Didn't do self assessment to pay high income charge, child benefit, when will it be noticed?

[ohrattan]

This might sound bad apologies if it does!

I am on a fairly low wage (only earning 12k a year part time), my husbands wage is £55k. Obviously appreciate this sounds high but in a current economy when it's covering a family of 4 it really doesn't feel that way. I had never bothered claiming child benefit as I knew I'd have to pay it back and we didn't want the faff of the tax return. This year things got tighter than ever so we decided to claim and just deal with the return. I claimed and got £457 from it being backdated however much they do that and then 2 weeks later realised it factors in bonuses so my husband was in fact on £60k and we'd have to pay all of it back so I phoned them and stopped the payments and asked to transfer it straight back and they said I couldn't.

Made a mental note to mention it to dh to do a tax return and pay the lot back but forgot, this was all back in like March. I mentioned it to him the other day as I still have all the money they paid me sat in a Monzo pot waiting to be paid back. He's never registered for self assessment and doesn't have the foggiest how to do it. Of course we are both adults and can figure it out between us.

I'm just wondering really if I can wait for them to approach me and plead ignorance that we didn't understand. I have a loan with £954 on it with astronomical interest and really want to use the money to pay that off and free up some money each month to help us get by. If it's going to be in 1 years time they'd notice then I could of recouped the money by then but I don't know if we need to do a tax return this year or we'll incur charges or anything

Do you not have until the end of Jan to do the tax return for 22-23 year? Sure we did when we’ve done it?

The self assessment for the tax year ending March 2023 will need to be done by the end of Jan 2024. Get your husband to register to do self-assessment quite soon as if he misses the deadline there's a fine.

Your husband can register online with gov.uk and then Complete the form. He has until the end of Jan to submit. After that time he may have to pay a late penalty charge.

www.gov.uk/self-assessment-tax-returns

As the amount owed will be less than £3,000 your husband can tick the box for it to be reclaimed through his tax code, which will mean it gets paid back over 12 months so will free up the lump sum you have saved.

Make sure he registers soon and gets it done, as you need a code through the post so it cannot be left until the last minute!

It’s very easy to register and do the tax return. Do it now or you’ll end up with a late filing penalty plus interest due on the owed tax.

When did he become liable for the HICB charge?

If in 2022/23 he needs to pay by 31/01/24. If in 2023/24 by 31/1/25.

If it's this year get it done now.

Are you taking into account any money your dh pays into a pension? You might find that you don't need to pay it all back.

Once he's registered he's saying he'll have to do one every year? Is that true? He's not happy about having to do one at all just to repay child benefit when there's no actual work reason to do one. Hope I haven't signed him up to a life of admin and fines if it's missed..

Not sure how it works in detail but I think pension contributions can help E.g. he might pay enough in his pension that it takes his earnings below the threshold. Someone might tell me im wrong but I had a similar panic last year and then it turned out even though I earn slightly over £50k I was still eligible.

Also make sure you have details of any gift aid payments as you can claim additional tax relief on those.

This happened to us a few years ago. My husband got a wage rise so I called to cancel. I didn't realise that we still ended up owing some money back due to the extent of his wage rise. Anyway, they got in touch with us about 10 months later and we paid back the few hundred pounds we owed them. No fine.

He will have to do one in the year you got the HITC and one "clear" year to show everything taxed at source then he can write to hmrc and agree to go back to not doing SATR

Via a tax return or a different means? This is what I'd prefer, to wait until they notice and plead ignorance 😂

If he doesn't need to in future years can just call or write to HMRC and explain why and they will remove him from self assessment.

But I would definitely check the pension position mentioned above.

No you can't ignore it and I think it might be too late to claim it back through tax code. Keep the money to pay HMRC

I would not leave it til they notice. You know he's to do a self assessment so he needs to do one.

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If he pays into a pension, you may find he owes less than you think.

No he won't have to do one each year. If he does three in a row, and there are no 'extras' then they stop asking for a return, and rely on PAYE.

However, have you been claiming your NI credits? It's worth doing it one year simply to understand the system and decide whether it is worth claiming. I do a return every year and it isn't difficult. Just copy the numbers off his P60.

No, he won't if you're not claiming it anymore - I stopped mine last year as my salary had gone above the threshold and when I did my tax return this year I got a message back saying I no longer needed to do it.
By the way, when you say you don't claim the child benefit, make sure you are opting our of receiving it, but still "claiming" it - it boosts your national insurance contributions.

I had to pay back one year due to a bonus. Registered and did it. Called them and unregistered afterwards. Never done one since.

Do NOT wait until they notice. You run a reasonably high risk of him getting a ‘failure to notify’ (that he is liable for a tax return) penalty, and interest and penalties on the tax.

HMRC can be quite slow to notice and then you are faced with interest, tax and penalties over a number of years, but they will eventually catch up.

If the tax was due for 22/23 then he is already late to notify (should have been end of October) but if he does it now that should be OK.

For later years look into pension contributions so he doesn’t fall within the charge.

1. You need to claim it for NI credits as you only work part time
2. As your husband has the privilege of being the higher earning this is a him problem to sort, not yours. Tell him you're claiming and he'll need to do a return, then take it off your mental load

Yes you do have to do a tax return every year unless you formally notify them you no longer need to.

However if its just to repay CB its a 10 minute job that could gain you hundreds of pounds as even on £60k you'll keep maybe a third of your CB as it's the amount after pension contributions.

If you were given £500 if you did a simple 10 minute admin job once a year, you'd do it surely? Especially as you've said you're not rolling in money.

The end of October date is for the paper form, the end of Jan is for the online version.