Soldato
Bercause now people owe them lots and lots of money rather than just a few quid. They seem to like that...
High income child benefit charge...oh ****
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Associate
I haven't read all of the thread, but I was very fortunate to be advised of this previously so as my wages have raised I have done the following:
Sub 50k: Just claim
Sub 60K: Claim, submit a self assessment, pay back what is owed, offset against company mileage claims.
Last tax year my wages rose over the 60k threshold, so I've had to pay the full amount back, for 2 children.
My wife receives the benefit, so we've just opted out of receiving the payment, but she is still registered for the entitlement. This means she still gets her NI credits counted towards her state pension (she only works part time & doesn't earn enough to contribute), however as she has opted out of receiving the payment, my next tax return will be slightly nicer to swallow.
Money Saving Expert has a nice paragraph on it:
If your income is £60,000+, it's still worth registering for child benefit
If you or your partner has an income of £60,000 or more, it's still worthwhile filling in the child benefit form and registering your entitlement – even if you opt out of actually receiving the benefit itself. Doing so has several advantages:
Sub 50k: Just claim
Sub 60K: Claim, submit a self assessment, pay back what is owed, offset against company mileage claims.
Last tax year my wages rose over the 60k threshold, so I've had to pay the full amount back, for 2 children.
My wife receives the benefit, so we've just opted out of receiving the payment, but she is still registered for the entitlement. This means she still gets her NI credits counted towards her state pension (she only works part time & doesn't earn enough to contribute), however as she has opted out of receiving the payment, my next tax return will be slightly nicer to swallow.
Money Saving Expert has a nice paragraph on it:
If your income is £60,000+, it's still worth registering for child benefit
If you or your partner has an income of £60,000 or more, it's still worthwhile filling in the child benefit form and registering your entitlement – even if you opt out of actually receiving the benefit itself. Doing so has several advantages:
- You'll get national insurance credits, which count towards your state pension. You need 30 years' worth of national insurance credits to receive the full state pension, so this is especially important if one of you is a non-earner or makes less than £166 a week (which is when you'd start to pay national insurance contributions). HMRC reckons 200,000 parents are losing out in this way because their partner with a higher income, not them, is registered for child benefit.
- It will ensure your child is registered to receive a national insurance number shortly before they turn 16.
My wife said the same thing to me. I think the idea is you cannot be certain about your circumstances over the course of the tax year.
Soldato
Looks like my bill for years until 2018-2019 is just under the £1k mark. All due to dropping pension contributions - doh.
I have dropped them an email today, lets hope i can spread the repayments and also cancel (under my wife's name) for the remaining 19-20 year.
I have dropped them an email today, lets hope i can spread the repayments and also cancel (under my wife's name) for the remaining 19-20 year.
Man of Honour
Aye, I pay around £1050 odd a year because of my girlfriend getting child benefit.
I won’t get her to stop her payments though as it’s money for her, and I’d just be paying it anyway over the course of the year buying the things she uses it for.
Pain in the ass
I won’t get her to stop her payments though as it’s money for her, and I’d just be paying it anyway over the course of the year buying the things she uses it for.
Pain in the ass
Yes, but be aware that childcare vouchers only exist for those who already have them. So no new entrants to the scheme as of October 2018. My work screwed this up for me.
If you have childcare vouchers and have a period where you don't need them but have another child you will use them for, then for god's sake keep them, change the amount to a £1 a month, and bank them, or if you're chiildcare fees will be way more than the monthly childcare voucher then bank them up in advance.
Once you leave the scheme, its gone, and us "high" earners are not eligible for the other scheme.
I am now currently waiting for my registration code in the post so I can register before the end of December deadline... Then they can tell me the full amount I owe for 18-19 (which I already know and have offered to pay in full, which they refused till the return is completed)
Honestly, you could not make this up. They make the registration process so slow and cumbersome.
Have to request a UTR, wait for that to turn up in the post, register that, then wait for a conformation code in the post again before you can actually access the system.
God only knows what happens if I miss the deadline on this. Just have to hope it arrives tomorrow.
I am actually away from home so have one of my parents going to my house to open my mail and check for me.
The best but was, when I tried to arrange the payment plan for the 2012-2018 stuff, they said to wait till the 2018-19 return was calculated, as they would add it to the payment plan and I can pay it as part of that. HOWEVER, if I did that, I would then be being fined for missing the first payment deadline for the 2012-2018 stuff, incur a fine, and likely lose the right to a payment plan.
They are basically out to **** you over and give you terrible advice with no consequences for them, and loads for you...
I don't think the people on the phone are usually doing it on purpose, but the system is designed to keep them in the dark about the wider picture and as such give out "good advice" that just gets you deeper in.
It's that bad that it can't just be a badly designed process, it's just a deliberate minefield.
Honestly, you could not make this up. They make the registration process so slow and cumbersome.
Have to request a UTR, wait for that to turn up in the post, register that, then wait for a conformation code in the post again before you can actually access the system.
God only knows what happens if I miss the deadline on this. Just have to hope it arrives tomorrow.
I am actually away from home so have one of my parents going to my house to open my mail and check for me.
The best but was, when I tried to arrange the payment plan for the 2012-2018 stuff, they said to wait till the 2018-19 return was calculated, as they would add it to the payment plan and I can pay it as part of that. HOWEVER, if I did that, I would then be being fined for missing the first payment deadline for the 2012-2018 stuff, incur a fine, and likely lose the right to a payment plan.
