Child benefit and maintenance - including HICBC
Child benefit and the High Income Child Benefit Charge
High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC)
In general, Child Benefit is not taxable (and does not need to be tagged in untied - or you can tag it as personal).
However, this is not the full story: if you or your partner receive Child Benefit, and your income exceeds £60,000 then you may have to pay a High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge - this effectively reduces the value of the child benefit.
You will also be required to file tax returns even if you just earn a salary. The obligation falls on the higher earning partner, even if they're not the one who receives the benefit.
How this works
The charge effectively pays back some of the benefit you or your partner have received. Each £200 you earn you'll pay back 1% of the benefit.
So if you earn more than £80,000 then you have to pay back all the money you received.
Why you may still want to claim Child Benefit even if you are required to pay it all back
You can choose not to claim Child Benefit (and won't need to file a tax return just because of this). However it means you may miss out on the benefit counting towards your national insurance contributions for your pension.
Paying the charge
The charge will be added to the tax that you pay at the end of the year.
In untied
In MTD
If you are in MTD, navigate to Making Tax Digital > Employments & Benefits, and scroll down. Then add the details and hit save. You can add child benefit details even if you are below the threshold - it will only be taken account of if you exceed it.
Not in MTD
If you are not in MTD, there is a box to indicate if you receive Child Benefit which appears when you file your return. This only appears if your income exceeds £60,000. If you need it for other reasons let us know.
Child maintenance
Child maintenance does not need to be included on your tax return for either the payer or the recipient. (Strictly, there are ways to get some relief for child maintenance paid. You need to have been born before April 1935, and still have a young child. If this is you, let us know the secret!)