Do you claim child benefit if one of you is a fairly high earner?

[Rugrats103]

As title. DD is 4, I’ve never claimed it as when she was born DH said he’d have to pay 50% tax on it, so no point.

I’ve just taken a new job which will be a pay cut of £180 a month for me, I’m wondering whether to start claiming it as it would be some money, even if we get taxed of half?

I claim it then pay it back out of my husband's following years tax code

You don't pay tax on it, but once either parent earns over 60k you start having to repay the benefit through the tax system, up to 80k where you have to repay the full amount via self assessment.

As your DH earns 93k effectively you will end up repaying the full amount, so the only reason really to claim it is for your national insurance credits, if you need them.

But... the bigger issue here is that if your OH is on 93k but you as an individual are struggling you need to have a look at how your family finances are organised.

I never think you’re properly married unless you totally pool funds.

It depends on your relationship - if there is financial inequality within a relationship and especially if this was approaching financial abuse I would recommend the party that is the lower earner claimed child benefit even if the higher earn needs to pay it all back as ~£1000 a year in your account is better than in the higher earners.

Why not?

My DH and I don’t pool all our money, it’s not
desirable or necessary to either of us.

You need to claim it and opt not to receive it, otherwise your child won't automatically get an NI number at 16. Everyone should claim it for this reason. I claim and opt not to receive it as id just be paying it back.

As well as the national insurance credits, it's an easy way to get the money to OP from her OH, if he's not sharing his income well enough, but maybe he'd just reduce other contributions. The other thing to be aware of is that if he does any salary sacrifice (pension, childcare vouchers, car) then that will bring his taxable income down - if it gets below the threshold then you'd get to keep some.

If this is only impacting your finances, your marriage needs a massive overhaul. If he won’t cooperate, claim it and make it his problem to pay back.

I get to keep some so still claim it then my tax code is adjusted to take most of it back, I've left it this way because the regular amount goes into a savings/investment for DS so I'd be paying that either way so it doesn't make much difference, if I get another promotion I won't be eligible to any of it so will stop claiming.
You shouldn't be married to a high earner but struggling for money though

You should have claimed it all along!! Your DH is being very unreasonable. Even if you do not qualify for the money due to him being a high earner, you get the NICs towards the 35yrs you need for a full state pension. You can back date the NIC only child benefit in a claim in some circumstances. Talk to DWP or citizens advice.

The way to handle 50% of it being repaid is only spend half of it…so its there to be paid back. But you really need those 4 lost years towards your state pension.

We claim it but don’t take the money (would have to pay it back via pay slip or tax or whatever) but it means it’s logged as NI for me etc.

Well he should transfer you the amount then, or you claim it and he does a tax return. Do you even know how much he pays into his pension?

It sounds like your financial set up his it’s his money and your money?

personally think its worth claiming it even if you pay some back - one of us earns 83k -however we put a high per cent in pension soactually take home is a bit below - its 80k adjust net income i believe

also we had a chunk of time last year when husband was suddenly made redundant and didnt work for months and then when he did his tax return that year we could keep loads of it!

other years we've had to pay some back - but never all of it!

I mean the problem here is HE should be giving you more money to live on. He needs to contribute appropriately to the family.

This is why my husband and I don’t have separate money, what’s mine ours and what’s his is ours…we would never have to worry about one of us not having enough

Pooling might be a bit excessive, not everyone is going to do that. But it definitely should be that all money is household money, so that you work it out that you both have the same standard of living, even if you technically don’t actually pool the funds.

I hate the number of stories I see on here where women are living on a the breadline whilst their husbands buy whatever they want.

Jesus we don’t earn that between us!
but yes that’s above the threshold and would probably be more trouble than it’s worth tbh

O/p is working though?

she’ll only have lost years if she gave up work at some point or earns under the 7k(ish) a year NI limit.

She is working now, but not likely to have worked nonstop through childbirth and infancy.

Oh good to know I haven’t been “properly” married for the last 25 years 🙄

we have completely separate finances, and prefer it that way. Dh got stung by joint finances when his ex emptied all their joint accounts to the tune of tens of thousands, before she kicked him out and moved her OM in to their house.

so when we met he had nothing and I had decent assets.

however although everything is in sole name only, our money is joint. Neither of us goes short. If I can’t afford something dh will pay and vice versa.

having seen how Dh’s ex managed to access all their joint money without consequence I would never have joint accounts.

there is nothing in the o/p to suggest that she stopped work? If you are on mat leave your ni will be paid as you’ll earn over the threshold. Not sure why you assume someone would give up work after mat leave, pay mat income back, to take a short break before going back.

if her dh isn’t sharing his income chances are she’s remained in employment.

We claim and pay back through tax. Means if I ever lost my job we wouldn't miss out on the year.

As he earns £93k, you can claim it, but he would have to repay it all in his tax return.

Even if you don't take the payment, make sure you are registered for it as there are NI credits (if you were to not work at all before your DD is 12), and also their future NI number is issued based on it. So make sure you are registered, if you aren't taking the payment you just tick a box at the end of the claim.

Be careful of the £100k limit for tax free childcare. If his taxable earnings go above that threshold you can't claim the tax free childcare anymore, or funded hours. Its not specifically his salary it is based on, its his taxable earnings. So roughly his pay minus pension contributions, plus the value of taxable benefits (like company car or private healthcare).

It does sound like the wider issue is an equitable split of household income or his contribution to your DD's living expenses. I think you need to have a conversation about how his high earnings limit benefits you can claim and you need his financial support to pay for expenses she has as your earnings are lower. Particularly if you are working part time and doing a larger share of the household management/tasks

I'm astounded how many people dont know this.

You should claim it whether or not you're going to actually take the money or pay it back so that you get NI credits and children's automatic NI number! Save yourself admin paperwork down the line and protect your NI contributions in case you are made redundant. Why wouldn't you?

Ask him for the money then. My husband transfers me whatever I need no questions asked. Why should he have a higher standard of living compared to you? You are a family. It's all been family money since we had kids.

No, we’ve never been entitled too it due to earnings so I’ve never bothered. Same with the tax free child care - we’ve never set up anything to do with it as we can’t so no point.

Feels like more admin than needed to be honest!