Anyone had a letter from HMRC yet about Child Benefit Tax?

ChasingButterflies

EvieSaver wrote: »

We haven't received a letter either.

But I read that the letters are being sent out to those earning over £50k in the 2010-2011 tax year as HMRC do not have the figures for the 2011-2012 tax year ready yet. We would not be included if that is the list they are using, although we will be over the £50k this 2012-2013 tax year.

Hi,

The last section of this article covers your situation http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20298774

I called the same number to ask a couple of questions and the person who dealt with me was very helpful.

waccamole

Just got home to find my letter waiting for me.

(Wonder if the guy at HMRC I spoke to a few weeks ago has got his act together yet?!).

dori2o

EvieSaver wrote: »

We haven't received a letter either.

But I read that the letters are being sent out to those earning over £50k in the 2010-2011 tax year as HMRC do not have the figures for the 2011-2012 tax year ready yet. We would not be included if that is the list they are using, although we will be over the £50k this 2012-2013 tax year.

I'm not sure how it's paid back. I know that some things can be paid through an adjustment to the PAYE tax code but isn't self assessment usually paid as a lump sum?

ChasingButterflies wrote: »

[STRIKE]We[/STRIKE] DH received his letter today... although I had found an example online last night http://www.cheapaccounting.co.uk/blog/index.php/child-benefit-tax-charge-letter/

Also with regards to the higher earner paying back through PAYE I noticed that you are not given this option for underpaid tax in excess of £3k so if you have 4 children (or more!) then I guess it will need to be paid in a lump sum (if you elect to continue to receive CB) I could have interpreted this info incorrectly, but I am sure someone more knowledgeable will advise if this is the case.

Off to see how long it takes to get through to someone at the tax office now :rotfl:

Tinker009 wrote: »

If you elect to continue receiving the child benefit, and your income turns out to be over £50k in 2012/13 you will need to register for self-assessment (unless you are employed and the underpayment is less than £3k in which case it can be coded). It's going to push a lot more people into the self-assessment system unfortunately...

For the 2012-2013 tax year anyone who earns over £50k and is the highest earner in the household and wishes to continue receiving Child Benefit will have to register for Self Assessment.

Any charge that is applicable from that tax return can be collected via your 2014/2015 tax code if you are employed, assuming that the amount due is less than £2999.99

From 10th April 2013 the highest earner in the household with an income of £50k or more can request that a restriction is added to their tax code in order to claw back the ChB throughout the year. You will still have to complete a Self Assessment at the end of the year as the code will be calculated based on an estimate of your income, the SA form will confirm the income and collect and further monies due, or refund anything due if your income is not as high as first estimated.

ceeforcat

dori2o Today, 3:53 PM

Any charge that is applicable from that tax return can be collected via your 2014/2015 tax code if you are employed, assuming that the amount due is less than £2999.99

Yes - completely agree and this where I have a huge problem. Let's say that there is no underpayment for 2012/13 which is highly likely for someone on, say, £48000 per annum. The tax return for 2013/14 is due on 31st January 2015 although, as I understand it, it should be submitted by 30th September 2014 if one wishes it to be coded out (or is that changing also?). If an underpayment arises on this tax return as a result of one receiving a higher salary it could be coded out in 2015/16 up to £2999.99. Call me a cynic but would HMRC not ALSO include a restriction in that same code number to avoid the underpayment arising in 2015/16 - i.e. a double deduction? Or will we have an eternal deduction in a code number on the basis that a salary generally increases? Just wondering.

mysk_girl

Still waiting for ours... Although OH already has to do a tax return as a company director and we will only lose part of ours - still would like to see exactly how it is going to work!

slipons

My advice is to get the lower earner in the family to claim CB into a personal account and never disclose the info to partner!

In the situation where a partner will not disclose their Financial information to someone who is potential liable for the High Income Child Benefit charge, HMRC have published some guidelines on how to ask them for the information.



