What's the deal with child benefit?

[Fairypants]

Does anyone know what this is all about?
I've seen some media and MN threads but it all seems to be discussing the whys and wherefores rather than what I'm actually supposed to be doing and I've heard nothing official.
The cb is in my name. Previously we would be well below £50,000 limit but this year DH got a new job which I think will mean going over that (its commission and first year in the job so all a guess).
On the one hand, I don't want to miss doing something I should and incur a huge fine, on the other, I don't want to have to pay an accountant to rehash my standard paye tax return unnecessarily. Also, surely, hmrc should have contacted me if I need to do something?
Tia

I think you were meant to have applied for some sort of self tax assessment by last Saturday. Though you don't do the actual self assessment till Jan.

That's what dh has had to do. We're not sure if we'll be over or not as it depends on overtime. So I'm still claiming and dh will maybe/probably have to pay some back.

If the job has changed since April it won't affect the current Tax Return 2012-13 but he should register to complete one for 2013-14.

Is the 50k combined income or your husbands Salary alone? The changes only affect households with at least one person earning more than 50k.

Thanks for the info.
DH is already registered for self assessment but the cb is payed to me- is that ok?
How did you find out about this? Surely they should tell people about this before bringing it in?

You should contact the Child Benefit Dept if you haven't had the info as we were bombarded with it for at least a year before was introduced.

It is the earner over 50k who has to put it in self assessment even if partner claims cb. In our case I am.that earner &"the cb is in my name but I received no information from hmrc. It's been all over the news & media though

If he's already doing self-assessment then there's already a new section in the form that asks if Child Benefit was received and how much. I agree that it's been very well publicised

Publicity started about this time last year!