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Where Taxpayers and Advisers Meet

Child Benefit charge

Sham
Posts:1
Joined:Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:31 am
Child Benefit charge

Postby Sham » Tue Nov 07, 2017 10:36 am

Hi All

First post, so I hope somebody can offer some advice please .

I have advised that I need to repay child benefit allowance due to my salary. On the HMRC calculator if I add my benefits such as health insurance and cash equivalent of company car (as on my P11D) to the income section, as per working of the HMRC, then I would would need to repay. However is this correct, or should I add the benefits in the box 'taxable benefits'? If I do then there is nothing to repay? Can anyone advise please?

Sham

Lambs
Posts:1611
Joined:Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:15 pm

Re: Child Benefit charge

Postby Lambs » Tue Nov 07, 2017 7:51 pm

S, I should not expect a difference, because the extent of the clawback is determined by reference to your "adjusted net income", which includes your taxable benefits. Could you please point us to the website?

If you personally made any pension contributions, then you should also includes those - they REDUCE your adjusted income so should improve the position. Likewise any Gift Aid payments.

Many thanks,

Lambs

robbob
Posts:3228
Joined:Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:01 pm

Re: Child Benefit charge

Postby robbob » Wed Nov 08, 2017 10:16 am

WT*

it appears the hmrc calculator is deducting the value of benefits and reducing the child benefit repayment amount - its always been a dodgy calculator with the ambiguous and probably misleading for some pension notes etc but unless i am now losing the plot *** they don't know the difference between adding or subtracting income subject to benefit "clawback" tax (strange how its a tax when repaid via sa and a benefit when paid)- hey ho.

Memo this is the box
Taxable benefits provided by your employer - for example the value of any medical insurance, childcare vouchers (for the whole year but no more than £55 a week) or workplace nursery places
https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-calculator

*** Possible !!

Lambs
Posts:1611
Joined:Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:15 pm

Re: Child Benefit charge

Postby Lambs » Wed Nov 08, 2017 2:34 pm

Wow, that really is not right, is it?

I am running £52k gross salary, and £5k in taxable benefits, and coming up with no restriction at all.

But the funny thing is, the full detail for the Taxable Benefits box is:

"Taxable benefits provided by your employer - for example the value of any medical insurance, childcare vouchers (for the whole year but no more than £55 a week) or workplace nursery places"

Generally speaking, only one of those is actually taxable - and yet there is only the one box to put any benefits in kind into? That box appears to be acting to reduce the ANI of the querist.

Who wrote this? Who checked it? Who then has barefaced cheek to accost taxpayers for failing to fill in a tax return for earlier years, to account for Child Benefit that, if they'd used this so-called calculator, there's every chance they would have thought they did not owe?

Isn't it nice how they say that allowable deductions are "optional", as if the legislation that defines adjusted net income said: "we'll define here adjusted income and, if the taxpayer can be bothered, we can define adjusted NET income as the following..."

It's no more bloody optional than paying bloody tax is bloody optional. The Child Benefit Clawback is set by reference to Adjusted Net Income, not Adjusted (Optional Net) Income.

All but incredible.

Inner Peace...

Lambs

robbob
Posts:3228
Joined:Wed Aug 06, 2008 4:01 pm

Re: Child Benefit charge

Postby robbob » Wed Nov 08, 2017 4:29 pm

Ok i have heard back from direct gov and they are aware of the issue so hopefully this won't be giving nonsensical answers for too long - it is a shame they can't shut it off though in the meantime.


per direct gov
It's a problem we're aware of and working to fix. It may take a little while to resolve the problem but please be assured we'll get it sorted out as soon as we can.

Lambs
Posts:1611
Joined:Wed Aug 06, 2008 3:15 pm

Re: Child Benefit charge

Postby Lambs » Thu Nov 09, 2017 8:35 am

They must like you. They usually just deny everything when I contact them. Like with the SA returns this year. "Our software team says there are no issues with the tax calculator for 2016/17 and it is working as expected".

A couple of dozen "Exclusions" later...


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