Quoted directly from HMRC page

---

Information you can ask for
Because of the need to respect the confidentiality of your tax affairs, and those of your partner or ex-partner, the only information you can get from HMRC will be one or both of the following:
Whether your partner/ex-partner was entitled to receive Child Benefit for a specific tax year.
Whether your individual adjusted net income was higher than your partner's/ex-partner's income for a specific tax year.
This will be based on the latest information available to HMRC.

he information HMRC can provide
HMRC will only provide the following in their reply:
In relation to question 1:
'Yes/No, [insert partner's/ex-partner's name] was/was not entitled to receive Child Benefit for [insert specified year]'
In relation to question 2, that based on latest information available to HMRC:
either that 'the income for [insert partner's/ex-partner's name and the year for which the information is being provided] was higher than the figure provided by you', or
'the income for [insert partner's/ex-partner's name and the year for which the information is being provided] was not higher than the figure provided by you'

---

If he information is requested and received, you still do not know if the partner claimed child benefit (notice the wording entitled!) and you do not know how much had been claimed (could be £0, some children or all children).

When it comes to declaring on the tax return, i think people in this situation still could not be sure if and how much Child Benefit has been claimed and maybe would be forced to declare £0 high income child benefit tax on their return.

idristhedragon

Ive just realised husband had a letter from HMRC the other day. I bet that was it and he just forgot to tell me!

dori2o

ceeforcat wrote: »

dori2o Today, 3:53 PM

Any charge that is applicable from that tax return can be collected via your 2014/2015 tax code if you are employed, assuming that the amount due is less than £2999.99

Yes - completely agree and this where I have a huge problem. Let's say that there is no underpayment for 2012/13 which is highly likely for someone on, say, £48000 per annum. The tax return for 2013/14 is due on 31st January 2015 although, as I understand it, it should be submitted by 30th September 2014 if one wishes it to be coded out (or is that changing also?). If an underpayment arises on this tax return as a result of one receiving a higher salary it could be coded out in 2015/16 up to £2999.99. Call me a cynic but would HMRC not ALSO include a restriction in that same code number to avoid the underpayment arising in 2015/16 - i.e. a double deduction? Or will we have an eternal deduction in a code number on the basis that a salary generally increases? Just wondering.

1) the deadline for submitting the tax return so that the underpayment can be coded out is as follows.

31 October for paper tax returns

30 December for returns submitted online.

2) Using the 13/14 year as per your example.

You are correct that the underpayment will be coded out if the return was submitted in time during the 2015/2016 tax year

HMRC will also allow a restriction to be added to the code to collect back the ChB that is not due in 2015/2016. So yes you could be in a situation where you are paying back both a previous year and current years child benefit payments.

However, as the restriction relates to Non PAYE income you can object to it being included in the code, just as you can for any Non-PAYE income (other than the state pension).

Therefore any underpayment due will be payable by way of self assessment, but as long as that amount is less than £2999.99 it can be collected in the next available tax year.

Eydon

Got mine today and quite frankly don't know why the bothered. To say it is sparse is an understatement.

I also saw on the BBC website today where they now say that if a single parent earning under £50k claims child benefit, pays the child's grandparents to look after the child and one of the grandparents earns over £50k a year then good old Granny or Grandad become liable for the tax charge. Doesn't affect me, but surely that can't be right can it?

dori2o

Eydon wrote: »

Got mine today and quite frankly don't know why the bothered. To say it is sparse is an understatement.

I also saw on the BBC website today where they now say that if a single parent earning under £50k claims child benefit, pays the child's grandparents to look after the child and one of the grandparents earns over £50k a year then good old Granny or Grandad become liable for the tax charge. Doesn't affect me, but surely that can't be right can it?

That is not the case at all. Yet more rubbish being spouted.

Even if the single parent was living with grandparents, one of whom earns over £50k, it would not affect the single parents ability to claim child benefit.

It is based on the individual incomes of a couple who are married and living together or the individual incomes of a man and woman/same sex couple living together as though they were married.