High Income Child Benefit Charge and the overlooked NI credits trap

[UknownM]

This catches a lot of parents and almost nobody knows the new PAYE option exists yet.

The High Income Child Benefit Charge claws back Child Benefit when one earner has adjusted net income above £60,000. Above £80,000 you pay all of it back. The threshold went from £50k to £60k in April 2024 and hasn't moved since.

The unfairness: it's based on individual income, not household. A couple where one earns £70k and the other earns nothing pays back half. A couple each earning £59k (combined £118k) pays zero.

Two things most parents don't realise:

1. From September 2025, PAYE employees can have HICBC collected through their tax code via gov.uk. No more Self Assessment just for this.

1. If you're over the threshold, claim Child Benefit but tick the box to NOT receive the payments. That preserves National Insurance credits towards the non-earning parent's State Pension until the child is 12. Stopping the claim entirely loses the credits.

Pension contributions and Gift Aid reduce adjusted net income £1-for-£1 if you're hovering near £60k.

Full breakdown: trendingsheet.com/article/uk-hicbc-2026-27-60000-threshold-child-benefit-charge-trap

Anyone got caught by the NI credit trap?

This has affected my husband. He has taken home just over £70k this year. He’s had a letter about doing his self assessment. Is that right? We’d still be entitled to a little bit of it. I’m not a high earner. I know he earns well but the way it’s worked out isn’t fair at all.

You have to apply to hmrc to have it collected through your tax code. Just make sure they don’t try to charge you twice 🙄

So no self assessment if they do it that way?

We stuck with self assessment as they can never get my husbands tax code right. It's far too stressful to have to suddenly find money to pay if they've not taken it or taken too much. We are very careful and put it into an account to make sure we can pay it back. Seems such a faff though. We are still better off receiving some rather than opting out all together.

As a parent to children with additional needs I really struggle to work. I wish they would look at household income rather than just one person's. We'd be far better off both earning 30k each.

It’s so confusing. I thought it’s better to claim than not. But it sounds like a lot of aggro. So we will need to pay back what we’ve had so far? Ffs how can you work out how much you’re entitled to?

I made the mistake of claiming it when I earned £52k and the threshold was £50k. What an utter nightmare! The self assessment messed up my tax for three years . I wouldn’t recommend it. It’s just not worth the hassle.

They make it over complicated on purpose so that you’ll not bother claiming it even though you may be entitled to some of it. There must be a way for HMRC to make the process easier, they just choose not to.

As well as not receiving NI credits, if you never claim child benefit for a child they will not be automatically issued with a national insurance number when they're 16 but will have to manually apply for it.

As a OP said you can claim child benefit but opt not to be paid it and doing this would mean HMRC have your child's details and will automatically issue the NINO

I’m so confused

I’m trying to work out if it’s worth claiming if one earns above 60k and the other earns below? It mentions claiming even if due nothing to preserve NI contributions for the non-earning party but surely if I’m working too I’d get them anyway?

If you are working you’ll be getting the NI credits anyway.

Depending on how much above £60k your partner earns, you should be claiming it for the money…!

You can deduct your pension contributions from salary so for me I didn’t pay back as much as I thought.

Also remember that it is not Salary but 'adjusted net income ' which includes savings interest and excludes certain tax reliefs such as pension and gift aid.

I’ve had a look and I think we will be just under 60k with the pension etc. so it’s worth us still claiming. But seems like such a headache