I earn £60,000 and started claiming child benefit last April – do I need to file a tax return?

I earn £60,000 and started taking child benefit again after the threshold for removing it was changed from £50,000 to £60,000.

Do I need to do a tax return before the end of the month?

Angharad Carrick of This Is Money says: Claiming child benefit has become complicated, especially when you’re a higher earner.

For those who aren’t self-employed and don’t earn income elsewhere, it’s the only time they have to think about filling in a tax return.

Add to that the changes made under the last government, which saw the child benefit threshold raised from £50,000 to £60,000, and I understand why you might not understand when you do and don’t have to file a tax return.

First, we need to understand how the child benefit high income charge works.

How does the high income child benefit charge work?

Child benefit is paid monthly to anyone looking after a child under the age of 16, or under 20 if they stay in full-time education.

Child benefit is currently £25.60 a week for the eldest and £16.95 a week for each additional child.

It was previously a universal benefit paid to all parents, regardless of income, until George Osborne introduced the child benefit high income charge which starts to claw back the money when the parents earn above a certain amount.

Unlike other taxes, it is based on household income rather than individual so the higher earner in a couple will be responsible for paying the charge.

It meant that if either parent had an individual income of over £50,000, the Government would start to claw back some of the child benefit. It was withdrawn completely when they earned over £60,000.

The more you earned over £50,000 the more you paid back – you paid 1 per cent of every £100 in child benefit received over the threshold.

In April 2024, the threshold at which child benefit starts to be removed increased to £60,000 and is withdrawn completely at £80,000.

Again, the charge will be 1 per cent of the total benefit for every £200 of income over £60,000.

For many parents who earned £60,000 and previously lost all of the benefit, they didn’t bother registering for self-assessment and filling in a tax return. Instead, they opted out entirely.

Now the threshold has changed, more parents will, like you, have started to claim the child benefit again.

Do you have to file a tax return for child benefit?

In your case, you started to reclaim child benefit after the threshold was changed in April 2024.

It means that you will not have to fill out a tax return because the change was made in the current tax year. 

This week’s deadline for the self-assessment tax return covers the previous tax year: 2023/24.

However, you will have to register for self-assessment by this October and fill in a tax return by 31 January 2026.

If your income was above £50,000 for 2023/24 and you claimed child benefit, then you would need to complete a tax return by 31 January 2025.

You can use the Government’s child benefit tax calculator to see how much you have to pay back.

If you do not think it is worth the hassle, you could of course choose to opt out of claiming child benefit entirely. 

But it’s important to remember that you will lose National Insurance credits, which count towards your state pension, so experts recommend you claim the benefit but waive the payments.

If the only things you need to report on the tax return are your salary and the child benefit claims, you should be able to submit it yourself, although if you’re unsure, it is best to get in touch with an accountant.

Before you start considering whether to claim child benefit and do a tax return or opt out, it is worth looking at what counts towards the higher income threshold and ways to reduce it.

It is important to note that the high income child benefit charge threshold is based on adjusted net income, which is a person’s total taxable income before personal allowances, and excludes the value of any pension or gift aid charity contributions you make, for example.

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