YF AccountingLast updated: 4 September 2026
7 min read
If your adjusted net income tops £60,000 in 2026/27 and you or your partner claim Child Benefit, HMRC claws back 1% of it for every £200 you are over, until at £80,000 the whole lot is repayable. That clawback is the High Income Child Benefit Charge, and with Child Benefit worth £2,337.40 a year for a family with two children, it is not small change.
The charge tends to arrive uninvited. A pay rise, a bonus or a strong year in the business nudges your income over the line, and a benefit that has quietly landed in the bank each month suddenly comes with a tax bill attached. It is also easy to get wrong, because it is based on your individual income, uses a definition of income most people have never heard of, and until recently could only be paid by filing a tax return. Here is how it works for 2026/27, what it costs, and the legitimate ways to shrink it.
What Child Benefit pays in 2026/27
Child Benefit for 2026/27 is £27.05 a week for your eldest or only child and £17.90 a week for each additional child. Over a full year that adds up faster than most people expect.
| Who it covers | Weekly rate | Over a full year |
|---|---|---|
| Eldest or only child | £27.05 | £1,406.60 |
| Each additional child | £17.90 | £930.80 |
| Family with two children | £2,337.40 | |
| Family with three children | £3,268.20 |
The charge is always a percentage of the Child Benefit actually received in the tax year, so those annual figures are the starting point for every calculation below.
How the charge is worked out
The test is your adjusted net income for the tax year. At £60,000 or below there is no charge. Between £60,000 and £80,000 you repay 1% of your Child Benefit for every £200 of income above £60,000. At £80,000 or above you repay all of it.
It is the higher earner who pays, regardless of who actually receives the money and regardless of whose child it is. For this purpose your partner is anyone you are married to, in a civil partnership with, or living with as a couple. The rule looks at individual income, not household income. Two parents each earning £59,000 keep every penny, while a single earner household on £81,000 repays the lot, and plenty of families find that out the hard way.
What counts as income
Adjusted net income is broader than your salary. It is your total taxable income, less a couple of specific deductions. It includes:
- salary and bonuses, plus taxable benefits such as a company car or private medical cover
- profits from self employment
- rental profits
- interest on savings
- dividends
You then deduct the grossed up value of personal pension contributions and Gift Aid donations. Those two deductions matter a great deal, because they are the main levers for reducing the charge, and we will come back to them. For a refresher on how the wider bands fit together, see our guide to UK personal tax rates for 2026/27.
What the charge costs
Here is the charge in practice for a family with two children receiving £2,337.40 of Child Benefit in 2026/27, rounded to the nearest pound.
| Adjusted net income | Percentage repaid | Charge |
|---|---|---|
| £60,000 or below | 0% | £0 |
| £64,000 | 20% | £467 |
| £68,000 | 40% | £935 |
| £70,000 | 50% | £1,169 |
| £75,000 | 75% | £1,753 |
| £80,000 and above | 100% | £2,337 |
Between £60,000 and £80,000 the charge behaves like extra income tax. With two children it adds nearly 12p to every pound earned in that band, which on top of 40% income tax and 2% National Insurance takes you to around 54p in the pound. With three children it is just over 58p. If a bonus or dividend is about to land you in that band, plan before the tax year ends rather than after.
Two ways to pay it
Since the 2025/26 tax year you can pay the charge through PAYE instead of filing a tax return. You register once through HMRC’s online service, your tax code is adjusted, and the charge is collected from your salary automatically. You can use this route if you have no other reason to complete a tax return and you register on or before 31 January following the end of the tax year.
Everyone else pays through Self Assessment. That includes anyone who is self employed, a landlord, or already filing for another reason, and anyone who leaves it beyond that 31 January point. If you have never filed before, you need to register for Self Assessment by 5 October following the tax year you owe for.
Put real dates on that for the year just ended. If you owe the charge for 2025/26, the PAYE route is open until 31 January 2027. If you need a return instead, register by 5 October 2026. Miss both and penalties start to stack up.
