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You may have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge if you or your partner have an individual income that’s over the threshold 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

It does not matter if the child living with you is not your own child.

The threshold

An individual income is over the threshold if it’s:

• over £60,000 for the tax year 2024 to 2025
• over £50,000 for tax years up to and including the tax year 2023 to 2024

What counts as income

To work out if your income is over the threshold, you’ll need to work out your ‘adjusted net income’.

Your adjusted net income is your total taxable income before any allowances and not including things like Gift Aid. Your total taxable income includes interest from savings and dividends.

Use the Child Benefit tax calculator to get an estimate of your adjusted net income.

Who pays the tax charge

If your adjusted net income is over the threshold 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.

If your income is over the threshold

You can choose to either:

• get Child Benefit payments and pay any tax charge at the end of each tax year
• opt out of getting payments and not pay the tax charge

If you choose to opt out of getting Child Benefit payments

You should still fill in the Child Benefit claim form. You need to state on the form that you do not want to get payments.

You need to fill in the claim form if you want to:

• get National Insurance credits, which count towards your State Pension
• get your child a National Insurance number without them having to apply for one - they’ll usually get the number before they turn 16 years old

If you’re already getting Child Benefit payments

You can choose to either:

• opt out of getting Child Benefit payments
• carry on getting Child Benefit payments and pay any tax charge at the end of each tax year

To pay the tax charge, you must:

1. register for Self Assessment

2. fill in a Self Assessment tax return each tax year and pay what you owe

Register for Self Assessment

If you do not usually send a tax return, you need to register by 5 October following the tax year you need to pay the tax charge.

You’ll get a letter telling you what to do next after you’ve registered.

If you cannot get information from your partner or ex-partner

You can write to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) to ask whether your partner or ex-partner gets Child Benefit or has a higher income than you. HMRC will reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ - they will not give you any financial information.

Write to HMRC

You need to tell HMRC the tax year you’re asking about, as well as your:

• name, address, date of birth and National Insurance number
• Unique Taxpayer Reference, if you have one
• ‘adjusted net income’ - use the Child Benefit tax calculator to work this out
• partner or ex-partner’s name

If you can, include your partner or ex-partner’s:

• address
• date of birth
• National Insurance number, if you know it
• Unique Taxpayer Reference, if they have one

Send your letter to:

To opt out of Child Benefit payments, you can either:

You’ll need to sign in to use the online service or fill in the online form. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them.

You can also contact the Child Benefit Office by phone or post to opt out.

You cannot opt out of Child Benefit payments if you’re using them to pay back an overpayment or to pay back certain other benefits from another country.

Responsibilities after you opt out of Child Benefit payments

You must pay any tax charge owed for each tax year up to the date your Child Benefit payments stop.

Use the Child Benefit tax calculator to get an estimate of how much you may owe each tax year.

Even after you opt out of payments, you must report any changes in your family life that affect your entitlement to Child Benefit.

You can restart your Child Benefit payments if:

• you’ve previously opted out because of the tax charge
• you still qualify for Child Benefit

To restart your Child Benefit payments, either:

You’ll need to sign in to use the online service or fill in the online form. If you do not already have sign in details, you’ll be able to create them.

You can also contact the Child Benefit Office by phone or post to restart your Child Benefit payments.

When you’ll start getting payments

After the Child Benefit Office gets your request, it can take up to 28 days before you get your first payment.

The office will write to tell you how much money you’ll get from backdated payments (if any).

Responsibilities after your Child Benefit restarts

You or your partner will have to pay any tax charge on the benefit received from the restart date if your ‘adjusted net income’ is over the threshold.

Use the Child Benefit tax calculator to get an estimate of your adjusted net income and see if you may be affected by the tax charge.

You must report any changes to your family life that affect your Child Benefit.

Your income changes

You will not have to pay the tax charge if your or your partner’s individual ‘adjusted net income’ for the whole of a tax year is below the threshold.

Use the Child Benefit tax calculator to get an estimate of your adjusted net income changes and see if they may affect the tax charge.

You can choose to opt out or restart your Child Benefit payments at any time.

If your adjusted net income goes below the threshold and you no longer need to complete a Self Assessment tax return, you must tell HMRC.

You have a new child

Claiming Child Benefit helps you qualify for:

• National Insurance credits, which protect your right to the State Pension
• other benefits like Guardian’s Allowance

Child Benefit proves you (or your partner) support another child. You may pay less child maintenance for children not living with you.

You can make a new claim or just protect your entitlement to the above by:

• sending a Child Benefit claim form
• ticking the option to ‘not have the benefit paid’

A partner moves in or out

Your situation may change if your adjusted net income is over the threshold and you move in or split up with someone who’s getting Child Benefit.

If both you and your partner have an individual income that’s over the threshold, then whoever has the higher adjusted net income is responsible for paying the charge.

The tax charge applies from the date you move in together to either the date you permanently separate or the Child Benefit payments stop - for example because the child is too old to qualify for Child Benefit.