High Income Child Benefit Charge

When you or your partner has adjusted net income over £60,000 and either of you gets Child Benefit, the partner with the higher income pays a tax charge. It is 1 per cent of the Child Benefit for every £200 of income above £60,000, so by £80,000 the whole amount is taken back. Each person’s income is looked at separately, and only the higher earner pays.

What Child Benefit is worth in 2026/27

Child Benefit is £27.05 a week for the eldest or only child and £17.90 a week for each additional child. Over 52 weeks that comes to:

Children	Weekly	Yearly (52 weeks)
1	£27.05	£1,406.60
2	£44.95	£2,337.40
3	£62.85	£3,268.20

Our Child Benefit guide covers how to claim.

How the charge is worked out

Take the higher earner’s adjusted net income, subtract £60,000 and divide by £200. The answer is the percentage of the year’s Child Benefit to repay.

Say an NHS manager in England has adjusted net income of £70,000 and their partner earns £30,000. They have two children and receive £2,337.40 in Child Benefit over the year. The manager is £10,000 over the threshold, which divided by £200 gives 50, so the charge is 50 per cent: £1,168.70.

Anyone on £80,000 or more repays 100 per cent. Anyone on £60,000 or less pays nothing, however high the combined household income.

In the public sector the charge can reach NHS bands 8a and above, experienced consultants and resident doctors in the later training grades, senior teachers on the leadership range, and senior Civil Service and council managers. Overtime, extra sessions and any other taxable income all count towards the £60,000.

What adjusted net income means

Adjusted net income is your total taxable income less some deductions. For most employees the starting point is the taxable pay figure on the P60. Contributions to a net pay pension scheme, such as the NHS Pension Scheme or the Teachers’ Pension Scheme, are already taken off that figure.

Contributions to a relief at source pension, Gift Aid donations and payroll giving also reduce it. Return to the manager on £70,000, and suppose they pay into the NHS Pension Scheme. At that pay the contribution rate is 12.5 per cent, or £8,750. Their adjusted net income from the job falls to £61,250, so the charge drops to about 6 per cent of the Child Benefit, a long way below 50 per cent. Our guide to pension tax relief explains how the two pension methods are treated.

How you pay it

The charge is collected through Self Assessment. The higher earner must register by 5 October after the end of the tax year in which the charge first applies, then file a return online by 31 January. HMRC can add penalties to the unpaid charge if you do not register. Gov.uk lists any other ways HMRC lets employees pay it.

Anyone who already files a return for other reasons puts the charge on the same return. Our guide to Self Assessment for employees lists the other common reasons employees end up filing.

Stopping payments instead

You can choose to stop receiving Child Benefit rather than pay the charge. That is sometimes simpler for someone well over £80,000, since the charge would take back all of it anyway.

Keep the claim in place even with payments stopped. A claim for a child gives:

• National Insurance credits towards the State Pension for a parent who is not working or earns below the Lower Earnings Limit, which is £129 a week in 2026/27
• the child an automatic National Insurance number before they turn 16

A parent at home with a young child, or working only a few hours, can lose years of State Pension credit by not claiming. Payments can be restarted later if income falls, for example during a career break or unpaid leave.

Couples and changes during the year

The charge applies to a partner who lives with the person getting Child Benefit, married or not. If you separate or start living with a new partner during the year, it is worked out for the weeks you lived together. Income that moves around the £60,000 line from year to year needs checking each year, as last year’s answer may no longer hold.

Another income line matters to parents too: above £100,000, Tax-Free Childcare and the 30 hours of funded childcare are lost as well. See the £100,000 tax trap. For a past year you should have declared, contact HMRC directly. An accountant or a tax charity such as TaxAid can help if the amounts are complicated.