Child benefit - am I not entitled to it?

[Icecreamsoda99]

Expecting our first child and just looking at child benefit. My husband earns a high salary and I've just used the calculator on gov.uk.

Child Benefit received
£310.50
Tax charge to pay
£310.00

Does that mean I will get 50p a year in child benefit?! I always though child benefit was tax free for everyone so very confused! I appreciate we are in a position where we don't necessarily need it, I just want to be clear I have understood the calculator properly!

I'm pretty sure everyone is entitled to child benefit...

The rules changed awhile ago. You're not entitled to CB if one of you earns over a certain amount, 50k I think?

If he earns over 50k net then there is a sliding scale to reduce cb until at 60k you are due 0. You can receive payments and your dh repay whatever is due via a tax return or register and opt out of receiving payments but still get NI credits until your dc turns 13.

Yes. I actually claim do child benefit, but my husband pays it back in his tax. The threshold is £50 000 I think.

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

You are entitled to it but you may have to pay tax on it if you/your partner is a high earner. The link above explains it all.

Since 2013 if one of the resident parents earns between £50000 and £60000 per annum then you pay back child benefit on a sliding scale. 1% of every £100. Are you working? We claim and pay back as my dh's salary varies due to overtime and bonuses. You can claim and not receive payments though which keeps your stamp paid for your state pension if you're not working and paying NI.

You need to claim for it but not receive a payment. It's important to protect your national insurance contributions.

You would claim it and your DH would repay it through his tax return. It's worth claiming if you are not working for national insurance contribution to your state pension.

If you or your partner earn over £50k, you have to pay a tax charge on it...

So you claim it and pay the charge. You should at least register for it if you're a sahp, as it will give you National Insurance credits towards your state pension.

If your dh earns over £50k then there will be a high income charge to pay some of the child benefit back. Once he reaches £60k all of it would need to be paid back. This has been in place since 2013.

You can claim child benefit but opt out of payment and this protects NI credits if the claimant is not working or has a low pay (up until youngest child is 12)

I claim it and my husband repays it in full at the end of every year when he does his tax return. I don't want to stop claiming it, in case he ever gets made redundant it's one source of income i wouldn't need to go through the rigmarole of sorting out, plus I'm sure my NI contributions are sorted.

Thank you all! I was getting confused so wanted to check, i'll sign up but not take it so I get the NI credits when I'm not working.

I dont mean to be rude (says everyone ever!!) but how have you missed this. Its not a new thing - above it says 2013, so 6 years.

Also, could you just not google it?

@35GoneToTheDock because this is our first child so child benefit changes haven't been on my radar until now, also the gov calculator wasn't very clear to me and so asked for some clarity from those who will know and be able to explain in layman's terms.

Yes OP, I understand why you would ask here, lots of people ask questions about such things, as its easier for some things to be explained by others.

But yes if your DH earns over 50k then you repay some of it back. As you say, you can just not claim it, but get your NI contributions.

Thank you @Bourbonbiccy

I'm a bit shocked at all the people saying "if your DH earns over £xk" - the rules also apply to your salary too not just the men.

We're saying that because OP has already stated her dh is the high earner

It is his salary after pension contributions and charitable giving is deducted, so if he pays a pension from his salary you may be eligible to more money. It does though mean he would need to do tax self assessment.

Don't be shocked. She said in her OP she had put her husband's high salary into the calculator and it said they were only due 50p. So people have referred to his high salary.

If your planning to stay at home make sure you claim, credits towards your pension are not to be missed. Good luck with your baby.

OP, make sure you sign up for it as soon as you can. I procrastinated over it and sat on the forms and missed a year of NI credits as a result. It all goes towards your state pension.

@Icecreamsoda99 if you're married and not working for a while to raise your child (or working part time) don't forget your can transfer some of your tax free allowance to your husband to legally reduce your tax bill as a couple.

Why did you think the high salary was relevant if you didn’t think the benefit was capped, op?

@CreatedBySombra you can only do that again if his earning are under the high earning tax bracket which it doesn't sound like they are.