Which figure to use for child benefit charge?

Hopingforthesimplelife

Hi all, hoping this will be an easy answer for someone in the know to help with;

On my payslip received today for year to date I had the following:

total gross pay: £57,033
gross for tax: £55,465
pension: £5,525

which figure do I use to assess for child benefit pay back charge? If the former I think I need to pay back a (small) amount but more importantly complete a self assessment (would prefer not to if possible).

If the second figure (which is presumably lower due to childcare vouchers) then after uplift I am under the threshold and no money owned back?

hopefully someone could point me in the right direction?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Firstly HICBC is based on adjusted net income, not just what you earned so if you have some taxable interest or dividends, company benefits or any other taxable income then it all needs to be taken into account.

Secondly there are four ways you can get money into a pension scheme and until you clarify which method was used it's impossible to know how close you are to needing to pay some HICBC.

The methods are,

Net pay 
Relief at source

Gross contribution with no tax relief when paid (often to a public sector employer)
Salary sacrifice

What method was for the £5,525?

Hopingforthesimplelife

Hi,

many thanks for info.

Income really is only salary (savings in isas). 

Source for the pension was not either of the last two options.

it is part of my companies pension scheme and goes to royal London - I am not sure if that helps narrow it down to which of the first two options it may be? Historically I have claimed the small amount of 40% tax back if that helps (20% is automatically claimed by Royal London)

edit: the short easy answer is my pension comes out of my salary each month and on RL portal shows as employee contribution, tax relief & employer contribution. 

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Historically I have claimed the small amount of 40% tax back if that helps (20% is automatically claimed by Royal London)

That's relief at source.

If £5,525 is what you have paid net then the gross contribution including the basic rate tax relief added by Royal London would be £6,906.

So if your only taxable income (P60 pay figure) is £55,465 you would be well under the threshold for HICBC.

You would get some higher rate tax relief from HMRC but not on the whole £6,906.

If you have claimed pension relief in previous years you have probably received some relief already for 2021:22 via a higher tax code.

Hopingforthesimplelife

That’s great, many thanks for your help.