Child Benefit - I'll have to pay back so should I stop claiming now?

flakey321

Hi,

I've earnt more than I expected I would this year due to overtime and will need to pay back the child benefit I've received this year. Whilst I won't have earnt the full £60k where all child benefit if claimed for a full year would have to be paid back, I believe it will be quite near and certainly everything i've had so far will need to be paid back and everything I get from this point on. That being the case should I stop claiming now as i'll only have to return it and next year and forwards I believe i'll be earning over £60k so won't be starting it back up again. I want to ensure that it's stopped before the next tax year so I don't want to keep claiming it if there's not much benefit in me doing so.

I've heard there are benefits to National Insurance if you register for child benefit but don't receive any payments, is that correct and if so would I be able to do that for the back end of this tax year if I stopped receiving payments. And would my partner who earns much less than me benefit from the NI perks too?

Any help and comments welcome. Thank you.

calcotti

flakey321 said:

I've heard there are benefits to National Insurance if you register for child benefit but don't receive any payments, is that correct 

That applies for those who are not working themselves but have a partner earning over the tax threshold. As you are yourself earning over £123/week (as you obviously are) then you are getting NI through work and don't need the credits from Child Benefit.

If your partner is earning less than £123/week then they should be claiming the Child Benefit to get the NI credits.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

flakey321 said:

Hi,

I've earnt more than I expected I would this year due to overtime and will need to pay back the child benefit I've received this year. Whilst I won't have earnt the full £60k where all child benefit if claimed for a full year would have to be paid back, I believe it will be quite near and certainly everything i've had so far will need to be paid back and everything I get from this point on. That being the case should I stop claiming now as i'll only have to return it and next year and forwards I believe i'll be earning over £60k so won't be starting it back up again. I want to ensure that it's stopped before the next tax year so I don't want to keep claiming it if there's not much benefit in me doing so.

I've heard there are benefits to National Insurance if you register for child benefit but don't receive any payments, is that correct and if so would I be able to do that for the back end of this tax year if I stopped receiving payments. And would my partner who earns much less than me benefit from the NI perks too?

Any help and comments welcome. Thank you.

It's not really what you "earn" that counts though.

HICBC is based on adjusted net income, which can often be less than earnings once pension contributions are taken into account.

flakey321

hi, yes i've taken the pension contributions into account too, so i'm looking at the adjusted net income