Is it worth claiming Child Benefit if I earn over £60,000?

There's more to Child Benefit than the monthly payment

There's more on how it works and how to claim it in our main Child Benefit guide.

If you have an income of £60,200 or more a year (or your partner, if you live together, has an income of £60,200 or more), you'll end up with less as you'll have to pay some of the benefit back.

Once your annual income hits or exceeds £80,000 (or the income of your partner, if you live together, hits or exceeds £80,000), you'll have to pay back the full amount – or simply opt out of the payment.

Here's what you need to know...

1. Registering for Child Benefit gets you extra er... benefits - so EVERYONE should do it, regardless of what you earn

   Even if you (or/and your partner) are a high earner and don't qualify to keep the full amount of Child Benefit, it's still worth considering applying as you get extra benefits:

   • You'll get National Insurance (NI) credits for claiming Child Benefit until your child turns 12. These count towards your State Pension. Most need at least 35 years' worth of NI credits to receive the full State Pension, so this is especially important if one of you is a non-earner or makes less than £125 a week (which is how much you need to earn to qualify for automatic NI credits).
     
     HMRC reckons 200,000 parents are losing out on credits because the partner with a higher income is registered for Child Benefit, and they haven't applied to transfer the credits over.
     

     Important: There's only one National Insurance credit available with each Child Benefit claim (even if you have more than one child), so if there are multiple people responsible for a child, it's worth ensuring the right person is transferred the credits.

   • You can also transfer these NI credits to another relative (such as a grandparent) if they contribute to the care of your child.

   • Your child will be registered to receive a NI number shortly before they turn 16 without you having to apply.

   If one of you does earn £80,000 or more, you can claim Child Benefit (in order to keep your entitlement to NI credits), but opt out of receiving the payment. You can do this by ticking the relevant box on the form when you apply. If you didn't do this when you applied, you can do it later on the HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) app.

2. Earn between £60,000 and £80,000? You'll be better off claiming... but there's admin

   

   If you (or your partner, if you live with one) earn more than £60,000 a year, HMRC will pay you the full amount of Child Benefit, but for every £200 you earn over £60,000 (so from £60,200+) you'll have to pay some of it back by submitting a self-assessed tax return. This is known as the 'High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge'.

   How it works

   The amount of Child Benefit you'll have to pay back is tapered, so the more you earn over £60,000 a year, the more you need to pay back.

   • For every £200 you receive above £60,000, you need to pay back 1% of the maximum amount of Child Benefit you're entitled to.

   • In practice, that means the charge will kick in when one of you earns £60,200 or more. Earning £70,000 a year, for example, means you'll pay back 50%.

   • Once you hit £80,000 a year, the charge you'll pay back is equal to 100% of your entitlement.

   If you're not sure if you're liable to pay the tax charge or you're not sure how much you need to pay, use the Government's Child Benefit Tax Calculator to double check.

   How do I pay the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge?

   If you or your partner, or both of you, receive an annual income of £60,200 or more, the partner with the highest income MUST be the one to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) in one of the following ways:

   • Through a self-assessment tax return: if you usually submit a self-assessment tax return – for example because you’re self-employed or earn £10,000+ a year from savings or investments – then you’ll need to reclaim the High Income Child Benefit Charge as part of your self-assessment.

   • Through PAYE: if you’re paying the charge for the first time, and don’t need to submit a self-assessment tax return for any other reason, you can opt to pay through PAYE using the online form on Gov.uk or the HMRC app using your Government Gateway ID.

   • If the charge is the ONLY reason you have to file tax returns, you can call HMRC on 0300 200 3310 to switch to the PAYE service.
     
     You have until 31 January 2026 to opt in for the latest 2024/25 tax year, which ended on 5 April 2025. You'll only need to do this once – you'll then keep paying the charge through PAYE every year unless your circumstances change (in which case you'll need to contact HMRC).

   How PAYE repayments will work

   Once you opt in, HMRC will change your tax code, which is what dictates to your employer how much tax to take off each month – so you'll automatically pay the charge back from your salary without doing anything.

