High Income Child Benefit Charge Calculator

The short answer

• The charge applies if either partner’s adjusted net income is over £60,000.
• It is 1% of the Child Benefit for every £200 of income above £60,000.
• At £80,000 or more, the charge equals all of the Child Benefit.
• The partner with the higher income pays it, through Self Assessment or their tax code.

How the charge works

Take your adjusted net income, subtract £60,000, divide by £200 and round down. The result is the percentage of your Child Benefit that is taken back.

The percentage is rounded down to a whole number, so income of £60,199 gives no charge and £60,200 gives 1%. The charge is worked out on the Child Benefit actually paid in the tax year, so a baby born part-way through the year means a smaller charge.

The threshold rose from £50,000 to £60,000 in April 2024, and the band widened from £10,000 to £20,000, which halved the rate at which Child Benefit is withdrawn.

Adjusted net income

The charge uses adjusted net income, not your salary. Broadly:

• start with all your taxable income: salary, bonus, self-employed profit, rental profit, savings interest and dividends;
• take off trading losses;
• take off the gross amount of personal pension contributions paid with relief at source;
• take off the gross amount of Gift Aid donations.

Pension contributions taken from your pay before tax, through a net pay scheme or salary sacrifice, are already left out of your taxable pay, so you do not deduct them again. Interest within the Personal Savings Allowance and dividends within the dividend allowance still count.

Who pays it

The charge is paid by whichever partner has the higher adjusted net income, whoever receives the Child Benefit. A partner means someone you are married to, in a civil partnership with, or living with as a couple.

Because the test is on individual income, a single-earner family can pay the charge while a better-off two-earner family pays nothing. The charge also applies if you live with a partner who is not the child’s parent.

The hidden tax rate

Between £60,000 and £80,000, every £1 of extra income costs 40% Income Tax, 2% National Insurance and some Child Benefit. The more children you have, the higher the combined rate.

A pay rise from £60,000 to £70,000 adds £5,800 to take-home pay after Income Tax and NI, but a family with two children loses £1,168.70 of Child Benefit, so they are only £4,631.30 better off.

Using pension contributions

Paying into a pension is the most common way to bring adjusted net income back down to £60,000. Every £1 of gross contribution reduces adjusted net income by £1.

That is effective relief of more than 50%. Salary sacrifice can work even better, because it also saves National Insurance: sacrificing £5,000 to go from £65,000 to £60,000 saves £2,100 of Income Tax and NI plus £584.35 of charge for a family with two children. Pension money is locked away until at least 55, rising to 57 from 2028.

Other ways to reduce it

• Gift Aid. A £1,000 donation is £1,250 gross and reduces adjusted net income by that much. At £70,000 with two children, it cuts the charge by £163.62.
• Moving savings or investments. Interest and dividends count towards income. Holding them in an ISA, or in the name of a lower-earning spouse, keeps them out.
• Timing a bonus. Income counts in the tax year it is paid. A bonus paid into a pension through bonus sacrifice does not count at all.
• Self-employed expenses and losses. Claiming all your allowable expenses lowers profit, and therefore adjusted net income.

Opting out of payments

If your income will be £80,000 or more, the charge takes back all the Child Benefit. Many families choose to stop the payments rather than receive them and pay them back.

If your income is between £60,000 and £80,000, taking the payments is always worth it: you keep part of the benefit.

Registering and paying

1. During the yearChoose how to pay

   Employed people can ask HMRC to collect the charge through their tax code instead of filing a tax return.

2. 5 OctoberRegister for Self Assessment

   After the end of the first tax year you owe the charge, if it is not being collected through PAYE.

3. 31 JanuaryFile and pay

   Report the Child Benefit received and pay the charge with any other tax due.

HMRC uses information from employers and Child Benefit records to spot people who should be paying. If you have not registered, you may be charged a penalty as well as the tax. Act quickly if you realise you owe it.

Common mistakes

• Using salary instead of adjusted net income, which ignores pension contributions and adds other income.
• Assuming household income matters: only the higher individual income does.
• Forgetting that a new partner’s income counts from the date you start living together.
• Cancelling the Child Benefit claim instead of stopping payments, which loses National Insurance credits.
• Forgetting a bonus or a one-off dividend that pushes income over £60,000 in a single year.

Three families, worked through

For the first family, a £4,000 gross pension contribution, costing £3,200 from take-home pay before higher-rate relief, saves the whole £281.32 charge as well as £800 of higher-rate tax. For the third, cutting income to £60,000 would need £25,000 more in the pension; stopping the payments while keeping the claim may be the simpler choice.

Self-employed people and landlords

Self-employed profit and rental profit count in full towards adjusted net income. A salary of £58,000 with £5,000 of rental profit gives £63,000, a charge of £350.61 for two children, even though the salary alone is under £60,000.

• Claim every allowable expense: it reduces profit and the charge together.
• Personal pension contributions made before 5 April count for that tax year.
• Income from a jointly owned rental property is usually split 50:50 between spouses, which can help.

Because profits are only known at the year end, the charge often comes as a surprise on the tax return. Estimate it early and decide on pension contributions before 5 April.

Changes during the year

The charge is based on Child Benefit received while the higher earner was part of the household. If a baby is born part-way through the year, or you start living with a new partner, only the weeks after that count.

If you separate, the charge stops from that date unless you are the one receiving the Child Benefit. If two people in the household earn over £60,000, only the higher earner pays.

Paying through your tax code

Employed people who only need to file a tax return for the charge can ask HMRC to collect it through PAYE instead, using the online service. HMRC adjusts your tax code so the charge is spread over the following year’s pay.

• You still need to tell HMRC how much Child Benefit your household gets.
• If you already file a tax return for other reasons, report the charge there instead.
• Check your tax code notice each year: if your income or children change, the amount collected may be wrong.

Collecting through PAYE avoids the January bill and payments on account, and stops the charge pushing you into Self Assessment just for this.

If you have not paid it before

Many people only find out about the charge years later. If you should have paid it, tell HMRC as soon as possible. HMRC can usually go back four years, or longer if you were careless.

You will owe the charge and interest. Penalties may also apply, but they are lower, and sometimes waived, if you come forward yourself before HMRC contacts you and you had a reasonable excuse, such as not knowing a new partner’s income.

Should you take the payments?

If your income is close to £80,000 and may fall, taking the payments and paying the charge keeps your options open. You can stop or restart payments at any time.

Key numbers for 2026/27