Huge overpayment child benefit

[sarahjnm]

Hadn't realised living with £60k earner meant that I shouldn't rcve child benefit for my daughter. Only just realised. It's been 10 years.
Anyone else been in this situation? I'm guessing I pay all back and penalties too. Could be as much as £15k.
I'm feeling suicidal at the thought. Our family are struggling as it is with various other things.

Huge sympathies to you - it's an extremely unfair system.

Have they found out already? Can you get away with partial disclosure...ie playing down how many years you've lived together?

Also, it won't be the full amount owed. It's a sliding scale. You'll have been entitled to a reduced amount of child benefit...not £0.

£60k gross? or adjusted net income? Do they earn £60k after things like pension contributions?

if not, it’s possible it’s no where near as bad as you think…

Talk to HMRC and arrangements can be made

Also, I’ve found HMRC very joined up on things like this; me and DH used to do self assessment and made an error one year; they were on it and the bill was in the post before we’d spotted it. Not sure why that wouldn’t have been the case for you too… unless they don’t have all the right info?

Take a deep breath and call HMRC so you know where you are. Then you can tackle it

Does your high earner do a tax return? It should have been declared on there and any overpayment taken inti account. However there are deductions from gross earnings taken into account like pension contributions and the threshold is going up.

I had the reverse of this, my pay went over £60k, my wife kept on claiming despite me telling her it needed to be cancelled (this was just after the rule came in) , 5 children for 18 months = £10k tax bill.

The absolute best deal I could get out of HMC was to split it over a 1yr monthly direct debit of around £860 (more than our mortgage at the time). They insisted they wanted the entire amount upfront with 5 weeks notice initially.

With £860 per month for a year.. What did you do? That's a huge amount of money to find each month. Good they did a deal.

Yes he did but didn't know I was claiming and I didn't know the rule

Yes he's over £60k. Think he's on a lot more

We have been on council tax together for 10 years so don't think we can reduce this number

Struggled.

Ate up all our savings, I managed to do a bit of overtime, and then filled up an overdraft and credit card. Not a fun year.

As I understand it, he is the one that owes the money, as he should have been declaring it in his Self Assessment. How do your finances as a couple work? Is the child his?

If you are really feeling suicidal then go to A&E or ring the crisis team (111 option 2)
If that was a flippant comment and you are not suicidal then please take more care not to bandy that phrase about.

Maybe he’s on PAYE, so wouldn’t be doing a tax return

You don't pay anything OP. However, your partner as the higher earner is the one who has to pay it back.

You mean lie?…

I just want to query your phrasing “living with a £60k earner”.
Are you in a relationship or sharing household finances with them?

I just want to clarify as I received a letter from them recently, as I’ve got a Ukrainian mum and daughter living with me who I’m assuming claim it, but since we don’t share a household and are just living in the same house, it doesn’t apply to me.

They won't expect you to pay it back all at once. They will set up a payment plan.

What your dh needs to do beforehand is work out how much his gross pay is, and also what his pension contributions are. His pension contributions are taken off his gross salary which, depending on what his salary is, take him under the 60k bracket

OP I’m sorry you’re stressed about this, but I have to say, I’m slightly bemused at the outpouring of sympathy. You’ve said your DH earns “a lot more than £60k”, so you should have been able to manage without child benefit, unless there’s a huge backstory and you’re a victim of financial abuse. In which case you have my deepest sympathy, and I hope you can get away from him.

OP answered "Yes he did, but didn't know I was claiming and I didn't know about the rule." I took this to mean he filed Tax Returns, as had been asked.

Its messy for your DP as well as if he has been submitting self assessment tax returns and clicking no for the question on child benefit. Why didn't he know you were claiming it?

It starts reducing at £60k now and stops completely at £80k so it may be a lesser amount now.
Can you borrow some money from your mortgage?
I don't think the 'I don't realise' cuts the mustard I'm afraid 😟

This, @sarahjnm

He needs to get in touch with HMRC and find out how he can correct his past 10 years' tax returns and pay back what he owes.