The High Income Child Benefit Charge

You or your partner gets Child Benefit, and at least one of you has an income over £60,000. The charge can also apply if someone else gets Child Benefit for a child living with you and they contribute at least an equal amount towards the child’s upkeep. It does not matter if the child is not your own.

The test uses 'adjusted net income': your total taxable income, including savings interest and dividends, before any Personal Allowances and less certain tax reliefs such as pension contributions and Gift Aid. The threshold is £60,000 for tax years from 2024 to 2025 onwards.

You pay back one hundredth of your Child Benefit for every £200 of adjusted net income over £60,000. Over £80,000 you pay it all back.

If your adjusted net income and your partner’s are both over the threshold, whoever has the higher income pays the charge. 'Partner' means someone you are not permanently separated from who you are married to, in a civil partnership with, or living with as if you were. When a partner moves in or out, the charge applies from the date you move in together to the date you permanently separate or the Child Benefit stops.

gov.uk sets out two choices for someone over the threshold: get the Child Benefit and pay the charge, or opt out of the payments and not pay the charge. Someone who opts out stays registered and still gets National Insurance credits.

• The Child Benefit received in the tax year, and the dates it started or stopped.
• The figures that make up your adjusted net income: pay, savings interest, dividends and other taxable income, and any pension contributions and Gift Aid.
• Whether your partner’s adjusted net income is higher than yours, and the dates of any partner moving in or out during the year.

The charge is paid in one of two ways: through PAYE, where HMRC changes your tax code, or through Self Assessment. You must use Self Assessment if you need to send a tax return for another reason — gov.uk gives earning interest on savings or investments as an example — or if it is later than 31 January after the end of the tax year the charge is for.

Paying through Self Assessment means declaring the Child Benefit on your tax return. If you do not usually send a return, you need to tell HMRC by 5 October after the end of the tax year, by registering for Self Assessment. gov.uk warns you may get a penalty if you need to pay through Self Assessment but do not register, or do not declare Child Benefit on your return.

Taxseas covers:

• Child Benefit charge (HICBC)

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