Opting out of child benefit - still need to do self assessment...

WineDarkSea

My husband started a new job this month with a pay rise taking us over the limit to receive any child benefit. Previously he was earning over £50k so we claimed the benefit and filled in the self assessment (got a rebate of £500 for two years weirdly).

I called up to cancel and was told he still needs to fill in self assessments every year (not just those we received CB) even if we opt out. Is this true? I can find anything online to explain this. The women I spoke to wasn't very appreciative of my questions so was pretty rude, I also asked about protecting my NI contributions if I stop working in future but she was really dismissive, initially claiming there was no connection to child benefit. I suspect she was out of her depth and couldn't admit she didn't know.

I was really hoping to get out of self assessment form filling as my husband finds it unbearable- he has valid reasons for this so it's well worth losing out on the little we may have been able to keep with extra pension contributions or whatever.

dori2o

Unless he meets the criteria in any other way then the last return he will need to do will be for the year in which the ChB was stopped.

I.e if it stopped June 2017 then he will have to do the 17/18 return issued in April 2018 and that should be the last one.

sheramber

https://www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-a-tax-return

TheCyclingProgrammer

sheramber wrote: »

https://www.gov.uk/check-if-you-need-a-tax-return

Wouldn't always rely on that being a true representation of the law, but still...OP's husband does not need to submit a self assessment if their income is over £50k unless they are in receipt of child benefit.

However, if HMRC send a notice to file a return you're obliged to submit one unless you can convince them to rescind the notice.

OP - I would take a different approach. Ring HMRC's self assessment helpline and tell them you want to de-register for self assessment as you're no longer in receipt of child benefit. They should ask you some questions - similar to the website above - and all being well should take you off. As dori2o says you may still need to do one for this tax year, but not next.

xylophone

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/tax/how-to-pay-income-tax/child-benefit-and-tax-if-you-have-a-high-income/

WineDarkSea

Thanks for the replies. I was pretty sure this was the case so was shocked to hear otherwise, and I really pressed her on it, she was adamant. We try to keep things simple as life is hard enough with young kids and health issues, so 15 years of pointless tax returns is something to avoid if possible.

We will have to fill the return for 2016-17 and again for the few payments received this year under 2017-18. I guess we can ask to de-register from next April or after submitting the last return. I might call the self assessment people in the meantime to get confirmation. I'm hoping HMRC will be more knowledgeable as I'll be dealing with them more in work too soon.

Laycity

Why doesn't he contribute more to a pension to bring him under the earnings limit?

WineDarkSea

He'd have to pay quite a lot into a pension to get sufficiently under the limit to make it worth the hassle, about £10k. But we do need to sort our pensions - my employer is starting one soon so we need to get more information and increase our contributions. Unfortunately, despite his income, our housing situation isn't ideal so we're saving to upgrade to a proper family sized home. Yes it is crazy.

Laycity

WineDarkSea wrote: »

He'd have to pay quite a lot into a pension to get sufficiently under the limit to make it worth the hassle, about £10k. But we do need to sort our pensions - my employer is starting one soon so we need to get more information and increase our contributions. Unfortunately, despite his income, our housing situation isn't ideal so we're saving to upgrade to a proper family sized home. Yes it is crazy.

Hassle? £10k gross will cost him £6000 and on top you'd get child benefit of over £1000. So you are not interested in a gain of over £5000 PER YEAR?

Maybe this site is not for you?