High Income Child Benefit Charge - am I liable if I didn't receive CB?

Polish72

Please help. I was receiving CB in 2016 into a joint bank account with my then wife. We divorced soon after and I removed myself from the joint bank account (our son continued to live with her). The CB was now going into her bank. HMRC wrote to me later indicating the HICBC is due if: I earn over 50k, if me or my partner receives CB and if my income is higher than my spouses. As the second point no longer applied after our divorce, I took that to mean I wasn't liable for this charge and left it there. I assumed that as I wasn't receiving the CB any longer, I would not have any further need for HMRC contact regarding CB. I realised my name was still on the account only in 2019 and I closed the CB account and my ex applied for it accordingly. They then wrote in January this year to say I owe them for 4 years HICBC from 2017-2020 as my name was on the CB account and as I was "eligible" to receive this benefit, the charge applies. The previous letter outlining the three criteria above made no mention of the ''eligibility' factor only stating that if "Either you or your partner received Child Benefit payments...". The key word is 'received' as I was no longer with my partner and I, myself, was not receiving CB payments.. They now say I owe £1700 as the CB was in my name. I can prove that the money went into my ex wife's account (bank statements). the money continued to be paid into the same account in her name. They are imposing this charge because I 'could' have received this CB (even though the bank account was not in my name) when this was simply an oversight on my part and not an attempt to circumvent any laws or claim for CB illegally. Once I removed myself from the bank account I had no access to it and my ex can state this if necessary. Is there any discretion that can be applied here? I have written to them stating all these facts but they are adamant that the charges stand as I was the name on the CB account. Thank you for your help.

p00hsticks

This is probably best asked over on the 'Cutting tax' board rather than this benefits one - I'll put in a request for it to be moved. 
Cutting tax — MoneySavingExpert Forum

I don't believe a divorce would automatically have prevented you from being eligible from CB, as you're still the childrens parent, but I'm not sure how relevant, if at all,  it is to the HICBC. 

nannytone_2

Whose name was the CB claim in ?
Which account it was paid into is irrelevant

calcotti

nannytone_2 said:

Whose name was the CB claim in ?
Which account it was paid into is irrelevant

Agree and OP appears to have said that the CB claim was in his name, in which he is liable for HICBC.

He was perfectly entitled to claim CB and pass the money to his ex but being the claimant makes him liable for the tax. Had the CB claimant been switched to the ex then the problem would not have arisen..

Polish72

nannytone_2 said:

Whose name was the CB claim in ?
Which account it was paid into is irrelevant

I understand this point, however in the original letter stating the criteria it specifically states if "Either you or your partner received Child Benefit payments...". I wasn't receiving any CB payments. The CB account may have still been in my name but to punish me for a clerical oversight to the same degree as someone receiving CB and the associated charges is harsh and difficult to justify. If I can prove that I was not receiving CB payments, and and had no access to the bank account in question why would this not be reason to dismiss this? The wording of the letter regarding the criteria changed from "...Receiving Child Benefit payments..." to "...being eligible to receive Child Benefit payments...", and this was only amended after ignoring the self-assessment tax requests as I didn't qualify for HICBC according to their original stipulations. Thank you for your comments.

Polish72

calcotti said:

nannytone_2 said:

Whose name was the CB claim in ?
Which account it was paid into is irrelevant

Agree and OP appears to have said that the CB claim was in his name, in which he is liable for HICBC.

He was perfectly entitled to claim CB and pass the money to his ex but being the claimant makes him liable for the tax. Had the CB claimant been switched to the ex then the problem would not have arisen..

Yes, but the penalty imposed is totally disproportionate. And my ex could (and in hindsight should) have applied for the CB at the time of divorce. She was entitled to it and I can prove that the money was going into her bank account, not mine. What is the law that I have actually broken here please? What would be the benefit of me claiming and receiving CB when my ex could have done so from the beginning? When I closed my CB account and my ex applied, the money continued to be paid into the same bank account in her name.

ElwoodBlues

It's your responsibility because you were the claimant, so you were receiving CB regardless of what bank account it was paid into. It's an unfortunate situation, but technically you are on the hook for this. The fact that they were writing to you about it should have been enough to remind you that you were the claimant.

Polish72

ElwoodBlues said:

It's your responsibility because you were the claimant, so you were receiving CB regardless of what bank account it was paid into. It's an unfortunate situation, but technically you are on the hook for this. The fact that they were writing to you about it should have been enough to remind you that you were the claimant.

I was the claimant on paper as my name was on the CB account but the payments were clearly going into an account in my ex wife's name and after which I had no access to as it was no longer my bank account. I can understand the doubts but this is all conjecture and assumptions of guilt or deliberate acts to gain monies. The only correspondence I received at the time was a letter querying whether I 'might' need to fill out a SATR, which I felt I didn't need to do as I was not receiving any CB payments. If this was investigated on a case-by-case basis I could prove that no money was changing hands, our bank account could prove that, the bank account didn't change when my ex took over the CB account and the only error was that I assumed that removing my name off the bank account would mean as I no longer received CB, the CB account would reflect that and naively assumed it would be cancelled. The letters regarding HICBC I only received after the period that the charges relate to so was unaware that I was liable until recently. I wasn't receiving any CB payments though; the CB account was indeed in my name but the payments were always going into an account that I had nothing to do with and had no access to. 

Jeremy535897

Have a look at this current thread:
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6430863/back-dated-tax-bill-for-child-health-benefit#latest

It is probably worth letting them have all the facts, as this may be a case where they might waive any penalty (but not the tax itself).