Repaying Child benefit

[Chickenpate]

Morning,

It turns out that we have made a big error and have received Child benefit when we were no longer eligible. Totally our fault due to lack of communication between us. We don't dispute it.

So we have to pay just over 4K. Does anyone know if they will accept monthly payments, or would they expect it in one lump sum? We could manage it monthly over a year or two, but paying 4K in one go will be very difficult.

Not after sympathy - it's 100% our fault

How did you find out? Did they contact you? Or have you just realised yourself? If the latter then contact them as soon as possible, don’t wait for them to come to you. Usually they would want a lump sum repaid but it may depend on your circumstances. Do you usually complete a self assessment tax return? If you do then it may be the case that it is repaid by adjustment to the higher earners tax code.

If it is for 2022-3 or 2023-4 tax years you/your partner(whichever is earning more than 50k) would complete a self assessment tax return and repay it via that. It may be a single bill or possibly via tax code adjustment depending on how much is owed. Ring hmrc to register.

Slightly different but I had an overpayment when ds1 didn't tell me he'd dropped out of college.
They were happy to accept a payment plan to pay it off over a year.

Yes HMRC are good at payment plans although getting through to them is the tricky bit right now so good luck. Also remember who did this to you. The Tories implemented this policy.