Do you need to re-register for Child Benefits?

If you’ve heard about the changes post 5 April 2024 and are wondering whether you need to re-register for Child Benefits, this is the blog post for you.

If you have been affected by the increase in the High Income Child Benefit Charge cap to £60,000, then you may need to restart your Child Benefit payments by 5 July 2024.

In the 2024 Spring Budget the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) cap was increased from £50,000 to £60,000, and someone with up to £80,000 of income per annum may still benefit from Child Benefit payments.

Under the pre 5 April 2024 rules if your income was £60,000 or more you may have opted out of receiving Child Benefit to avoid having to pay the benefit back to HMRC. However due to the increases in the caps as mentioned above you may now be due to receive some Child Benefit. If so you need to restart your Child Benefit payments to ensure you do not risk losing out to any you are entitled to.

Claims to child benefit can only be backdated 3 months, so if you need to restart your Child Benefit payments you need to do so by 5 July 2024 to ensure the full amount is received.

If you have claimed Child Benefit but elected not to actually receive the payments, you can revoke your election and ask for payments to start. This type of revocation can be made up to 2 years after the end of the tax year the payments were due to you.

You can restart your payments via the HMRC website HERE

If your income is between £60,000 and £80,000, and you are liable to the HICBC as a result of restarting payments, you may have to start filing tax returns with HMRC if you do not already do so. We can of course assist you with your responsibilities and filing of any tax return.

Click here to find out more about the changes.

Get In Touch

Contact your local Whitings office today for more information or advice on whether you need to re-register for Child Benefits.

Disclaimer - All information in this post was correct at time of writing.