UK HICBC clawback math.
Charge to pay
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Net Child Benefit after clawback
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Your breakdown
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A tax on Child Benefit that creeps in from £60,000
The High Income Child Benefit Charge is HMRC's way of clawing back Child Benefit from higher earners without formally means-testing it. The charge bites once the higher earner in the household has adjusted net income above £60,000. From there it scales up smoothly: for every £200 of income over the threshold, 1 percent of the Child Benefit you received is added back as tax. By £80,000 the charge equals the full amount, so the benefit is entirely cancelled out. The thresholds doubled from £50,000 to £60,000 in April 2024, and the taper was halved in speed, so older guidance you find online is now wrong. This calculator uses the current £60,000 to £80,000 band.
Working out the charge at £70,000
Take the defaults: adjusted net income of £70,000 and £2,212 of annual Child Benefit, the figure for two children. You are £10,000 over the £60,000 floor. Divide that by £200 and you get 50, so the charge is 50 percent of the benefit. That is £1,106, leaving you with £1,106 of Child Benefit you effectively keep. Sitting exactly halfway up the £60,000 to £80,000 band gives you exactly half the benefit back as a charge, which is a useful sense check.
The lever that actually moves the charge
The phrase that does the heavy lifting is adjusted net income, not salary. It is your total taxable income after deducting gross pension contributions and Gift Aid donations. That is the lever. A £5,000 personal pension contribution, or a salary sacrifice arrangement, reduces your adjusted net income pound for pound, and at the margin within this band the relief is unusually rich. Cutting income from £70,000 to £60,000 not only saves the £1,106 charge but also shelters the contribution from higher-rate tax, so the effective return on each pound diverted is steep. Scotland uses the same £60,000 to £80,000 charge thresholds because the charge is a UK-wide measure, even though Scottish income tax bands differ.
Who pays, and a costly mistake to avoid
This tool is for any household where one partner earns above £60,000 and Child Benefit is being claimed. The charge falls on the higher earner, even if it was the other partner who actually received the benefit into their account. The expensive mistake people make is opting out of receiving Child Benefit entirely to dodge the charge. If you do that without filling in the claim form, the non-earning parent can miss out on National Insurance credits that count towards their State Pension, and the child may not be issued a National Insurance number automatically. The better move is usually to register the claim but tick the box to receive zero payments, which keeps the credits while avoiding the charge. From 2025 HMRC has also been letting some employed parents pay the charge through their tax code rather than filing a full Self Assessment return.
Whose income counts if both partners earn well?
Only the higher earner's adjusted net income is tested, and the charge is assessed on that one person. If both partners are over £60,000, it is still only the higher of the two who pays. Two earners each on £55,000 escape the charge completely, even though the household total is well above the threshold, which is a long-criticised quirk of the design.
What counts as adjusted net income for this charge?
Start with your taxable income from all sources, then subtract grossed-up personal pension contributions and Gift Aid donations. Benefits in kind such as a company car and medical cover are included, which is why a payrise plus a richer benefits package can tip you over £60,000 faster than the headline salary suggests.