Claiming child benefit guide discussion area

imam.asimhafiz

Hi,

I always have to pay back all the Child Benefit we receive. I did not stop the Child Benefit payments as I wanted wife received National Insurance Credits to go towards accumulating a higher State Pension. However, all my children are now over 12 years of age and don't if it's still advantageous to keep receiving Child Benefit or to stop it. Any guidance please?

spacemonkeyb3

Hi I think I already know the answer, but I think it's worth asking if anyone has experienced similar. My wife and I have recently been contacted by HMRC to do self assessments around paying back some or all of the Child Support. My gripe is that I get a company car, and the accepted method to calculate the BIK tax owed is to calculate a notional amount that when added to the gross salary with generate the correct BIK tax. This is not money earned, just used to make the calculation, and of course artificially inflates your P60 gross income. This not only takes my wage above the repayment threshold of 50k, but above the upper limit for full repayment Is anyone aware of a way legitimately to get the notional amount deducted from the gross pay? The old system would adjust your tax code to calculate the tax, not affecting your gross pay

Caz3121

is paying more into your pension to get you below the limit an option?
calculator for adjusted income
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-calculator

hadouken

Caz3121 wrote: »

is paying more into your pension to get you below the limit an option?

I only have a workplace pension which I pay into via salary sacrifice. I did think about boosting my contributions as per the advice I've seen on a lot of websites. Though having spoken to 2 different people at HMRC, I was told that this would not make a difference as my contributions are made before tax.

Farnham16

So, have 2 children, eldest is finishing education this year. At the moment we get:

For a first-born or only child: £20.70
For additional children: £13.70 per child

Might be a daft question but, will second child increase to £20.70 - or do they mean only child in the more traditional sense?

Thanks

olgadapolga

Farnham16 wrote: »

So, have 2 children, eldest is finishing education this year. At the moment we get:

For a first-born or only child: £20.70
For additional children: £13.70 per child

Might be a daft question but, will second child increase to £20.70 - or do they mean only child in the more traditional sense?

Thanks

You'll get the higher rate.

leighduffy

hadouken said:

Caz3121 wrote: »

is paying more into your pension to get you below the limit an option?

I only have a workplace pension which I pay into via salary sacrifice. I did think about boosting my contributions as per the advice I've seen on a lot of websites. Though having spoken to 2 different people at HMRC, I was told that this would not make a difference as my contributions are made before tax.

@hadouken
No answer sorry but I'd also be keen for clarity on this. My assumption was exactly as yours and I am surprised that HMRC are essentially advising the converse.

On a related note, assuming Pension AVCs can be used to effectively reduce earnings below the Higher Income Charge threshold of £50k... do individuals need to complete Self Assessment to 'prove' this has occurred or are our 'incomes' deemed to be below £50k due to the AVCs. 
gov.uk Self Assessment guide states one is due "If your income was over £50,000, you may need to send a return and pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge", whereas Child Beneft guide states "To work out if your income is over the threshold, you’ll need to work out your ‘adjusted net income’."
Do we consider our income or adjusted net income when determining whether a Self Assessment is due?

Does anyone have any experience of this?

emdwilliams1980

We have just been stung by notification of an overpayment as well as interest and a charge. We had no idea we were not entitled to the benefit. This is going to be impossible to pay back. Has anyone had any luck getting charges removed? Is there not a responsibility of a lender/payer to provide annual contact to payee to at least enable people to reassess their eligibility? Any advice very gratefully received. 

sheramber

You may get the  penalty removed if you appeal on the grounds that you were not aware of the fact that you were not entitled to claim it. But the  overpayment and the interest charge for late payment will stay.
Someone  previously posted a copy of the annual notification from the Child Benefit Office  which includes information about the charge. However, many people do not read the notice.
You may be able to arrange a payment plan to pay the amount outstanding.  

Calcio_birra

Hello money savers. I hope you can help with my query. When child benefit is backdated to a point in the previous tax year, does self assessment need to be done for that year? We've just started claiming and had CB backdated to Dec 2019. For 19/20 we both earned over 50k. But for 20/21 neither of us will, and we received the backdated payment in this tax year.