High income child benefit charge...oh ****

Man of Honour
Joined
25 Oct 2002
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Hampshire
I just opt out of it to avoid the admin hassle. It's another of those massively unfair scenarios whereby a household income of £100k could get paid the full whack (£50k+£50k) whereas a household income of £60k could get nothing (£60k+0).

I have considered doing the whole pension contribution thing to get benefits back and avoid more tax etc - would probably make a lot of sense but can't be arsed to sort it out and there's always a little bit of me thinking it would be good to have a lot of funds available if we decided to move house etc.
 
Soldato
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For 2019/2020 you should wait for your April P60 and submit a self-assessment based on that

You still have time to submit your self-assessment for 2018/2019, you have until 31st Jan 2020 (or better 31st Dec to make repayments via PAYE)

I've registered, so I just wait to hear from them now? Or should I be doing more trip speed things up?
 
Soldato
Joined
31 May 2009
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21,257
I'm 70+k a year and a single earner and opted out.

They make it confusing and your responsibility so you opt out basically

Guys in these cases just be very careful your partner is still getting their national insurance contributions.
You automatically get a contribution when your child is between certain ages, but by opting out, you can find they don't automatically credit the contribution.
Now you need 35 years of contributions to get a full pension.
So this can have an effect if people miss years while raising kids.
As long as they get the contribution then no issue with opting out.

We claim ours, as i do the pension contribution, and it allows me to keep 'some' of it.
 
Associate
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22 Jun 2018
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Doon the watah ... Scotland
Are you making pension contributions and do you have a salary sacrifice scheme at work?

We both contribute to our relevant pensions assoiciated with our jobs ( eduction / police ).

As for salary sacrifice, I suppose there are things like unions / federations and other bits n bobs that come out. I think I'll need to sit down with each of our payslips etc and figure just what comes under what category on them.
 
Soldato
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1 Mar 2003
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Cotham, Bristol
Thanks for the thread! It appears I'm one of the Muppets who fit into this bracket, but FY 2018-2019 will have been the first time I qualified. Obviously I missed the 5th October deadline to register for self assessment. I've filled out their form now anyway, what happens now? How do I actually pay what I owe?
 
Associate
Joined
5 Apr 2004
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1,191
Got a letter today informing me about the possibility of needing to pay it back if I was earning over £50,000. Fortunately I already knew this and had been saving the benefits and registered for self assessment.

I wonder if they send this out every year to people.
 

Jez

Jez

Caporegime
Joined
18 Oct 2002
Posts
33,073
It's not pay it all back though is it?
It most certainly is...:(I’ve been paying it all back through SA for years. Partly why it is almost borderline annoying to see people complain that they didn’t know and are now complaining.

The child benefit charge for 1 person is £1076 which is definitely all of it. I literally just this week did my 18/19 return so the figure stuck.
 
Transmission breaker
Don
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20 Oct 2002
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In a house
It most certainly is...:(I’ve been paying it all back through SA for years. Partly why it is almost borderline annoying to see people complain that they didn’t know and are now complaining.

The child benefit charge for 1 person is £1076 which is definitely all of it. I literally just this week did my 18/19 return so the figure stuck.

How did you know to do it? That's what I want to know. No one told me, I had no idea! Were you already self assessing when you first claimed?

Paying it back yearly would have been fine, would have been little issue, but asking for £8.5k back when I had no idea about it is going to sting a little bit. Especially when they say they know how much I owe and only sent me a letter many years after it all started.

People are likely to be a little miffed. It seems like there are lots of people who have been caught out, so perhaps there is something slightly wrong here?
 
Soldato
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14 Dec 2004
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South
I just thought you paid 40%
I also lost my marriage allowance, having to pay that back.
I don't tend to read the government site on tax, assumed as I'm PAYE, it was all done through work.
 
Soldato
Joined
14 Dec 2004
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2,772
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South
Would have crossed mt mind to self asses on PAYE

Just looked, I will have to pay 1% of the child's allowance on every £100 over £50k I resent. Anything over £60k you pay the lot back, which won't affect me.
I'll have to pay £100ish, not sure on any fines ?
 
Soldato
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14 Dec 2004
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South
Been looking at the calculator, once I take off pension contributions, I owe nothing.
If I'm doing it right lol.
2019 to 2020 looks like I'll be paying a little bit.

Time will tell
 
Associate
Joined
28 May 2004
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2,309
Location
Southampton
Hoping I avoid this. I'm another that was in the dark about it, serves me right for not reading properly. Luckily I only just crept over 50k by a few thousand and my pension contributions are greater than this amount. Fingers crossed I'll end up not losing any of the child allowance. No biggy if I do though as I've been saving it and keeping it for my child later in life, or if the family gets into the proverbial!
 
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