Keep claiming, opt out, or never claim?
If your income sits between £60,000 and £80,000, taking the payments and paying the charge usually still leaves you ahead, because you only repay a percentage of what you received.
Above £80,000 many families opt out of the payments instead. You stay registered for Child Benefit but nothing is paid, so there is no charge. Crucially you keep the other benefits of the claim: National Insurance credits that protect the State Pension of a parent who is not working or earning below the NI threshold, and an automatic National Insurance number for your child before they turn 16.
What you should not do is skip claiming altogether. Fill in the claim form even if you opt out of payments on the same day. And if your income later falls, perhaps through parental leave, a career break or a lean year in business, you can restart the payments.
How to shrink the charge legally
Because pension contributions reduce adjusted net income, they are the most powerful lever. Take someone on £70,000 with two children. A £10,000 gross personal pension contribution, which costs £8,000 after basic rate relief, brings adjusted net income down to £60,000. The charge of about £1,169 disappears entirely, and the contribution attracts higher rate tax relief on top. You save tax twice and keep the Child Benefit.
- Salary sacrifice arrangements for pensions, electric cars or cycle to work schemes reduce your taxable pay before it is ever counted.
- Gift Aid donations reduce adjusted net income by the grossed up value of the gift.
- Company directors can time dividends so income does not spike into the £60,000 to £80,000 band in a single year. Our guide to salary and dividends in 2026/27 covers the moving parts.
Directors have one more option: employer pension contributions paid straight from the company, which we covered in our post on limited company pension contributions.
Rental profits are one of the most common reasons landlords drift into the charge without noticing. Our landlord accountant service keeps an eye on the threshold for you.
Frequently asked questions
My partner claims the Child Benefit but I earn more. Who pays the charge?
You do. The charge always falls on the partner with the higher adjusted net income, even if the other partner receives the money and even if the child is not your own. A partner here means someone you are married to, in a civil partnership with, or living with as a couple.
Is it worth claiming Child Benefit at all if I earn over £80,000?
Yes, claim it and opt out of the payments. The claim protects National Insurance credits towards the State Pension for a parent who is not working, and your child gets a National Insurance number automatically before their 16th birthday. Because no money is paid, there is no charge to pay and nothing extra to file.
I owe the charge for 2025/26. What do I do and by when?
If nothing else requires a tax return, register for HMRC’s PAYE service on or before 31 January 2027 and the charge for 2025/26 will be collected through your tax code. If you do need a return, for example because you are self employed or a landlord, register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026 and include the charge on your 2025/26 return. Leaving it past those dates risks penalties on top of the tax.
Do pension contributions really wipe the charge out?
They can. Personal pension contributions and Gift Aid reduce your adjusted net income, so a contribution that brings you back to £60,000 removes the charge completely. Someone on £70,000 with two children saves about £1,169 of charge with a £10,000 gross contribution, and collects higher rate tax relief on the same money.
Can YF Accounting handle all of this for me?
Yes. We calculate your adjusted net income, tell you whether the PAYE route or a tax return fits your situation, file whatever is needed and plan pension and Gift Aid timing so the charge stays as small as legally possible, all on a fixed monthly fee. Our Self Assessment guide is a good place to start, or just get in touch.
The High Income Child Benefit Charge punishes the unaware and rewards anyone who plans a few months ahead. If your income has crossed £60,000 this year, or a bonus is about to push you over, run the numbers now rather than waiting for a letter from HMRC. We do this for clients every week, and a quick conversation in August is worth far more than a panicked one in January.
Founder of YF Accounting, a fixed-fee, fully digital accountancy practice in Manchester serving SMEs, sole traders and landlords across the UK. One point of contact, unlimited support, no surprise bills.
Related reading
Your First Tax Return: Exactly What Your Accountant Needs From You (2025/26)
Register for Self Assessment by 5 October 2026: Last Call for 2025/26
Accountant for Contractors and Freelancers: What You Actually Need in 2026/27This article is part of our Self Assessment guide. See the full topic for related reads.