They are basically out to **** you over and give you terrible advice with no consequences for them, and loads for you...
I don't think the people on the phone are usually doing it on purpose, but the system is designed to keep them in the dark about the wider picture and as such give out "good advice" that just gets you deeper in.
It's that bad that it can't just be a badly designed process, it's just a deliberate minefield.
Because its not possible to make computers talk to each other, you think smart people plan and execute this sort of stuff but that's not often the case
The high income child benefit charge does rile me. I would be totally happy to forfeit the child benefit for our 3 children, but not when its based on an unfair and inconsistent rule. The fact is my neighbours could earn a joint income of £99,999 and receive 100% of it, yet if I earn £60k we get nothing.
It also heavily detriments any pay rise between £50k and £60k, making it a really awkward pay bracket to be stuck between if you have kids. One looses £2500 cash for 3 kids, by going from £50k to £60k, which is effectively 40% of your take home pay in this bracket.
When they introduced the new ruling many years ago, I am sure they said the reason for basing it on the highest earner was due to it being too complicated to work out a family's income. Yet this is what they were doing for years with Family Credits and I am sure still do for other benefits.
Does anyone think there is any light at the end of the tunnel? As I said, I am happy for us to sacrifice it in the name of austerity or whatever, but not when its seemingly so flawed.
I also read that Britain's biggest family with 21 kids (22nd on its way), claim no benefits, aside from Child Benefit. Now I have no qualm at all with this family, in fact they seemed actually a very solid and caring family in a TV program I saw a few months back, but I do not believe that their Dad can earn less than £60K and provide for 22 kids! So how does that work? Grrrrr.
It also heavily detriments any pay rise between £50k and £60k, making it a really awkward pay bracket to be stuck between if you have kids. One looses £2500 cash for 3 kids, by going from £50k to £60k, which is effectively 40% of your take home pay in this bracket.
When they introduced the new ruling many years ago, I am sure they said the reason for basing it on the highest earner was due to it being too complicated to work out a family's income. Yet this is what they were doing for years with Family Credits and I am sure still do for other benefits.
Does anyone think there is any light at the end of the tunnel? As I said, I am happy for us to sacrifice it in the name of austerity or whatever, but not when its seemingly so flawed.
I also read that Britain's biggest family with 21 kids (22nd on its way), claim no benefits, aside from Child Benefit. Now I have no qualm at all with this family, in fact they seemed actually a very solid and caring family in a TV program I saw a few months back, but I do not believe that their Dad can earn less than £60K and provide for 22 kids! So how does that work? Grrrrr.
Buy everything in bulk, pass along clothes etc.. gotta wonder about the living situation etc.. but they must get a fairly hefty child benefits cheque. If they've got several rooms with bunkbeds etc.. I bet the heating bill is low. Hot water is probably a bit of an expense, ditto to the electricity for the washing machine etc...
If the wife is a state at home mum - she's actually one of the few that can genuinely claim that it is like a full time job.
Education, healthcare etc.. is free in the UK and food is usually a small bill - the average person is generally quite wasteful - could easily drop the cost per person for each meal drastically if cutting down on meat etc.. if that family buys a big bag of potatoes they'll actually use the whole thing, bet they don't have leftover bread that will go mouldy if they don't eat it etc..
People spend a lot of money on rubbish - it doesn't have to be that way.
Soldato
Indeed, about time your family income was used instead of being harshly simplistic for every aspect of your finances. I fall foul of every unfair aspect, no child benefits, loads of higher rate tax applied, whilst the Mrs works part time for a pittance, I can't offset anything with her. Our neighbours combined income is very close to ours, but they pay minimal high rate tax, get full child benefits, etc.. The difference in net income is eye watering!
Associate
I didn't get lucky with the pension contribution thing as my pension is taken pre-tax. So I've got to pay back £306 which is a tad higher than the 10% mentioned as I only earned 52.5k 2018 - 2019. The only other thing I can think may have made it higher is they asked about interest gained through my bank account which was about £125 in that year. That or I ticked something incorrectly somewhere along the line. Ah well.
Emailed HMRC 4 weeks ago indicating that I want to communicate by email.
No reply, so emailed them again 2 weeks ago.
No reply, so just tried to phone them - I was on hold for 30 minutes then it started ringing...hurrah! Then the phone went dead. Booo.
Guess I'll try again on Thursday.
I estimate my total bill to be ~£5k excluding interest and charges.
No reply, so emailed them again 2 weeks ago.
No reply, so just tried to phone them - I was on hold for 30 minutes then it started ringing...hurrah! Then the phone went dead. Booo.
Guess I'll try again on Thursday.
I estimate my total bill to be ~£5k excluding interest and charges.
The same reason Stamp Duty thresholds were not adjusted despite property prices doubling or more. It's an easy way for govt to bring in more money without having to "increase taxes".
Soldato
I've always found the online chat to be good, it's worth a try.
Soldato
Benefit in kind possibly? Health plan or a company car maybe?
Soldato
I think this could affect me soon. Is it simply a case of checking your P60 and seeing if your earnings are 50k or over? Last years P60 figure was still in the late 40s.
I get teachers pension and childcare vouchers which reduces my taxable income right? Sorry, not too knowledgable about this but with my overall salary now at 58 this year I think I need to clue myself up as my taxable pay may now drift over the limit!?
I get teachers pension and childcare vouchers which reduces my taxable income right? Sorry, not too knowledgable about this but with my overall salary now at 58 this year I think I need to clue myself up as my taxable pay may now drift over the limit!?