Child benefit, high income, help!

[Mushroo]

Wondering if anyone has been in the same position and can help? It might be baby brain but I can’t get my head around it.

I normally earn too much to receive child benefit, however, I’ll be on maternity leave Jan 2024 - December 2024 and that year my earnings will be low enough to qualify.

However I believe the child benefit is based on tax year - so I have to wait until after April to claim and my income will taken into account April 2024 - April 2025? So I need to try and figure out my earnings in that period?

If I claim from April onwards, I won’t recieve my P60 for that tax year until April 2025, so if I go over the threshold I correct from April 2025 via a self assessment form? Is that correct?

It’s seems a massive headache and not sure if worth doing. Advice welcome!

Hi, my advice is apply for child benefit and complete the self assessment tax return. This will tell you if you have to pay any of it back.

Between April 23 and March 24 work out your net adjusted income (Salary less pension basically) If its less than about 65k then you will get something. Same for the following year.

This link has all the info.

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/family/child-benefit/#:~:text=How%20do%20I%20know%20if,and%20less%20certain%20tax%20reliefs.

Thank you!

So I just claim it from April next year, then fill out a tax return the year after for the 2024/ 2025 tax year and that will tell me how much to pay back (if any).

That seems ok actually.