High income child benefit charge: A reminder

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) was introduced in 2013 but with rising inflation and wages being pushed up this may mean that you may have to pay a tax charge, known as the ‘High Income Child Benefit Charge’ (HICBC), if you have an individual income 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

Some of the basic conditions are :

• It does not matter if the child living with you is not your own child.
• Your adjusted net income is your total taxable income before any personal allowances and less things like Gift Aid.
• If your individual income is over £50,000 and so is your partner’s, then whoever has the higher income is responsible for paying the tax charge.
• ‘Partner’ means someone you’re not permanently separated from who you’re married to, in a civil partnership with or living with as if you were.

Individuals who need to pay the charge must submit a Self Assessment tax return each tax year, even if they are employed, and normally pay their tax through Pay As You Earn (PAYE).

If you require assistance with this please get in touch with your usual Whitings contact.

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