Child Benefit charge
The High Income Child Benefit Charge: what it is, how much, and how you pay it
If you or your partner get Child Benefit and the higher earner's adjusted net income is over £60,000, some of it has to be paid back through a tax charge; at £80,000 all of it. The charge is on the higher earner, whoever the Child Benefit is paid to. This page shows the arithmetic, works out your charge from your gross income, and explains each way HMRC collects it, including a charge for an earlier year you did not know about.
How it works
1. It is the higher earner's charge
Compare the two incomes in the household. Whoever has the higher adjusted net income pays the charge, even if the Child Benefit is paid to the other person and even if they are not the child's parent. Unmarried partners living together count.
2. Adjusted net income, not gross pay
Total taxable income (pay, benefits in kind, profit, rent, interest, dividends, pensions) less the gross value of personal pension contributions and Gift Aid. Pay into a pension and the figure drops; that is the main way to reduce or remove the charge.
3. 1% for every £200 over £60,000
Take the adjusted net income, subtract £60,000, divide by £200 and ignore the remainder. That is the percentage of the year's Child Benefit that is charged back. At £80,000 it reaches 100%.
4. Child Benefit in 2026/27
£27.05 a week for the eldest or only child and £17.90 a week for each other child, for the weeks it was paid. The charge is that total times the percentage, rounded down to whole pounds.
5. You can stop the payments but keep the claim
If the charge would equal the Child Benefit, opt out of receiving payments while keeping the claim open. You keep the National Insurance credits that protect your State Pension, and nothing is charged. Restart the payments if income falls.
6. Three ways it is collected
Through your tax return if you send one anyway; through your PAYE tax code if you do not, by registering for that instead of Self Assessment; or, with no PAYE source, by registering for Self Assessment. A charge from an earlier year is collected like any underpayment: through the code if it is under £3,000, otherwise by a bill.
Worked example (2026/27)
Priya earns £70,000; her partner earns £30,000. They have two children and Child Benefit is paid to her partner all year: £44.95 a week, £2,337.40 for the year.
- Priya is the higher earner, so the charge is hers. Her adjusted net income is £70,000, which is £10,000 over the £60,000 threshold.
- £10,000 divided by £200 gives 50%, so 50% of £2,337.40 is charged back: £1,168.
- She does not send a tax return, so she pays it through her tax code. HMRC puts a deduction of £2,920 in her code: at her 40% rate that collects £1,168 over the year. The £2,920 is a reduction of allowances, not money owed.
- If she paid £8,000 into a personal pension, her adjusted net income would fall to £60,000 and the charge would disappear, on top of the tax relief on the contribution.
Work out your charge and how you will pay it
Gross figures are fine: we take off pension contributions and Gift Aid to reach adjusted net income. Say whether you already send a tax return and whether you are paid through PAYE, and we tell you the route. Add a charge from an earlier year to see how that one is collected.
Your figures
Pay, benefits in kind from your P11D, self-employment profit, rent, interest, dividends and pensions added together.
Leave empty if you have no partner. The charge falls on whichever of you has the higher income.
The amount that left your bank into a personal or stakeholder pension (relief at source). Not workplace contributions taken from pay before tax; those are already out of your income.
The amount you actually gave under Gift Aid this year.
£27.05 a week for the eldest, £17.90 for each other child.
52 for a full year. Fewer if the claim started or stopped part way through.
If HMRC has written about a year you did not declare, enter that year's charge to see how it is collected.
How HMRC collects it
Through your tax return
If you file for any other reason, the charge goes on the return: page 3 of Tailor your return asks about Child Benefit, and page TR5 takes the amount received and the number of children. It is added to your bill and paid by 31 January, and it counts towards payments on account.
Through your PAYE tax code
Since 2026/27, someone who does not otherwise need a return can opt to pay the charge through PAYE instead of registering. Sign in on GOV.UK or the HMRC app and choose to pay through PAYE; HMRC estimates the charge and puts a deduction in your code so it is collected a little each payday. If you were only in Self Assessment for this charge, you can ask to leave it and move to PAYE.
By registering for Self Assessment
With no PAYE income for a code to go on, you must register by 5 October after the end of the tax year and pay through a return by 31 January 2028. Missing this is a failure to notify, and HMRC charges penalties as well as the tax.
A charge from an earlier year
If your income went over the threshold in a year you did not tell HMRC about, they write to you. The charge for that year is an underpayment: under £3,000 with a PAYE source, it can go through a later year's tax code; otherwise it is billed by Simple Assessment or through a return. Interest runs from the original 31 January, and a failure-to-notify penalty of up to 30% of the charge is usual unless you had a reasonable excuse or come forward first.