Have I claimed these things from the government that I am not entitled to?

[gennnnn]

I am a single parent. I earn 57k. For the last two years I have been claiming child benefit. However my ex partner/child’s father earns 130k and pays me 1,200 a month in child maintenance. I am absolutely panic striken after reading another thread that I shouldn’t be claiming this because of his earnings? I have no savings and don’t know how I would pay this back can anyone help?

I am also panicking that I shouldn’t be claiming the free hours due to his income is this correct? How would I go about notifying them of this?

Does he live with you? Assuming not, then you're fine. It's household income not parents income.

I have never disclosed the maintenance payments as they are above what he is obliged to pay. I am terrified I have now done something wrong

He's your ex, so his income is not relevant for the child benefit claim. Same for the free hours as well, I think.

@titchy no he doesn’t but what about nursery hours? I also haven’t declared the maintenance

I've never had to declare child maintenance payments even though they take me above the threshold for claiming most things.

I also don't have to declare my childs DLA.

You arent living together as a couple so what he earns has no bearing on your CB

You should however have been doing a tax return as prior to this year the threshold for paying back CB was £50k. At a salary of £57k you should have been paying some back

I don't know about the free hours but I thought maintenance payments were omitted from Child Benefit calculations? I believe they are for Universal Credit.

It's not household income so I'm pretty sure it doesn't count. Whether it's fair or not is a different question but irrelevant.

.

What are you going on about? The other thread is about HOUSEHOLD INCOME. Your ex could be a millionaire. It doesn’t make a damn bit of difference to your claim or your nursery funded hours.

Child maintenance also doesn’t need to be declared.

You’ve done nothing wrong and have absolutely nothing to worry about. Calm down. Seriously, you read “household income” and you’re not terrified? Literally nothing more for you to even think about.

You can still claim it, whatever you earn. What you are meant to do as a high earner (over 50k) is submit a self assessment tax return every January, and then repay a portion of your child benefit. If you earn 57k, you may have to pay back about 600-1000£ for each tax year, it’s on a sliding scale. No one tells you that! I know; I’ve been caught out too. You’ll also be fined £100 fur each year you’ve not done it. Go on HMRC, look up send assessment then follow instructions for higher earners. It’s got nothing to do with your husband, if either one of you Serbs over 50k you gave to do it

Yes; depending on when you started to earn over £50k you owe ten percent back for each £1k over.

This is the only thing you actually have to worry about. The threshold is higher now but previously, if you were earning 50k then you had to fill out a tax return and pay back the child benefit.

Clearly lots of typos! Sorry. ‘If either one of you earns over £50k…’ 😊

Ok thank you this is reassuring

I actually wish employers would tell people this. It’s so unknown. And they will catch up with you, there’s no point in ostriching. 🤣🙄

Up until this April this year the thresholds were £50-£60k I.e. start paying back at £50k, all paid back at £60k

From this April the thresholds are £60-£80k so start paying back at £60k, all paid back at £80k

And although it's not based on a combined household income it is based on people living together as couple and it's the highest earner that does the tax return/paying back

Also bear in mind that the 50k is after pension contributions. If you have been paying into a pension through your work then you may have been under the 50k anyway. There are worksheets online to help you work it out.

Maintenance doesn't count so don't worry about that side of it.

No he’s your ex so you’re entitled to the tax free childcare and fact you are resident parent (i assume) means it goes off your salary only, the child benefit. As PP said, until this year you had to pay some child benefit back from 50k so you will owe some money depending when you started earning 50k / or when you started claiming CB.

It won’t be that much OP; I’d say less than £2k all in…not great, but better to have spotted it now!

You don't need to declare the maintenance to the tax office as your ex dh will already have been taxed on the income.
Until last April, child benefit tapered between 50 and 60k. But this is after you have paid pension contributions.

You'll owe for tax year 2023-2024 as anyone earning over £50k has to pay some back (and if earning £60k it all had to go back) on a sliding scale. From April 2024 you can claim at your salary level and not pay back at all until your salary reaches £60k

Sorry for hijacking this thread, is it gross salary or net salary after pension deductions which the child benefit charge is based on?

So if I earn 75k net but 62k after pension deductions it's worth claiming?

It's based on adjusted net income. I found the guidance a bit confusing but my payroll dept explained how my contributions are dealt with so I restarted my claim when the threshold went up. www.gov.uk/guidance/adjusted-net-income

Thanks @ThatAgileLimeCat, so if I get tax relief on pension contributions via payroll it's unlikely to lower the threshold?

I don't want the hassle of claiming, to then complete a tax return and then pay most of back but equally if the pension contributions count it will make it worth doing...