Child benefit question

[ihatethecold]

With the new rules starting soon does anyone know if the amount someone earns taken into account is gross or net?

gross

Gross but after pension contributions and any salary sacrifice eg childcare vouchers

Thanks

I believe it is gross earnings, less pension contributions and any childcare vouchers you pay for.

We haven't had a letter yet, is it based on current earnings or last financial year?

The letters were sent out according to last year's earnings as that is all HMRC know about.

The liability to the clawback charge is based on current earnings, so if you don't get a letter or fill in a tax return but your income is over £50,000 you will have to notify HMRC that you need to complete a self assessment return (or disclaim the CB if you can think of a good reason to do so: I can't).

So if I had a letter is it likely that I should stop claiming?

Keep claiming but also submit an SA tax return. You may find you've been overcharged tax for years ... I did.

is it likely that I should stop claiming?

No, I am not advising anyone to stop claiming (in line with most advisors). You can never be worse off by claiming and having it clawed back through the higher earner's tax return (unless you not currently paying the tax you should be, in which case you are storing up a big problem) - in fact you will often find you are in the same situation as CogitOCrapNotMoreSprouts and can reclaim tax (perhaps going back years) after filling in a Self Assessment return, and even if you don't you at least get to sit on the money in your bank account for up to 21 months.