flounder all too often. People get made redundant in resizing.

Also if you pay a small amount into private pension then you can keep cb

It contributes to your state pension credits I think. Can you up your work pension contributions to mean you fall back below the threshold and don’t have to pay it back? Better future work pension as a fringe benefit.

No, no benefit at all. You can opt to continue claiming the "credits" towards state benefits etc but opt not to receive it.

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge

"If you choose to opt out of getting Child Benefit paymentsYou should still fill in the Child Benefit claim form. You need to state on the form that you do not want to get payments.
You need to fill in the claim form if you want to:

• get National Insurance credits, which count towards your State Pension
• get your child a National Insurance number without them having to apply for one - they’ll usually get the number before they turn 16 years old"

Bump up your pension contributions to bring your salary below the threshold?

I believe the ‘benefit’ is that receiving CB counts towards your NI/state pension entitlement - mainly relevant if you’re a SAHP with a high earning partner, in which case it might be advantageous to continue claiming and have your partner pay back via tax return.

I didn’t bother after about £58k tbh. Because you have to do the self assessment etc , after 60k financially you gain nothing, but all the faff. Or a bill if you don’t do it right!! I wouldn’t bother. You can always claim again should your circumstances change.

That’s helpful thanks

If you get divorced you might find it useful to be the one claiming it. Just tick the box not to receive any money if you don't want the hassle of repaying.

I waived my entitlement to the money (so it doesn't land in my account at all) but carried on claiming the credit, to protect my NI contributions whilst I was on maternity leave. For the final 3 months I didn't get any pay so that was the only way I could protect my NI contributions.

Can you expand on this. It seems an amazing loophole if correct. Or do you mean pay in to reduce your net below the threshold?

The figure used is the one after pension contributions are made, unless you pay over 40k into it which surely virtually nobody on 60k would. So OP may still have at least partial entitlement if she pays into a pension.

If you're earning £60k you'll get NI credits anyway, so don't need them from CB. Even if you don't earn in the future, you can't use the credit gained in this year to offset it, it only counts in the year that it's earned.

However if you have a very low/none earning partner then they could receive CB and the NI credits.

Paying back CB is very simple, so it's worth claiming it until you're not entitled to any at all, which is only reached when you earn £60k after pension contributions, which would be around £63k assuming you don't have benefits like a company car.

Even if you are only entitled to keep 10/20% of it, that could be about £400 if you have 2 DC and most people would say yes to doing a few minutes of admin for £100-400 (amount depending on exact salary and number of DC.

<ponders setting up a virtual assistant business doing tax returns for people who don't think it's worth claiming CB because they'll have to spend 10 minutes completing a tax return to pay some of it back>.

No benefit as you work so you already receive the pension credits. It's only useful for a SAHP in a high earning couple to claim.

<ponders setting up a virtual assistant business doing tax returns for people who don't think it's worth claiming CB because they'll have to spend 10 minutes completing a tax return to pay some of it back>.

😂

I didn't claim and it caused a few issues claiming DLA for DD as she wasn't "on the system". Easily sorted but did delay an already long process. I didn't know you could claim and not have the money but will look into that now I know about the NI number thing.

Do grandparents provide any childcare for an U12 (or have they in the past) ? if so you can transfer your credits from CB over to them if they have any missing years, so worth claiming if that applies.

If you're a police officer, for example, you may earn £56,000 p/a, but they pay £7,000 p/a in pension, they would still be able to claim child benefit.

If you are working or youngest child is over 12 there are no ni incentives to claiming. You can lodge the claim but opt out of payments though, in case circumstances change.

The only real advantage to keeping a claim in when you aren't eligible to receive any payment due to your own salary is to make receipt of your child's NI number automatic. You could claim the money, put it in the highest interest short-term savings account you can find, pay it back in your tax return and keep the interest if you are organised and disciplined enough, but for most people on £60k plus this is not really a good use of your time.

I've kept mine as it was the first year completely clear of CB just incase I decided to take a step down and go back under the threshold. I'm currently putting it into an 8% savings account before paying it back, it will have made around £80 in interest on it by the time I pay it back. On that basis I'm tempted to just keep claiming, but I haven't done a self assessment yet (will be due to do one next year) if it's a faff, I will cancel it.

If you don't want to claim it then you can allow someone else to claim, if they live with your family or pays towards their costs. My mum has a low income so she basically claims the money since I can't claim it (due to earnings). She lives with us but even if she didn't there is a way she could claim by ensuring she pays out for food and clothes for the dc. It all helps go into the household pot. I was advised on this by an HMRC employee, see here.

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/eligibility

I upped my pension contributions, paid more into my pension and balanced out the difference by still receiving CB. I still pay some of it back but after a few calculations worked out the best deal financially for myself as I was just on the edge of the threshold like you.

This is going back a few years now but I also needed to provide a letter from the child benefit office to apply for a school place. Funny it’s not mentioned because at the time there was several weeks wait to get a letter issued.

I do a self assessment anyway so no extra faff beyond ticking that box so decided to keep claiming, stick it in high interest account and benefit from it that way.

I'd disagree there's no benefit to claiming:

Claiming effectively gives you an interest-free loan of £2713 per year (more if you have more than one child) with 2 years to repay. Stick £2713 in a decent savings account for two years and you get £290 in interest.

And if the OP currently have interest-bearing debt (e.g. credit cards) then the savings are even greater.

Also, if there's a reasonable chance that the OP's earnings will dip back below £60k (e.g. because some of the earnings are overtime or bonus or similar) then it's probably less hassle to do claim + repay via self-assessment, than to stop claiming now and restart later.