Posts tagged 2012

So Child Benefit is changing but how will it affect you?

In the budget, George Osborne has revised the plans to end Child Benefit for any family where there is a higher rate tax payer and instead the threshold has been raised to £50,000 with the benefit then being tapered down so that once an earner in the family is earning £60,000 they will no longer be entitled to any benefit.

Child benefit is currently paid to all households with children at a rate of £20.30 a week, or £1,055.60 a year for the oldest child, and £13.40 a week, or £696.80 a year, for each younger sibling. This will continue to be the same up until one earner in the family is earning £50,000

When do the changes come into effect and how will they be made?

HMRC state the following on their website which I will attempt to simpify for you…

“Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2012 that imposes a new charge on a taxpayer who has adjusted net income over £50,000 in a tax year, where either they, or their partner, is in receipt of Child Benefit for the year. This will have effect from 7 January 2013. If both partners have adjusted net income over £50,000, the partner with the higher income is liable for the charge.

The income tax charge will apply at a rate of one per cent of the full Child Benefit award for each £100 of income between £50,000 and £60,000. The charge on taxpayers with income above £60,000 will be equal to the amount of Child Benefit paid.

Child Benefit claimants will be able to decide not to receive Child Benefit if they or their partner do not wish to pay the new charge.

For the tax year 2012-13, the first year of the charge, the amount of income taken into account will be the full amount of income for 2012-13 and the amount of Child Benefit will be that paid in the period from 7 January 2013 to the end of the tax year. For subsequent years, the full amount of Child Benefit and the income for the year will be taken into account.”

What does this mean?

1. If neither you or your partner are going to earn income of £50,000 during 2012-13 (6th April 2012 – 5th April 2013) then you won’t be impacted by the child benefit changes and you don’t need to do anything.

2. If either of you or your partner earn over £60,000 a year then you won’t be entitled to any child benefit FROM 7th January 2013. Child Benefit will still continue to be paid as usual and any amounts paid between 7/1/13 and 5/4/13 will be clawed back through Self Assessment as an extra income tax charge which will be equal to the full amount of child benefit paid in this period. If you don’t want to pay Child Benefit back through Self Assessment then you can opt to cancel your child benefit payments after 7/1/13 to avoid having to repay it.

3. If you or your partner earn between £50,000 and £60,000 then you will still be entitled to some Child Benefit but this will be reduced gradually by 1% for every £100 you are over the £50,000 limit. You will still be paid the full Child Benefit as normal but any amounts received between 7/1/13 and 5/4/13 will be subject to an extra income tax charge through Self Assessment. (It currently looks likely that if you don’t already complete a Self Assessment then you will need to start completing one as it appears the only way HMRC will be able to claw back the overpaid Child Benefit is through the Self Assessment system.

Example 1

If your partner earns £55,000 then on their self assessment for 2012-13 and you have received £263.90 child benefit between 7/1/13 and 5/4/13 (approx 13 weeks and 1 child rate is used for this example) they would be subject to a Child Benefit Income Tax Charge of (£55,000-£50,000)/100 = 50% of the child benefit paid ie £263.90 x 0.5 = £131.95.

Example 2

If your partner earns £51,000 and you have 2 children, then you will receive approximately £438.10 in child benefit between 7/1/13 and 5/4/13. Your partner would then be subject to an income tax charge through self assessment of (£51,000 – £50,000)/100 = 10% so this would mean £438.10 x 0.1 = £43.81 would need to be repaid.

So what do I need to do?

You don’t need to do anything yet, HMRC will write to taxpayers in the autumn to explain what they need to do next and what options will be available. If you do not hear from HMRC in the autumn, you will be able to find information on HMRC’s website at that time which will tell you what you should do.

Any questions just ask and I’ll attempt to answer them for you