Higher earners · tax year 2026-27
The expensive mistake is not the tax charge. It is not claiming at all.
Once one adult’s adjusted net income passes £60,000, Child Benefit starts to come back as a tax charge. At £80,000 the charge equals the benefit. At £100,000 a different pair of schemes — Tax-Free Childcare and the working-parent hours — simply stop. Those are three thresholds, three forms, and one piece of advice that does not change: still make the Child Benefit claim.
Open the calculator as a higher earnerCheck a second-hand item
This page is for you if
- Parents with one salary already over £60,000, or heading there this tax year
- Households where combined pay is high but neither adult is over £100,000
- People who opted out of Child Benefit years ago and never registered the claim
- Parents considering pension contributions or salary sacrifice to stay under a cap
Use a different page if
- Your question is Universal Credit, Healthy Start or a Sure Start Maternity Grant — those are aimed at lower incomes; use the single-parent or student pages
- You are under the £60,000 line and want a general overview — start at the calculator
Three lines on one payslip: £60k, £80k, £100k
From tax year 2024-25 the High Income Child Benefit Charge starts above £60,000 of adjusted net income. You pay back 1% of the Child Benefit for every £200 over that line. At £80,000 the charge is 100%. GOV.UK’s own example: income of £67,600 is £7,600 over the threshold, which is 38% of the benefit to repay.
Tax-Free Childcare and Free Childcare for Working Parents use a different line. If you or your partner expect adjusted net income over £100,000 for the current tax year, you are not eligible — there is no taper. Crossing £100,000 by £1 can remove the government top-up of up to £500 per child every 3 months, and the funded 30 hours.
HICBC looks at the higher earner in the couple. The £100,000 childcare cap also looks at each adult separately: either person over the line knocks out the household. Two salaries of £90,000 do not create HICBC and do not fail the childcare cap. One salary of £101,000 fails the childcare schemes even if the other adult earns nothing.
Start with these, in this order
child benefit
Child Benefit — claim, then decide about payments
The claim is how your child gets a National Insurance number and how a lower-earning parent keeps State Pension credits.
Do this. Register the claim. Then choose: take the payments and pay HICBC, or opt out of payments and keep the claim. Opting out of payments is not the same as never claiming.
Watch out. If you never claim, you can lose National Insurance credits while the child is under 12 and the child will have to apply for a number later. Our 2026-27 file has the eldest-child rate at £27.05 a week and other children at £17.90 — confirm on GOV.UK.
Official page on GOV.UKhicbc strategy
Paying the High Income Child Benefit Charge
This is a tax charge, not a reason to ignore the benefit.
Do this. The higher earner pays. Pay through PAYE or Self Assessment. If you already file a tax return for another reason — self-employment, say — you pay it on the return. After 31 January following the tax year, Self Assessment is the only route.
Watch out. Adjusted net income includes salary, savings interest and dividends, minus certain reliefs such as pension contributions and Gift Aid. A bonus can create a one-year charge. Do not use last year’s P60 as if this year were identical.
Official page on GOV.UKtax free childcare
Tax-Free Childcare under the £100,000 cliff
If neither of you is over the line, this is still up to £2,000 a year per child of government top-up — more if the child is disabled.
Do this. £8 of yours, £2 of government’s, £500 per child per quarter (£1,000 if disabled). Reconfirm every 3 months. A forecast that you will cross £100,000 later in the year can end eligibility now.
Watch out. There is no taper. Salary-sacrifice ideas that ‘get you under £100k’ need a real adjusted-net-income calculation, not a headline salary. We do not recommend a specific sacrifice — that would be advice.
Official page on GOV.UKfree childcare hours
Funded hours — same £100,000 stop, different loss
Losing 30 hours a week for 38 weeks is usually larger than losing the Tax-Free Childcare top-up. Both stop on the same income cap.
Do this. If you are safely under £100,000, apply for the code in time for the child’s term. If you are close to the line, treat a promotion, RSU vest or bonus as a childcare event, not only a tax event.
Watch out. The universal 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds in England is a different scheme and is not means-tested in the same way. Crossing £100,000 does not remove every funded hour in the country — check what remains for your child’s age and nation.
Official page on GOV.UK
Adjusted net income is not the number on your offer letter
Offer letters are gross. HICBC and the childcare cap use adjusted net income: taxable income after certain reliefs, before the personal allowance. Pension contributions and Gift Aid can bring a figure down; savings interest and dividends can push it up. A partner’s income is ignored for HICBC unless it is the higher of the two, and it is fatal for the childcare schemes if it is over £100,000. Enter each adult separately. Do not type a combined household total into a box that asks for one person.
Mistakes we see on this path
- Never claiming Child Benefit because ‘we would only pay it back’ — and losing the credits and the child’s NI number.
- Adding both salaries together and deciding you are over £100,000 when neither of you is.
- Treating HICBC’s taper (£60k–£80k) as if Tax-Free Childcare also tapered. It does not.
- Waiting until January to think about a bonus that already pushed you over a cap in July.
What to do next
1 If you have not claimed Child Benefit, claim it this week
You can still opt out of payments. What you cannot rewind easily is a missing claim and missing credits.
Read the official rule2 Put this year’s bonus, vest or promotion on a one-page forecast
Mark £60,000, £80,000 and £100,000. HICBC is a sliding charge. The childcare schemes are a cliff. The calculator will not treat them as the same event.
Open this step3 If you are already over £100,000, check what is left
Child Benefit (with or without HICBC) still exists. The England 15 hours for 3- and 4-year-olds may still exist. Tax-Free Childcare and the working-parent 30 hours will not, while that income lasts.
Read the official rule
Questions for this situation
Should I stop claiming Child Benefit if I earn over £80,000?
You can opt out of the payments so there is no charge to pay. You should still have a claim in place for National Insurance credits and the child’s National Insurance number. Stopping the claim entirely is the step people regret.
We earn £90,000 and £90,000. Have we lost the 30 hours?
No. The £100,000 test is per parent, so neither of you has crossed it — Tax-Free Childcare and the working-parent hours can still apply. HICBC is a different test: it looks at the higher individual income. At £90,000 that person is over £80,000, so the charge equals the Child Benefit. You can keep the hours and still owe the tax charge. That is why the three thresholds have to be read separately.
Can pension contributions get me back under £100,000?
Pension contributions can reduce adjusted net income. Whether that is worth doing depends on your scheme, your tax position and whether the drop is real for the whole tax year. That is personal tax planning. We will not tell you to sacrifice salary. Read the GOV.UK definition, then speak to a qualified adviser if the number is close.
Does HICBC use household income?
No. It uses the adjusted net income of the partner with the higher income. A £55,000 / £55,000 couple does not pay it. A £81,000 / £15,000 couple does, in full.