   Your repayments should start from your next pay period after you opt in, with the charge spread over the remaining months of the tax year (which ends on 5 April).

   This means that if you opt in partway through a tax year, you'll have fewer months to repay the charge, so it will temporarily have a bigger impact on your take-home pay.

   Sally previously filed self-assessment tax returns just to pay the charge – but she doesn’t need to file for any other reason, so she opts in to the PAYE service at the start of October.
   
   Sally has one child. She got £1,331 in Child Benefit in the 2024/25 tax year, and she’ll get a total of £1,354 in the current 2025/26 tax year (because the rates went up slightly).
   
   Her income was £65,000 for 2024/25, rising to £70,000 for 2025/26. As a result, Sally currently has two charges to pay:

   - £332 for 2024/25
   - £677 for 2025/26
   
   After opting in, Sally will pay these as follows:
   
   For the charge relating to the 2024/25 tax year, because this has already ended (on 5 April 2025), she’ll be issued with a P800 tax calculation. This will show the £332 charge as an underpayment of tax. By default, this will be collected automatically from her salary in 12 monthly instalments starting in April 2026 (the 2026/27 tax year) – but she could instead choose to contact HMRC and request to pay the full amount upfront now.
   
   For the charge relating to the current 2025/26 tax year, because this is still ongoing, Sally’s tax code will be adjusted so that she repays the full amount she owes for this tax year (£677) automatically through her salary by 5 April 2026. Depending on how quickly her employer processes her tax code change, this means she’ll repay either £112.83 a month for six months or £135.40 a month for five months.
   
   For the following 2026/27 tax year, if Sally continues getting Child Benefit and her income stays above the threshold, she will have a third charge to pay (for 2026/27). This charge will be spread over the full 12 months between April 2026 and April 2027 and deducted from her salary automatically.
   
   If Sally chose NOT to pay the 2024/25 charge upfront, the £332 she owes for that year will also be spread out and collected between April 2026 and April 2027 – so Sally would effectively be paying two lots of charges during this 12-month period.

   An example to show you how this works in practice

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   There are ways to get around this

   If you don't want the administrative hassle of paying back some of the benefit, but still want to apply for Child Benefit for the non-financial advantages you have two choices:

   • Opt out of the payments, either on the form when you apply, or using the HMRC app.

   • Boost your pension contributions or charity donations to bring your 'adjusted net income' below £60,200. We've more info on this below.

   Unsure if you'll fall foul of the charge? Get in touch with HMRC

   If you've had a change of circumstance, or you're unsure whether you're eligible for Child Benefit or liable for the High Income Benefit Charge, get in touch with HMRC directly on 0300 200 3100.
   
   If you don't know if your partner is receiving Child Benefit, or has a higher adjusted income than you (for example, because you live apart or have separated) you can write to HMRC and ask. It will just tell you "yes" or "no" – you won't get any financial details. You can only do this for a former partner if your relationship ended within a year of the tax year you want information for.

3. Earn £80,000+? It may still be worth claiming...

   If you or your partner have an income of £80,000 or more, it's still worthwhile filling in the Child Benefit form and registering your entitlement – even if you opt out of actually receiving the benefit itself. Registering has a couple of advantages:

   • You'll get National Insurance (NI) credits, which count towards your State Pension. Most need at least 35 years' worth of NI credits to receive the full State Pension, so this is especially important if one of you is a non-earner or makes less than £125 a week (which is how much you need to earn to qualify for automatic NI credits). Once you make the claim, you can backdate it for only three months, so it's best to do this as as soon as possible.

   • Your child will automatically be registered to receive a NI number shortly before they turn 16.

   You can then opt out of the payments, either on the form when you apply, or using the HMRC app.

4. You can minimise the High Income Child Benefit Charge you have to pay...

   If your income is £60,200 or more a year, you might still be able to swerve the charge. That's because it's based on your 'adjusted net income'. This is your total taxable income before any personal allowances and less certain tax reliefs.

