Higher earner child benefit charge

[Newt2024]

Ive made a mistake! I have 2 children. 2 year old and 6 months. We have been getting child benefits since the first was born. I didn’t realise there was an income cap and my husband is over it so we shouldn’t be receiving the benefit. We are now having to fill out a self assessment and repay the money. Does anyone have any idea what the repayments would be? Do you just pay back the amount you’ve received? Can you pay it back monthly or is it one payment? Is there a fine? I’m freaking out as it was totally my mistake and I’m worried we’re going to be due the tax man thousands.

We made the same mistake and didn't realise until HMRC contacted us, we didn't get a fine. How much you pay back depends on your husband's earning for every year you've been receiving it for every £100 you are above the £50K threshold you pay back 1% of the child benefit this was up to April this year now it's* *1% of your family’s Child Benefit for every extra £200 you earn over £60,000 each year.

It depends what salary your husband was / is on (this is adjusted net income after pension deductions). The cap was 60k a year adjusted net income up to this April, the new cap is 80k. Does he / has he earned way beyond this so you have to pay it all back? If so, I would go through all your bank statements from the first month you received it, add it all up and that would be the amount due back?

How far over the cap are you? It’s tapered so not a straight cut off at £60k. It was tapered from £50k before this April.

You may want to keep the claim open, even if you have to repay it all, if you are a stay at home parent. This is because it will entitle you to NI credits for your pension.

I forgot to cancel child benefit when the rule came in. It was only about a year's worth and HMRC adjusted my tax code to pay it back that way. Although they never adjusted it back and ended up paying back child benefit I had never claimed for over a year so they readjusted tax code back in my favour. It was a bit of a faff.

Yes, you just need to make sure the claim is in your name, not your husbands (so you get the NI credits for your pension) and you need to confirm to them that you don’t want it paid to you

As above. Claim it and pay it back otherwise you lose NI contributions (while on mat leave)

its only been 2 years so hopefully they just do that!

Ah ok. So the claim is in my name. I’m currently on mat leave but will be going back to work 2 days a week. My husband is the higher earner.

We have just discovered the same but it’s been a much longer time, so loads of ££. I stupidly thought there was an automatic adjustment via my husband’s PAYE / tax code. I feel so stupid and really scared as we don’t have much in the way of savings to fall back on. Does anyone know if the fines and interest are always charged in full or are they lenient if you fess up before HMRC come after you? We reached out to them proactively as soon as we realised.

We didn't get charged any fines or interest they just gave us the choice to pay it back in full of monthly via PAYE

Did you do the self assessment or did they let you know and then they gave you options for how to repay? I've realised today that I needed to pay it for 22-23 and 23-24.
I also feel stupid and worried x