Neil MacGillivray: The angst of the High Income Child Benefit Charge

Lack of understanding

clock • 4 min read

In his latest column Neil MacGillivray assesses the complications of the Child Benefit to help advisers avoid their own version of teenage angst

One thing I never had to contend with in reality was the High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) - fortunately my daughter ceased to qualify for Child Benefit just before the charge came into force in January 2013. HICBC applies where an individual or their partner receives child benefit, and either of them has income of more than £50,000. For every £100 income above the £50,000 limit 1% of the sum of all the child benefit paid is taken as a tax charge. When a person's income is £60,000 or more then the tax charge equates to the full value of child benefit received so removing any finan...

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