   So it includes things such as:

   • Salary

   • Profits if you're self-employed

   • Rental income

   • Some state benefits

   And then you can deduct things such as:

   • Pension contributions (more on this below)

   • Trading losses, for example, trade loss relief or property loss relief

   • Charitable donations under Gift Aid

   So, if you pay any tax-deductible expenses, these might take you below the threshold, or at least reduce how much you may have to pay back.

   One way many minimise the charge is by upping their pension contributions

   Before considering doing this, see if your current pension contributions might already take your adjusted pay below £60,200. For example, if you're on £63,000 a year and contribute 5% of your salary into your pension, you're adjusted net income will be £59,850 and you won't have to pay any Child Benefit back.

   ALL types of pension can help to reduce your adjusted net income, and therefore the amount you'd be liable to pay. This includes self-invested personal pensions, any additional voluntary contributions as well as any other contributions to workplace or personal pensions (and it doesn't matter if you were auto-enrolled or not). It does NOT include Lifetime ISAs.

   How you calculate how much pension contribution to take away depends on whether it's going from your before-tax or after-tax pay:

   • Employer pension scheme:

     If it goes straight from your before-tax ('gross') pay into a pension, for example an employer pension scheme, you can deduct that same gross amount. Usually the figure on your P60 will already reflect the deduction and is the amount to enter in the adjusted net income calculation with no further deduction.

   • Personal pension:

     If it comes out of your after-tax ('net') pay, for example if you have a personal pension, you can deduct more – £100 for every £80 you pay in if you pay tax at 20%, and £133 for every £80 you pay in if you pay tax at 40%.

   Here's an example...
   
   Peter earns £63,000 a year, but 7% of his pre-tax income (£4,410) is used to make pension contributions. To see if Peter needs to pay the tax charge, we need to deduct £4,410 from his actual salary – leaving £58,590. In this case, Peter's pension contributions take him below the threshold, so he won't need to pay the tax charge.

   If Peter wasn't making any pension contributions, he'd have to pay the charge, as his before-tax income would be over the threshold.

   You can find a detailed breakdown of what does and doesn't count towards your adjusted net income on the Gov.uk website.

5. Make sure the right person is claiming

   If you're in a couple and claiming Child Benefit – or you aren't claiming at all because one of you earns £80,000 or more a year – you could be missing out on £1,000s or even £10,000s in future State Pension payments.

   There are many people who don't claim Child Benefit at all because one partner earns over £80,000. But if the other partner isn't working, or there's another relative on a low income who helps with childcare, they could be claiming Child Benefit to get the National Insurance credits.

   Watch: MSE founder Martin Lewis explain how this works on The Martin Lewis Money Show...
   This was filmed in 2023 and Martin references the £60,000 earnings threshold (the point at which you need to pay back Child Benefit payments in full if you're claiming). This threshold has since been raised to £80,000 – as referenced in this guide.

   

   

   Martin Lewis: how a Child Benefit admin tweak could add £1,000s to your state pension entitlement

   From The Martin Lewis Money Show Live on Tuesday 21 November 2023, courtesy of ITV. All rights reserved. Watch the full episode on ITVX.

   Only one parent can claim National Insurance credits via Child Benefit, so if one partner earns over £80,000 and has been claiming, you'll have to transfer the credit to the lower earner. You can do this by filling in the CF411A form.

   HMRC reckons 200,000 parents are losing out on credits because the partner with a higher income is registered for Child Benefit, and they haven't applied to transfer the credits over.

   If you want to transfer the credit to a family member who isn't a parent and your child is under 12 you'll need to fill in form CA9176 (see our Grandparents' childcare credit guide for more info).

   'Thank you for helping my husband top up his State Pension for free. We applied to transfer eight years' worth that I had received by claiming Child Benefit while working. Our claim was successful. We'd thought about paying to top up his contributions but couldn't afford it. It will make a real difference to us.'

   Jamie

   If you have more than one child you don't have to apply for Child Benefit every time as you'll already be getting the credits from one child, but you might still choose to apply for each child anyway, because:

   • They'll get an NI number when they turn 16, without having to do a separate application

   • You'll get National Insurance credits for longer – you can get them until the youngest child you claim for turns 12.

   How does it work if you have more than one child?

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