High Income Child Benefit Charge

calcotti

spaceman2009 wrote: »

I would suggest it’s HMRC’s responsibility to determine the correct tax code, especially for those whose employers do their tax for them.

An employer deducts income tax based on the PAYE code provided by HMRC, they (the employer) do not not sort out an employee's tax affairs. HMRC, in turn, can only base a tax code on information available to them, If somebody has additional income out of the ordinary HMRC cannot anticipate this in advance so the Tax Code will not have taken this into account and additional tax may be due.

However, as far as I can see https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adjusted-net-income, it appears that while dividends from shares count towards net adjusted income the proceeds of the sale of shares would not - as has been pointed out by dazed and ... the proceeds of a sale of shares is a capital gain rather than income.

FatherRussell

I have been lumped with this charge. £7000 + £500 in penalties. I’ve been through numerous phone calls and at first they wanted it all up front. Then they wanted it paid off within a year (12x£600+ a month) and then they took it down to £300. All too much for me. I did a breakdown of my income and expenses from MSE’s budget tracker and it left me with under £40. I’ve sent them this tracker. 

They threatened that if I didn’t pay, they’d send bailiffs round. My partner was in tears. 

The child benefit never came into my account. It came into my partners. I have three children. In 2013 when the last came out I wasn’t earning enough to be effected by the charge. I never knew anything about it. 

This charge is gonna ruin us. 

So imagine my dismay when a colleague at work in exactly the same position but owing 12k got a 90% discount. 

I’m now going to challenge this every step of the way. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

I suspect that that was a 90% discount off any penalty.  

Not a 90% discount off any HICBC or interest that is due.  Have you seen any actual paperwork to show otherwise?

sammyjammy

binkydoormat said:

Bizarrely I have now just had a letter through the door today from HMRC - it seems to be a generic one. Summary is "have you heard of the high income CB charge?" and asks me to notify them if I think I may be liable to pay it. This is despite me having phoned HMRC 3 weeks ago to tell them I might be liable for it and them agreeing to set me up for self assessment - I've received nothing related to that at all. Their admin seems to be completely chaotic on this issue. What's more the letter is addressed to my mum, who's never lived at my address and only has one child who is nearly 40!
#BuildingACaseForAppeal

Funnily enough my sister had the original letter they sent out when it came in, she is single and has no children - well none she has told me about 

FatherRussell

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

I suspect that that was a 90% discount off any penalty.  

Not a 90% discount off any HICBC or interest that is due.  Have you seen any actual paperwork to show otherwise?

Hiya. I spoke with my colleague today. That’s off the entire repayment, not the penalty. Not seen paperwork (we’re not that pally!) but he’s absolutely adamant that they took his side of the story and agreed to a reduction. 

I am seeking advice from Cityzens Advice to see what they say. 

binkydoormat

I finally received the bill for this through the post today, 4 months after I intially voluntarily contacted HMRC to say I thought I might be liable for it. And they have the audacity to charge about £260 of interest on the 3 years' worth of CB that I owe them, even thought they never informed me about this liability and took 4 months to send the bill. Appeal time.

binkydoormat

Oh, and they've given me 3 weeks to pay.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

binkydoormat said:

I finally received the bill for this through the post today, 4 months after I intially voluntarily contacted HMRC to say I thought I might be liable for it. And they have the audacity to charge about £260 of interest on the 3 years' worth of CB that I owe them, even thought they never informed me about this liability and took 4 months to send the bill. Appeal time.

I suspect you will find they stick to interest being charged.

The interest merely reflects the fact that you have had use of the money in the period when HMRC should have had it.

It is penalties that people seem to be able to negotiate on.

lg

..

binkydoormat

I just wondered how others who've been hit with this are progressing with it? I've now paid back all the CB which I owe, and have paid the interest HMRC have charged on it too, but am appealing the interest. So far it took them a week to mark my letter as received, and it's now been 3 weeks and no reply yet.
More frustratingly, the online billing system on the HMRC self service website is being very poorly administered. The amount it showed as owing was not equal to the bill they sent me in the post, and then once I'd paid that a further amount was added online as "owing" without any notification to me and it was marked as "late" one working day afterwards and a late payment charge therefore added to it. I have written to the again to complain about the whole way it's been handled.
To be fair, all the HMRC ppl I've spoken to on the phone have tried to be helpful, with one even saying the whole way HICBC has been implemented has been a mess. But their systems clearly cannot cope with it. I dread to think how much tax goes unpaid each year just due to HMRC incompetence.