Child benefit threshold, keep claiming anyway?

[89ghud]

I'm about to go from earning under the threshold, to completely over it (even with pension contributions factored in) I'm not looking to put more into pension etc to get the amount down. I was wondering if it was just worth continuing to claim it, put it in a savings account and do a self assessment end of the year to pay it all back. I figure I can make a bit of interest off it, and you never know when/if circumstances will change and you can only backdate so much. Am I able to do this? Anything I'm missing that makes this a terrible idea?

@mast0650 indeed, but easy to meet the minimum with wages (I then transfer most of it out) and somewhere I could keep the CB to get a good rate on it.

@89ghud

It all depends on how many children and how much you are earning.

There is a calculator on the gov.uk website which will tell you approximately how much you need to pay back.

We have carried on claiming as we still got more than we had to pay back and as I don't work due to caring responsibilities I get the NI top ups.

You do have to do a tax return every year but I have found it really easy to do.

It does taper off, doesn’t stop completely till you’re on £60k, I believe.

But you can only use the £1,500 once. If you didn't put the child benefit there you could earn the interest by leaving other money there, which may be earning a lower interest rate elsewhere. I guess you could have lots of high interest current accounts but seems like it would take an awful lot of juggling to make sure you are always transferring enough money into them each month to be eligible.

Anyway, like I said, we did keep claiming and I guess we made some interest but that was the minimum effort act for us!

@stopringingme 2 kids but I will be earning over £60k (including pension reductions) so I will need to pay the full amount back.

Is the calculator based on earnings after the threshold?
for instance, I have only earned over the threshold this month for the first time as I only started a new job with increased pay 10 months ago.
I have opted out to minimise the payback. Not interested in interest earnings or NI etc.

@mast0650 absolutely, I just keep £1500 in there and it gets us £6 ish a month, the rest of our savings are in 3% accounts currently (instant access). I know it won't be huge sums of money, interest isn't the main reason, it was just one of the "pros" when I was considering why not hold on to the money. It wouldn't be worth it if it was the only pro.

We claimed thinking you never know if you'd want to take some unpaid leave etc and end up under the threshold, plus would get some interest.
Self assessment was easy but somehow ended up owing 800 quid extra in underpaid student loan, zero idea how when on PAYE. This year student loan will be paid off but you can't tell them that so they'll think its underpaid again, all a bit of a faff!

@QuiltedHippo oh really? That's a bit worrying, I'm plan 1 and will be paying that off for another 3-4 years.

Your accountant is misinformed. You don't have to claim the money for your child to get their NI number at 16.

You just complete the CB forms, tick tbf boxes confirming you don't wish to claim then submit the CB forms. Your child will get their NI at 16 and you don't have to worry about self assessments or fines.