Child Benefit: The New £60,000 Threshold and What It Means for Families

The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) rules changed significantly in April 2024. The threshold at which you start to repay child benefit rose from £50,000 to £60,000, and the full repayment threshold rose from £60,000 to £80,000. Tens of thousands of families are now back in receipt of full child benefit - but many do not realise the compliance obligations that come with earnings in the new taper zone.

How the taper works now

A worked example with two children

Child benefit for 2026/27 is £25.60 per week for the eldest child and £16.95 for each additional child. For two children, the annual total is approximately £2,205.

If your Adjusted Net Income is £70,000 - £10,000 into the taper zone - you must repay 50% of the child benefit. The HICBC is £1,102. You still keep £1,103 in net benefit, but you must file a Self Assessment return to account for the charge.

At £80,000 ANI, the charge equals 100% of the benefit and the full £2,205 must be repaid. Above £80,000, there is nothing to be gained from receiving child benefit at all - many high earners simply opt out.

The Self Assessment trap for PAYE employees

This catches many families by surprise. If you are a PAYE employee earning over £60,000 whose partner receives child benefit, you must register for Self Assessment and file a return - even if all your income is taxed correctly at source and you have never self-assessed before. Failure to register can result in automatic late filing penalties of £100 immediately and escalating daily penalties thereafter, regardless of whether any tax is actually owed.

HMRC estimates that hundreds of thousands of taxpayers are still not compliant with HICBC rules, many of whom received new eligibility following the April 2024 threshold change and are unaware they have re-entered the system. If your income has changed significantly - through a promotion, a bonus, or additional investment income - your position may have shifted since last year.

Adjusted Net Income vs gross salary

The HICBC is based on Adjusted Net Income - not your gross salary. ANI includes salary, bonuses, rental income, savings interest, and dividends, but is reduced by pension contributions, Gift Aid donations, and trading losses. This matters enormously for planning: a £70,000 salary earner who makes a £10,000 pension contribution has an ANI of £60,000 and owes no HICBC. Without the contribution, they face a charge of £1,102 per year.

Planning to protect child benefit

Additional strategies include salary sacrifice (which reduces gross pay before HICBC calculation), EV leasing (reducing ANI by the lease value), and structuring investment income across both spouses to prevent either individual from breaching the threshold. Where one partner earns significantly more than the other, shifting investment assets to the lower-earning partner can remove the HICBC entirely.

If you previously opted out of child benefit

If your household opted out of receiving child benefit before April 2024 because your income exceeded the old £50,000 threshold, you should review your position now. If your ANI is below £60,000, you can reinstate your claim - backdating is possible for up to three months. HMRC does not automatically reinstate claims, and every week you delay is lost benefit.