CB and doing a tax return, had no idea

[Jokat]

I wonder if someone can give some advice.
My husband earns roughly £50000 p/a. I work part time and only earn less than £5000.
I have only recently found out in a conversation with a friend of mine that dh probably has to file a tax return in order to declare our child benefit? He is employed, so has never had to do one. I am self-employed. Will he have to do the same kind of self assessment as myself? Can he do it online? Are we still entitled to some CB at or just over the 50000 mark? Or are we likely to get fined?

I cannot believe we managed to miss this, we were only aware
of not being eligible for tax credits any more

If anyone could shed some light on this for me, and on any legal repercussions that are likely to happen, I'd be very grateful. This is making me very anxious, we don't know where to start sorting this and I am so worried that we'll get fined and have to pay loads of money back which we don't have

He probably won't have to pay much, if any, back especially , if the 50k is gross and he pays pension contributions etc unless you have significant income from savings or similar. Yes he should register for SA with HMRC.

HMRC should have sent your DH a letter about this telling you to register him to register for SA - we got a letter telling us this about a week before the deadline - cheers thanks for that!

The child benefit tax is paid if you earn between £50k and £60k - you pay back 1% on each multiple of £100 that you earn over £50k. ie. if you earn £51k then you pay 10% of your child benefit back, £52k you pay 20% back up to £60k at which point you are no longer eligible for child benefit. Of course they do not tell you any of this - you actually have to opt out of CB otherwise they will carry on paying it to the woman and charge 100% of it back through the husband's tax.

It is just possible that if your DH earns exactly £50k rather than over then he is not over the threshold and you do not have to pay tax on this. But it may be worth contacting the tax office and doing a tax return to make sure, and make sure you don't get a big bill in the future.

If he earns roughly 50k, but then has employment expenses or pensions that take him below 50k, he should be fine. Check the figure on his p60 or 'taxable pay' on his march payslip - if this is under 50k, you're good to go, but you will need to check every year.

As the higher earner, it will be DH who has to complete the tax return. Deadline for registering for the 13/14 (ie the last) tax year is 5 October 2014. If it transpires he needed to register for 12/13, telephone HMRC to inform them of this ASAP. They will send you an SA form to complete, or you could do it online. AFAIK they are being lenient with late registration penalties where child benefit is concerned - I know a few who have been in your situation and haven't had penalties imposed.

Sorry just re-read your post and wanted to add:

If your DH is on just over £50k then yes it is still worth claiming it as you should only be paying a small percentage back.

We did not get any fines despite missing the deadline - we got the tax return in on time, but missed the deadline for paying the actual money as we got the letter saying we owed £300 or whatever it was about a week after the deadline - we just paid the money and did not get any fines or billed for any extra interest or anything like that.

Yes you can do it online exactly the same as you do for your own tax return.

Don't panic - I was in this situation previously and have now got on top of it. Anything you owe back should be taken by PAYE from your husband income by adjusting his tax code rather than you getting a big bill.

Thank you very much for your replies. I feel calmer now.

Do you think your DH earned over £50k in 2012/13? Have a look at his P60 from that tax year and see if he did. You would be late for that tax return as it had to be in by 31st Jan 2014 but still better to ring them and get registered for self assessment and explain. In 2012/13 the Child benefit thing only started in January so it was only the CB for three months to 5th April that was reduced depending how much over £50k he earned. So it probably wouldn't be that much anyway.

If he didn't earn over £50k until 2013/14 then the tax returns aren't due in yet so you wouldn't be late or get any penalties even if you ring and tell them now and ask for him to be registered for self assessment. How much CB you have to pay back depends on how much over £50k he earned. Once it is over £60k then you have to pay all of it back.

Also do check his pension contributions if any. If he is just over £50k gross pay but made a pension payment which takes him under £50k for 2012/13 tax year then he may be okay too...although my siblings and I have all lost all our children benefit - all of us parents supporting families on one wage.

It is terrible, isn't it?! We have this taken away with only one perskn earning ant signidicanr amoint of money, and other families who might ahave a joint income of £90000 continue to receive it. I can't get my head around that...

Oh dear, sausage fingers and forgot to check before posting

also deduct any charitable donations

next year, just juggle the numbers so he earns just under - increase pension or charity donations

My sibling and I can afford it (although there is never spare money) but it's the principle of the thing - the only state benefit I have had was the child benefit. It kinds of bought me into the welfare state. I am likey to work until I die, have never had state childcare help, did not even qualify for maternity rights so CB was the only thing which made me feel okay the state may be okay - when you remove the universal nature you reduce the "buy in" to the welfare state which can spoil it. Most of us still use the NHS but the same would apply there - if more and more people moved to paying privately there would be less support for the state provision so these are important psychological issues in ensuring this buy in of the middle earners to the welfare state. Destroy that compact and ultimately the less well off may well be the ones suffering.

which is exactly why universal benefits are disappearing