Child benefit- what type of pension is deductable

Hello I am an NHS worker (and highest earner in the family ) and my gross salary is £54,000 . I understand I therefore fit into the higher income child benefit charge, However my NHS pension contribution is approx £6364 every year which is deducted from my earnings as part of NHS pension scheme which is 11.6% of my salary amount. Is it valid to deduct this pension contribution when applying for child benefit? Thank you.

Hi,
If the pension contribution is taken from your net pay then yes this can be deducted for the adjusted net income.
If the pension contributions are taken from your salary before the tax is calculated then in this case you would not be able to deduct as relief already given at source. 
Thank you.

Thank you. Can I also ask when applying for child benefit what year you base your salary on. For example I plan to apply from June 2024 but do I base my salary on what it will be from when I start the child benefit or the year before ? Thanks

Hi,

Your income will be based on the tax year that you receive the child benefit in.

Thank you.

Not sure if right page but have a question about redundancy pay and child benefit. If my redundancy pay is gross £80k but my normal salary is £40k would this impact my child benefit? Or is it not classed as a salary

Hi i need some help i claim child benefit for my one child my basic is 30k for the year but i do plenty off overtime which could take me to 45k 50k but looking at my payslips i am looking i might be going over the threshold approximately 52k for the year , now my question is with me paying into PENSION ER about £3400 will i have to pay the charge .

Hi 1556849

Up to £30k of redundancy pay is tax-free. Any amount over this is classed as taxable income, and added to your Adjusted Net Income when calculating Child Benefit.
If your taxable income is over £60K in 23/24, you would be due to repay the full amount of Child Benefit received.
Other factors may affect your individual calculation, though - for more advice, contact our Child Benefit department on Child Benefit: general enquiries

Thank you
 

Hi Faiz123 Rehman,

If your pension contributions are deducted from your gross pay before tax is calculated, then relief has already been given and would not be deducted again for adjusted net income. If the pension contributions are from your net wage then you would deduct them to calculate your adjusted net income. 

Thank you.

 

Hello Admin If my employment income plus income from property rental and dividend income all add up to 65K in 2023/4 tax year but I also contribute 3K to a workplace pension from my NET salary ( after tax has been paid) and also make further voluntary pension contribution to a SIPP ( again from net pay) of 22K , therefore making my total pension contribution (deducted from Net pay) of 25K, would I be entitled to keeping the full child benefit without being subject to the child benefit higher income charge? Thank you

Hi n sal,
If with your pension contributions it takes your income below the £50K threshold then you would not have a higher income child benefit charge. Details on adjusted net income here:
Personal Allowances: adjusted net income
Thank you. 

Hi With regards to deductibles for Child Benefit calculation, can I use the SIPP contribution that I make to my partner's SIPP account and my children's Junior SIPP accounts? I understand I can claim my own SIPP as deductible, but what about my contribution to my family's SIPPS? (I'm the only person working in the house). Furthermore, what about Junior ISA contributions? Can I claim Junior ISA as a deductible as well when calculating the child benefit, as I can't access that money myself. Thanks

Hi,
Only payments to your own SIPP would affect the adjusted net income that is used for the Child Benefit calculation.
Thank you.

Hi I pay into my pension via voluntary contribution at the end of the tax year which brings my net income to under £100k. I want to claim child benefit before the end of the tax year as she has been recently born but my PAYE salary so far this year is over £100k until I can contribute to my pension to bring it under the threshold. How do I show this? Do I use the previous year? My claim on just my NI number will refuse the claim as the earnings are currently over.

Hi tbis7861,
For advice on this, contact our Child Benefit team via: 
Child Benefit: general enquiries.
Thank you.

Are you perhaps confusing Child Benefit with Tax Free Childcare? Child Benefit can be claimed regardless of your income level. However, if the income of the highest earning partner exceeds £60K, some or all of the benefit is subject to the High Income Child Benefit Charge depending on income.

Hello, I have read the above and still want to clarify one thing re pension contributions for the purposes of calculating my adjusted net income re child benefit higher income tax charge. My employer tells me my pensions contributions are from my gross pay (NHS pension scheme). The above states “ Payments to pension schemes that have been made without deduction of tax (a gross payment)” are allowable deductions. Which I can deduct from my gross pay to calculate my adjusted net pay. The high income charge calculator https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-calculator lists “ pension contributions deducted from your pay (do not include contributions deducted before tax)” as an allowable deduction. These two statements seem to contradict each other. Can you clarify please? And also do I use my p60s for the gross employment income? Thank you

Hi,
Pension payments made via Salary Sacrifice - that are deducted from your salary before your gross wage is declared - cannot be deducted from your Adjusted Net Income, as this deduction has effectively already been applied.
Pension payments that are made after this can be deducted - remember to deduct the grossed-up amount.
Your P60 should show your gross employment income. If you are unsure what pension payments are being deducted from your wage, please contact your employer.
If you would like further assistance, contact us by webchat or phone via:
Income Tax: general enquiries
Thank you.

Not HMRC...ISBN, you are in the normal NHS pension scheme, your pension contributons are taken before tax is calculated (from gross pay) they are not gross contributions, tax relief is given at source, you cannot deduct any amount for these contributions, your relevant income from the NHS is the P.60 figure which already takes this in to account (like all pensions schemes whereby releif is given at source i.e. it is NOT a taken from net pay scheme)