Should I have had letter re child benefit?

Flugelhorn

Heard some comments on the radio about a number people giving up the child benefit etc etc . Should I have had a letter about this ?

Not sure that we have had anything and we are still getting CB

ETA: just been reading a bit more on line - DH gets the CB and doesn't earn any money - so presumably HMRC won't know that someone in the family earns over the CB limit - or have they made that connection???

HappyMJ

Flugelhorn wrote: »

Heard some comments on the radio about a number people giving up the child benefit etc etc . Should I have had a letter about this ? Not sure that we have had anything and we are still getting CB

Maybe the HMRC don't know that the person earning more than £50,000 has a child. They don't know everything. It doesn't matter....whatever Child Benefit you get from now on you should save and when the HMRC wants it back you'll have it. If the earnings from the highest earning partner end up being less than £50,000 then you can keep the child benefit to spend later on.

zagfles

You won't stop getting ch ben unless you request them to stop. Do you earn over £50k? If so you'll need to register for self assessment. If you earn well over £60k you might want to consider stopping child ben, but watch out for the NI implications if one of you doesn't work - lots of recent threads on this.

Flugelhorn

I earn over 60k and have self assessed for years. the non earning CB recipient has now got over 30 years of work (25 years) + HRP (7 years) so presumably doesn't need any more NI for the pension?? or have we missed something ?

is there any disadvantage to having the money off them now and then paying it back later?

sammyjammy

Flugelhorn wrote: »

I earn over 60k and have self assessed for years. the non earning CB recipient has now got over 30 years of work (25 years) + HRP (7 years) so presumably doesn't need any more NI for the pension?? or have we missed something ?

is there any disadvantage to having the money off them now and then paying it back later?

If you declare it on the self assessment form it'll be taxed back from you the following year. If you don't then you are committing fraud and will no doubt be fined.

The letters are a bit hit and miss. my sister got one and she doesn't have a child or a partner.

zagfles

Flugelhorn wrote: »

I earn over 60k and have self assessed for years. the non earning CB recipient has now got over 30 years of work (25 years) + HRP (7 years) so presumably doesn't need any more NI for the pension?? or have we missed something ?

Yes, the additional state pension credits are worth having too, so even with 30 years it's worth getting the NI credits. See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/start/claiming/protect-pension.htm

is there any disadvantage to having the money off them now and then paying it back later?

No, other that forgetting you have to pay it back and spending it! You could earn a bit of interest as suggested in the recent MSE article. They may adjust your tax code but this I think is optional.

benefitbaby

HMRC have been unable to write to 300,000 people who 'may' be affected due to holding insufficient or out of date information.

Flugelhorn

Thanks all - will save the money somewhere and make sure it is included in the future on SA - tax code is never right ans there is always some adjustment needed + bits of self employed stuff.

ta for link to pension credit stuff ... actually youngest is now nearly 16 so DH won't have been getting any credits since April 2010 (see it was changed down to under 12 then... crafty) - so he might be 18 months short....