High Income Child Benefit Charge

Dazed_and_C0nfused

binkydoormat said:

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.

Do you mean a late payment penalty was imposed or just that the interest charge increased?

I wouldn't hold out much hope of getting the interest cancelled.  There is no formal right if appeal against an interest charge, it is simply meant to reflect the time you had the money owed to HMRC.

I appreciate that the High Income Child Benefit Charge is more emotive than some tax bills.

binkydoormat

I’m not sure tbh because there’s no explanation as to what the charge is. 

The interest element alone is rather emotive. When, a few years back, HMRC owed me a hefty rebate due to me being on the wrong PAYE tax code for two years, I asked for interest and was told “We don’t pay interest”. Doesn’t cut both ways it seems. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

binkydoormat said:

I’m not sure tbh because there’s no explanation as to what the charge is. 

The interest element alone is rather emotive. When, a few years back, HMRC owed me a hefty rebate due to me being on the wrong PAYE tax code for two years, I asked for interest and was told “We don’t pay interest”. Doesn’t cut both ways it seems. 

They do pay interest if the tax is repaid after 31 January after the end of the tax year.

There was a period when it was 0% but it's been 0.5% for the past 10 years.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/rates-and-allowances-hmrc-interest-rates-for-late-and-early-payments/rates-and-allowances-hmrc-interest-rates