HMRC high income child benefit charge letter — what should I do?

Is this letter or text really from HMRC?

HMRC does write and text about the High Income Child Benefit Charge. The genuine multi-method contact list has an entry titled High Income Child Benefit Charge — check if you need to pay. It says that from 6 July 2026 up to and including 31 December 2026 you may receive a letter or text asking you to check whether the charge applies for 2024 to 2025, 2025 to 2026 or 2026 to 2027.

That same entry says you will not be asked for any personal or financial information. The scam checklist treats a contact as suspicious if it rushes you, threatens you, asks for bank details, tells you to transfer money, or offers a tax rebate. HMRC says it will never leave a voicemail threatening legal action or threaten arrest.

GOV.UK: HMRC QR codes in letters usually open guidance on GOV.UK. Official wording is that you will never be taken to a page where you have to input personal information. Report suspicious texts to 60599 or [email protected].

What is HMRC asking you to check?

The charge is not a new Child Benefit claim. GOV.UK says you or your partner may have to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge if either of you receives Child Benefit and at least one of you has adjusted net income over the threshold. For tax years from 2024 to 2025 that threshold is £60,000. At £80,000 or more the charge equals the Child Benefit for the year. Between those figures the official taper is 1% of Child Benefit for every £200 over £60,000.

Weekly Child Benefit from 6 April 2026 is £27.05 for the eldest or only child and £17.90 for each other child, on the GOV.UK rates page. The letter is asking whether those payments sit next to income over the threshold — not whether you applied for Child Benefit in the first place.

What should I do next, in order?

Which? has published parents who said they had never heard of the charge until a letter arrived. The official route is still the GOV.UK calculator and the PAYE or Self Assessment pages — not a payment link inside a text.

1. 1
   Match the contact to the genuine list Open the GOV.UK genuine-contact page and find the High Income Child Benefit Charge campaign dated 6 July to 31 December 2026. If the wording, dates or ask do not match, stop and use the scam reporting routes.
2. 2
   Do not hand over sign-in details The listed HICBC campaign says HMRC will not ask for personal or financial information. Do not type a Government Gateway password, bank details or a one-time code into a page reached from an unexpected link.
3. 3
   Run the official calculator Use the Child Benefit tax calculator. It estimates Child Benefit for the tax year and any High Income Child Benefit Charge. You need claim start dates and, if you opted out, the date payments stopped.
4. 4
   If a charge may be due, pick a payment route GOV.UK offers PAYE (through your tax code) or Self Assessment. You must use Self Assessment if you already need a tax return for another reason, or if it is later than 31 January in the year after the tax year you need to pay for.
5. 5
   If you already filed 2024–25 The genuine-contact entry says that if you have already submitted your 2024 to 2025 Self Assessment return, the letter or text is there to help you decide whether to amend it before 30 September 2026.

How do I pay if a charge is due?

The Self Assessment page and the PAYE page split the clocks. PAYE is only available if you do not need a return for another reason, you are paying for the current or previous tax year onwards, and it is on or before 31 January after that tax year. GOV.UK’s example: for the 2025 to 2026 tax year, PAYE is available on or before 31 January 2027.

If you do not usually send a return, GOV.UK says tell HMRC by 5 October following the tax year, by registering for Self Assessment. The Self Assessment page also says you may get a penalty if you need to pay through Self Assessment but do not register, or do not declare Child Benefit on the return. Those pages do not set out a single pound figure for that penalty.

If both you and a partner have adjusted net income over the threshold, GOV.UK says the person with the higher income is responsible for the charge. ‘Partner’ includes living together as if married or in a civil partnership.

What if I already sent a 2024 to 2025 tax return?

The genuine-contact listing is explicit: if you have already submitted the 2024 to 2025 return, use the letter or text to decide whether that return needs an amendment before 30 September 2026. That date is on the HMRC contact list, not a MayTally deadline.

If you cannot get figures from a partner or ex-partner, the PAYE and Self Assessment pages say you can write to HMRC and ask whether they get Child Benefit or have a higher income than you. HMRC replies yes or no and does not give their financial information or National Insurance number.

In shortIn short: match the letter or text to the GOV.UK genuine-contact list, refuse any ask for passwords or bank details, then use the official calculator and the PAYE or Self Assessment route. A listed HMRC campaign is a check, not a demand to pay through a link in a message.