Wrong parent submitted self assessment for child benefit charge when DH should have

[GreenRover]

Anyone else done this? I'm usually the highest earner by quite a margin so I submit the self assessment to pay our child benefit higher earner charge. Submitted then realised DH's taxable income was slightly higher last year! HMRC said I should amend and DH will need to register. Is amending a pain? It looks like I will need to wait 72 hours. I don't have other income other than salary so shouldn't have extra tax to pay myself this year.

Did you pay less than 100% back? Would your DH have paid a different amount?

If you are always paying 100% back, you might want to opt out of receiving payments if these are the only reason for submitting Self Assessments.

Thanks for your reply. I would need to pay back c25% of the child benefit received, DH fractionally more. For the time being it's worth us continuing to receive it.

If you go into the SA part of your government gateway there will be a link to amend a return.

However it sounds like you need to delete yours so the amount due can be paid by DH so look to see if there is an option to withdraw a return. You should be able to explain why in the comments box at the end.

Otherwise it might try to take an amount from both of you, when you only need to pay the amount owed by the highest earner.

I don't know how the system would cope with both of you earning in the £50-60k bracket so I don't think you can tell it to get DH to pay the extra amount over what you have paid.

They should have realised by now that this system is unfair and not working, especially as the £50k threshold hasn't changed in years.

It's a good idea in principle, households with an above average income don't need child benefit, but they could abolish it completely and include it in UC so it's still paid to lower income households, it's on household not individuals income and it still tapers away as income increases.

Hi we have just started earning over the threshold. When do you need to do the tax return?

Yes I did this a few years ago and was so annoyed! We had to start again right from the beginning and do the SA in my husband's name. I think I called HMRC and asked them to remove mine as it had been done in error and it was removed/deleted. Pretty sure yours can't be amended as it has to go all on his details, gov gateway, national insurance number etc.

To the other poster - the tax return has to be done by 31st Jan of the following tax year - so if you've just started claiming now in this tax year, it doesn't need to be done until Jan 2025! Prepare yourself, it's not a fun process 🤣

I could have cried that DH hadn't realised his income has gone up a fair whack last year. The self assessment phone line is closed until Sept :( I'm torn between trying to sort myself via the app by withdrawing that element or just calling in Sept. My only income is PAYE but the tax payable is showing as a bit more than the child benefit tax calculator shows - I understand this sometimes happens when there's a slight mismatch between monthly payroll and the HMRC reconciliation so they will probs want me to pay that £20 rather than having my submitted self assessment cancelled.

Usually always DP earns more and submits/repays it. One year they wrote to me, I replied to explain DP had submitted... they called to say I had earned more that year so technically should have been me who declared. Was less complex as either of us meant repayment in full (vs for you a varying amount dependant on whose earnings you declare). They were very understanding and reasonable though.

Were you issued with a notice to file? If so you need to file, so do not withdraw the return and not submit again.

Amending isn’t difficult, you will just need to change the answer to the question ‘were you the higher earner’ and then check the following section (where they calculate how much you need to repay) gets removed.

And yes, DH will need to register by end October. And then file.

Yes I did receive a notice to file, thanks for that. I'll amend and resubmit then pay more attention to our P60s next year to see who files as the higher earner...

Does anyone know if it's likely to cause any issues/ queries if I amend now whereas DH is very likely to leave till the deadline on Oct to register - in the interim it might look like I've said I'm not the highest earner while my taxable income was over £50,000 but no-one else from my household has filed to say they are and will pay the higher earner charge for the child benefit we've received?

Just amend your return and get your partner to do one. Neither of your returns will be questioned until after the deadline to file has passed.

That's what I had planned to do but I managed to get through this PM and they said I should wait until DH registers and submits to ensure my calculation can be changed. TBH I would have thought this could just be sorted ourselves online as you've suggested.

(They said I should then speak to them to change my calculation)

I've just realised that the bank interest I received last year means I actually did receive just more than DH (taking the starred figure on our P60s as our individual taxable incomes) but assuming as less than £500 I don't count that as my being the highest earner although I did declare that as income on my self assessment.

We did this and it was a nightmare. My dh is a last minute .com type so it was over Xmas and we were too late to do something so we had to submit both and then I had to wait for them to refund him 2.5k and then pay my 2.5k debt and then appeal the interest and fines added (which did get refunded as they agreed "we" had paid the tax).

This year I've done mine nice and early and so has he so it has been sorted via tax code on payslip.

So don't do what we did!

That sounds awful for you and is presumably why HRMC have suggested I sort asap albeit I haven't paid yet so still chance to amend before I pay. Looking at guidance I think all bank interest is included in income for the purpose of deciding which parent completes the self assessment (even that below the taxable limits) so it's looking like I am the higher earner after all.