Child Benefit Over £50,000 Query

Anoneemoose

Hi,

I stumbled across an article that told a story of a couple getting an unexpected bill to pay back owed Child Benefit because the husband earned over £50,000. It then occurred to me that (possibly) the last year (Apr 19 - Apr 20) when bonuses are taken into consideration (and pension is deducted), my husband has earned over the £50,000 threshold. 

Can anyone advise what we need to do please? CB claim is in my name and obviously earnings are his. I believe we’ll still be entitled to some from CB what I’ve read, but it sounds like we’ll owe from last year. Looking at his previous years’ P60’s, it’s just under the threshold so I don’t think they’ll count. (He did have taxable benefits and things but the overall gross number was less than £50,000). 

Not sure if there are any exemptions but I get both PIP and ESA (not income related) if that makes any difference (not that I expect it to). 

Thanks for any help you can give. 

Anoneemoose

Also, as mentioned, he had taxable benefits and things on his previous payslips so it’s hard to determine which figures we should actually be looking at. Is there an easy way to tell for definite please?  

Thanks again!

kuratowski

On his final payslip for the year check what it says under taxable pay.

If it turns out he's only a little bit over, it would be worthwhile looking at him making an extra pension contribution to bring adjusted income back under 50k.

Also, may be better to post this in the cutting tax forum.

Anoneemoose

kuratowski said:

On his final payslip for the year check what it says under taxable pay.

If it turns out he's only a little bit over, it would be worthwhile looking at him making an extra pension contribution to bring adjusted income back under 50k.

Also, may be better to post this in the cutting tax forum.

Thank you. That’s a great help. I’ll post in there too. 

calcotti

You need to be looking at ‘adjusted net income’. See https://www.gov.uk/guidance/adjusted-net-income

if unclear whether or not there is a liability your husband should contact HMRC and if necessary he will have to complete a self assessment tax return.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You refer to the "last year" and Apr 19 - Apr 20.  Which is the current tax year.

If you mean the tax year to 5 April 2020 then he will need to register with HMRC and file a return after the tax year ends.  

Any tax or High Income Child Benefit Charge due will be payable by 31 January 2021.  If he files the return by 30 December 2020, owes less than £3,000 and is still earning decent money he should be able to pay it through his 2021:22 tax code, effectively an interest free loan.

sassy_one

Someone earning 50k above shouldn't be entitled to CB imo.

I really hope they shake up the rules on CB further soon to stop this.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

sassy-one said:

Someone earning 50k above shouldn't be entitled to CB imo.

I really hope they shake up the rules on CB further soon to stop this.

Get a job as Chancellor and you can shake them up yourself!

Anoneemoose

sassy-one said:

Someone earning 50k above shouldn't be entitled to CB imo.

I really hope they shake up the rules on CB further soon to stop this.

That’s really helpful, thank you for your input.

What’s even worse is if we both earned £49,999.99 we’d still be entitled to it all. That’s bonkers.

 I agree we probably don’t need it and we should have also realised ourselves, but after posting in a FB group, it seems that there are many, many people in the same boat. Totally oblivious. 

If I knew we weren’t entitled to it, there’s no way we would have spent it (or even claimed it in the first place). Hence being proactive now we do know. It looks like it’s going to be a total of £3900 we owe. We’ve dug through all of the old ‘paperwork’ and ‘18/‘19 went over quite a lot due to car allowance and bonus, hence the big chunk. Luckily he gets a bonus in June so that will be paying it off which is a pain, but at least it’s doable. 

Anoneemoose

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

You refer to the "last year" and Apr 19 - Apr 20.  Which is the current tax year.

If you mean the tax year to 5 April 2020 then he will need to register with HMRC and file a return after the tax year ends.  

Any tax or High Income Child Benefit Charge due will be payable by 31 January 2021.  If he files the return by 30 December 2020, owes less than £3,000 and is still earning decent money he should be able to pay it through his 2021:22 tax code, effectively an interest free loan.

Thank you. We’ve been in touch with them and it’s getting sorted. He gets a bonus in June so we’re using that to cover it.