The tax office are reminding child benefit recipients who themselves earn, or whose partner earns, over £60,000 a year to opt out of child benefit payments before 28th March. Those who fall into this category but do not ask for payments to be ceased will be required to fill in a tax return at the end of the financial year and repay all child benefit they have received since January.
The latest statistics from HMRC show that over 370,000 people have so far chosen to remove themselves from the child benefit system by opting out of receiving payments. If you are one of these people you do not need to take any further action.
If you or your partner earn over £60,000 and choose to continue receiving child benefit, you will need to register for Self Assessment before 5th October 2013.
The tax return will have to include all income and tax paid during the year and any expenses being claimed back as part of a tax rebate claim.
Lin Homer, Chief Executive at HMRC, said:
“Anyone wanting to opt out of Child Benefit payments can do so at any time. It is really easy – just go to our website. Anyone with an income over £60,000 who has received Child Benefit since January needs to register for Self Assessment by 5 October to repay some or all of this year’s benefit, but if they opt out now this will be a one-off.”
