Child Benefit Charge

[Bluepomegranate1]

Thoughts please. My DH has to do annual self-assessment, I don't. He earns more than me and is well above the threshold for payment of the Child Benefit Charge through his tax. In all family bills, he pays 60% and I pay 40% to reflect the differences in salary. The CB is in my name and paid into my account. He figures that it isnt fair for him to have to pay the charge when its me who received the monthly payments, so asks me to give him the full amount received in that tax year, which he then uses towards his tax bill. I figure it isnt fair that Im penalised financially for the fact that he earns more than me, and over the threshold. Based on my salary rather than his, Id only have to repay around half of it. What do others do where the partner not receiving it is the higher earner? Thanks.

Just to check, do you get your NI credits some other way? If not, may be worth claiming and repaying.

OP you quite clearly have your head in the ground if you don’t think your set up is strange.

You’ve said that your husband is “highly secretive” with his money and you don’t find that strange?

Your child benefit is for your child. By your husband asking you to pay him back his basically saying he doesn’t want to help pay for his child.

@DaisyChain505 I don’t really understand how you come to this conclusion.

In all scenarios where one person earns >£60k and the other person earns less, do you expect the child benefit to always be paid to the lower earner, and the higher earner just gets a £2k tax bill to pay every year, despite not receiving that money to pay it off with?

There is no ‘the child benefit is for your child’ - they earn too much to keep it, so there’s no child benefit for the child at all, as is the governments intention with the policy.

We do it the same as you op. Have our own money and bank accounts then pay into a joint one proportionally for bills. My friends all do the same. The sharing of all money in one pot is only something I've heard of on mumsnet.
I'd never give up my financial independence.

If you have a claim and opt out of payment you still get the NI credits.

If the money was clearly spent on the children (tutoring, wraparound care/sports clubs) I wouldn’t pay. If it got observed into my personal finances I would. I’ve cancelled my CB because my DP earns too much but I’d feel a bit shit if I was using the money for myself (with the above mentioned activities being paid from a different source) and expecting him to pay it back on my behalf

We claim it and the higher earner pays it back in their tax return. Money goes into joint account, tax return is out of higher earner account. So it's like wealth transfer via government.

Why we do this:
It was to ensure NI credits for the SAHP.
It's an interest free loan.
It's just in case the higher earner loses their job.
I don't believe you can opt back in once opted out of receiving it.

You can opt back in for payments at any time. Many did so recently when the thresholds changed.

Of course you can opt back in if your circumstances change.

Can you get it paid into the joint account?
Then he can take it out of there when he gets his tax bill.

Thanks to a couple of previous posters who said you can opt back in to getting Child Benefit:
I had a feeling it wasn't possible a few years back, but you certainly can today.

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge/restart-child-benefit

There no situation where the money should be kept by OP as "hers", it's for the child.

So reasonable for it to be spent directly on the child reducing both parents contribution to the joint expenses pot (and DH pays the tax charge), or reasonable to cancel the claim altogether.

OP isn't entitled to the full amount based on her income alone, so for her to take it all for herself at her DHs expense is very grabby.

My partner earns 6 times the amount I do, I work part time. Money is completely shared, me watching the kids and putting my career second to that allows him to earn more.

We only have one account. All money in including the CB, and any tax returns paid from that. Works fine. All the savings are in my name as I was the one organised enough to research ISAs etc, plus we earn about the same amount. This year I'm the higher earner so will be paying it on paper, last year it was DH. In reality I do both tax returns and make all the payments 😂

I stopped claiming altogether as DH earned well over the threshold. The system is unfair but what can you do?

Yeah.

There's your problem though.

You have a dh problem.

The reason it's strange is because as soon as kids come along, one of the two parents, usually the lower earner, tends to take on more of the childcare than the other. So it's only fair that the parent who is therefore enabled to earn more outside of the home, shares said earnings equally. I'm surprised Martin Lewis found that, unless he was referring to married couples without kids, then it would make a bit more sense.

Thanks to those who answered the question that Id actually asked - which was a specific one about paying the CB charge. So many highly judgemental comments about what strangers think someone's marriage should look like based on a few lines in a social post. Its honestly staggering.

Ive no idea what sparks these kinds of comments from people on threads where people are clearly asking for practical, specific advice. And lots of judgement on married couples having independent bank accounts (as well as a joint account for bills). That wasnt what the question was about. If you have different arrangements, great. My question was asking about those in a similar situation.

The whopping assumptions made here remind me why I dont post very much. Thanks to those whove taken the time to answer based on their own personal experience of the circumstances Id explained. Its been really useful.

Interesting that you think its 'strange' because all of my friends, with kids, have their wages paid into their own accounts then transfer some to a joint account for bills. To me it would be strange to entirely give up my financial independence to a spouse - not that I would ever say that to someone who does it differently because everyone has different comfort zones when it comes to money and who's to say whats 'normal' for someone else.

It's not about giving up your independence, it's about sharing household costs fairly.

Too many mothers take the lion's share of the cost of raising DC well as all the extra work and have little money to spend on themselves, while their partner focusses on his career, pays into his pension and has a lot more money to spend on himself while his female partner has less spending money because the 60/40 percentage contribution split leaves him with more personal money and she spends most of her smaller share on DC anyway.

That's why people suggest paying all income into a joint pot, that is for all joint costs, so bills, joint savings, family spending like grocery shopping as well as all DC costs like clothes, clubs etc.

Then both partners get an equal amount of money for themselves in a personal account to spend/save solely on themselves as they wish.

But to answer your question about the CB, the fairest way is for it to be paid into a joint account and any repayment to also come out of that account, with the remainder being part of 'family money'

You say your DH earns more than you and is secretive about money. I'd bet my mortgage free house that your current way of managing money advantages him to your detriment. What pension do you have compared to him? What about savings and investments? How much money do you have to spend just on you, compared to him? How much say do you have on joint large purchases like holidays, home improvements, cars that each of you drive?