High Income Child Benefit Charge

If you or your partner has adjusted net income over £60,000 and either of you gets Child Benefit, the one 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 at £80,000 the whole amount is taken back. The charge is based on each person’s income separately, not the household’s, and it is the partner with the higher income who pays it.

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

Find the higher earner’s adjusted net income, take away £60,000, divide by £200, and that 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’s income is £10,000 above £60,000. Divided by £200, that is 50, so the charge is 50 per cent: £1,168.70.

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

Public sector roles that can be affected include 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 other taxable income all count towards the £60,000.

What adjusted net income means

The charge looks at adjusted net income, which is your total taxable income less some deductions. For most employees the starting point is the taxable pay figure on the P60. Pension contributions in a net pay 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 adjusted net income. Now say the £70,000 is the manager’s salary, and 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 that job is then £61,250, so the charge would be 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 has to register by 5 October after the end of the tax year in which the charge first applies, and file a return online by 31 January. If you do not register, HMRC can charge penalties on top of the unpaid charge. Gov.uk explains any other ways HMRC lets employees pay it.

If you already file a return for other reasons, the charge goes on the same return. Our guide to Self Assessment for employees lists other common reasons employees end up filing.

Stopping payments instead

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

Keep the claim itself in place, even with payments stopped. Making 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. You can restart payments 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, whether married or not. If you separate or start living with a new partner during the year, the charge is worked out for the weeks you lived together. If your income moves around the £60,000 line from year to year, check each year rather than assuming last year’s answer still holds.

The charge sits next to another income line that matters to parents: above £100,000, Tax-Free Childcare and the 30 hours of funded childcare are lost too. See the £100,000 tax trap. For help with 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.