Child Benefit...aarrgh...am still confused. can anyone help?

[Wearyandworndown]

Dh earns about £59k. I earn, in some years, about 11k (part time, termly teaching IF it's available). This work is a bit hit-and-miss as to whether it comes up or not.

We have two children (12 and 8). We have said we want to carry on getting CB and pay it back as I thought this may protect my state pension but someone has said there are ways of bringing dh's down so as to reduce this payment.. eg. Charity donations, and ? Does anyone know what else?

Also, I ve just been completely puzzled by a reference to CB stopping when child is 12? Have I misread that?

There's quite a bit of info on the HMRC site, including a calculator. Charitable donations with gift aid should be removed from salary before calculating how much CB is reduced by, as should pension contributions. I've not heard about the age 12 thing, but as you have to put the ages of children into the calculator, you should see if you are entitled to CB.

He can increase his pension contribution. Anything he puts in reduces his salary by that amount for child-benfit purposes.

Could he increase MY pension direct out of his salary by any chance? We work for the same organisation (state sector education, UK). I ve lost a fair few years bringing up the kids

No. I looked into that... Can only be his own pension.

Child benefit doesn't stop when child is 12, however the pension contribution years stop when youngest is 12. If you aren't paying any NI for a year when children are under 12 the CB claim means you can count that as a year towards your pension. If both children are over 12 and you didn't pay any NI then you would "lose" that year.

Do you need childcare? Can he join a childcare voucher scheeme? hes a HR taxpayer, so not sure how much he can claim, but it will bring down his salary for CB purposes by over a 1000.
yes to increasing his pension (not your unfortunatly).

Don t really need childcare so that's out.

Maybe just accept that on that high a salary you do not need cb instead of trying to play the system.

I didn't know that child benefit stopped counting towards NI when a child is 12... interesting! Btw, I disagree about OP 'playing' the system. We need to protect our future state pensions, regardless of our current household income. Particularly if a SAHP is involved.

You can still protect your state pension (for all that it will be worth in the future...) but without receiving the money for CB. There does seem to be an element of "playing the system" by the OP, though that's almost inevitable with the recent stupid changes to the system.

Do you really need taxpayers to help you out financially OP? I'm not sure a household income of £70k puts you at great need...

Period maths and pearly whites, the OP is not asking for judgement.

Anyway, saving for a pension is important and to be encouraged. If she becomes being eligible for child benefit by putting more into the pension pot then this should be encouraged.

Don't come across as because she is trying to ensure she gets what she may be entitled to.

Sorry, to slightly hijack, but I'm curious about all these things. If you are entitled to child benefits, does that mean you can also claim for nursery vouchers? Or are they subject to means testing? Planning to have baby in the next few years, and interested to see what support we might have.

The threshold for nursery vouchers is higher than for cb so you should be fine.

No threshold for child care vouchers, although the benefit drops as you become a higher earner.
See here for example

The only time you wouldn't claim childcare vouchers is if you were on a low enough salary to qualify for childcare tax credits (that may not be the right name tho).

Thanks to all those helpful posters. Yes, sleepyhoglet, this was primarily about me protecting my future pension. I have no idea what the future holds for me and dh and need to make up/protect the paltry pension pot I have. The CB issue was really about me trying to do this. If dh leaves the family, I am up shit creek regarding my work pension as I haven't paid into it to accrue a full stamp whilst being a SAHM. I suspect I am missing state pension years too as I had a few years abroad.

Just claim the CB then and pay it back each year. It will count.

Your OP made it sound very much as though you were looking for a way not to have to pay it back by fiddling your household income to make it appear to be less than the threshold.

Sorry if I read you incorrectly.

Weary and worn. Not an enormous help, but if you have missed national insurance state pension contributions you can sometimes buy those years. Might be worth finding out and then asking DH to do this for you.

I hate that when people assume one member of that family has a high income that you are really well off. Yes, I understands the argument that as a family you are not maximising your earning potential, but that's besides the pint. One person is not working and you only have one salary. And as part of a joint income, 50k is great but as a single salary, that's actually equivalent to less than two salaries of 25 k ( cos you only have one tax free allowance ). Plus people on those salaries might have higher expenditure due to being used to having two earners. GRRR. Rant over. As is stands we do have two incomes in our family and I'm not going to be a sahm, due to some specific reasons, but I have massive empathy of the situation and get annoyed when people tell you that you shouldn't be claiming/ playing the system cos you have a good salary.

Period math, paying more into a pension or giving to charity is not fiddling the household income. It is perfectly legit, as pension contributions are not counted as the means tested threshold for child benefit. Paying more into your pension to avoid indirect taxes is sensible.