High Income Child Benefit Charge
You may have to pay the High-Income Child Benefit Charge if you or your partner have an individual income that’s over £50,000 and either:
-
you or your partner get Child Benefit
-
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 living with you is not your own child.
What counts as income
The threshold is based on your adjusted net income which is your total taxable income before any allowances and not including areas such as Gift Aid. Your total taxable income includes interest from savings and dividends.
Who pays the tax charge
If your adjusted net income is over £50,000 and so is your partner’s, then whoever has the higher income is responsible for paying the tax charge. If your income is over the threshold you can choose to either:
-
get Child Benefit payments and pay any tax charge at the end of each tax year
-
opt out of getting payments and not pay the tax charge
If you choose to opt out of getting Child Benefit payments you should still fill in the Child Benefit claim form. You need to state on the form that you do not want to get payments. You need to fill in the claim form if you want to:
-
get National Insurance credits, which count towards your State Pension
-
get your child a National Insurance number without them having to apply for one - they’ll usually get the number before they turn 16 years old
If you’re already getting Child Benefit payments you can choose to either:
-
opt out of getting Child Benefit payments
-
carry on getting Child Benefit payments and pay any tax charge at the end of each tax year