HMRC Self Care Assessment due because of claiming child benefit help?

5abi

I just got a letter from HMRC informing me that I have to apply for self assessment as I am a high income earner. My Wife does not work but she gets the child benefit in her account.

I have gone to the website to check if I need self assessment and it seems that I do. Should I be worried about this? I have never done this before and I don't even know where to start.

Should I apply for self assessment? What happens after that? Should I opt out? If I have to pay to get the benefit, what is the point? Doesn't it nullify the benefit? I don't understand why I have to pay £189 tax on a benefit of £232. What the hell?

Are there any resources online to tell me what I should expect to be doing on my self assessment?

EclipsedMind

As your wife does not work by claiming child benefit she is getting NI stamps for a state pension. So make sure you claim for that reason. You may find this link helpful http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/childbenefit/start/claiming/protect-pension.htm

There is a section on high earners there too.

EM

movilogo

I just got a letter from HMRC informing me that I have to apply for self assessment as I am a high income earner

Does the letter specifically say that you have to apply for self assessment or just an indication of whether you need to check your status and verify whether you need to register for it or not? I think HMRC are sending letters to everyone earning £50k+ who may be be affected because of child benefit.

PS: This has nothing to do with your actual situation. I'm saying in general.

5abi

No the letter says that I will need to apply "if" my individual income is more than 50k and myself or my partner receives child benefit, both of which are true.

Do I need to register in this case?

If I register once, will I need to fill out self assessment every year for the rest of my life?

Alpine

5abi wrote: »

No the letter says that I will need to apply "if" my individual income is more than 50k and myself or my partner receives child benefit, both of which are true.

Do I need to register in this case?

If I register once, will I need to fill out self assessment every year for the rest of my life?

Yes, you do need to register. If you earn more than 50k, you will start to pay additional tax to cover the child benefit payments your wife receives. The amount is tapered up to 60k, at which point you are paying as much tax as your wife receives in child benefit - the aim being that you simply choose not to receive child benefit.


You will continue to need to fill out a self-assessment while you earn over 50k and you or your partner are eligible for child-benefit. Of course, if you are paying into a pension, you are also able to claim back the higher rate tax relief on your contributions through self-assessment which will help reduce the pain a little.


Filling out a self-assessment is quite simple if you have one job and standard bank accounts. Have your P60 to hand along with the year's bank account statements upon which you may have earned interest and follow the on-screen instructions. Most of the sections won't apply to you and it won't take you more than 30 minutes to complete it online. You can save your progress at each stage and you get as many chances as you like to go back to the different stages to verify your numbers before confirming everything and submitting the return. It really is quite straight forward.


I had to start filling them in after the business I was a shareholder in was sold, but after a few years of claiming higher rate tax relief back, HMRC sent me a letter saying I no longer needed to file them, but I continued to do so as the tax relief does not belong to the government.

dave_n_2

it's a farce
I told them to cancel my payments as I'm over the 60K bracket.
I now have to fill in a self assessment form to pay back the tax I owe them for payments since April.

I told them I am not willing to fill in a self assessment form , can i just pay the bill - no you have to fill in a self assessment form.

No wonder the HMRC are a living joke.