Child Benefit for people earning £60,000+

If you or your partner earn more than £60,000 a year, you might choose not to apply for Child Benefit because of the extra income tax you’ll be charged. However, it could still be a good idea to apply for it, especially if either you or your partner aren't working or earn below the lower earnings limit for National Insurance contributions.

By making sure you still put in your claim for Child Benefit – even if you’ve decided not to take the payments — you make sure you don’t miss out on:

• National Insurance credits to protect your entitlement to State Pension

• your child being automatically issued with a National Insurance number before their 16th birthday

• other benefits – for example, Guardian’s Allowance.

Your salary could be over £60,000, but what HMRC pays attention to is your ‘adjusted net incomeOpens in a new window’ This is the pay you’re taxed on and doesn’t include things you pay for through salary sacrifice.  

You can reduce your take-home pay by increasing your workplace pension contributions. You can also do this by paying into a personal pension.  

If you can afford to do this, it could limit how much Child Benefit you’ll need to pay back. You might want to talk to an accountant about this for more information.

Find out more in our guide How to claim Child Benefit.

If you and your partner each earn less than £60,000 a year, you’ll receive the full amount of Child Benefit without having to pay any of it back. 

If either you or your partner earns between £60,000 and £80,000 a year before tax, you’ll have to pay a portion of your Child Benefit back in extra Income Tax.

You'll have to pay back 1% of your family’s Child Benefit for every extra £200 you earn over £60,000 each year.

This is known as the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge. To pay the tax charge, you’ll need to register for Self Assessment and complete a Self Assessment tax return each year. If you don’t normally send a tax return to HMRC, you’ll need to register by 5 October following the tax year you need to pay the charge.

For more information on High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge and to register for Self AssessmentOpens in a new window, go to GOV.UK.

If either you or your partner has an income of more than £80,000 a year before tax, you'll have to repay all your Child Benefit as Income Tax.

You’ll still get paid the full amount of Child Benefit each month – or each week, if you’re paid weekly.

But whichever one of you has the higher income will have to pay back the full amount in the form of Income Tax.

You’ll need to fill in a Self-Assessment tax return so HMRC can calculate the extra Income Tax you’ll have to pay.

You can choose not to stop receiving Child Benefit payments.

• This avoids the hassle of paying extra tax.
• You won’t have to complete a tax return.
• If your annual income is between £60,000 and £80,000, you’ll end up out of pocket as you’ll be giving up the proportion of Child Benefit you still qualify for.

You should let HMRC know you want to stop your payments.

You can choose to keep your Child Benefit payments.

• If your income is between £60,000 and £80,000, you’ll still get the amount you qualify for.
• Even if you’re earning over £80,000, if you put your Child Benefit aside in a savings account, you can earn interest on the money before you have to pay your tax bill.
• You’ll need to pay the extra tax.
• You’ll have to complete a tax return.

Getting a savings account is usually very easy – many can be opened online in a few minutes.

Find out which type of savings account is best for you in our guide How to find the best savings account.