The High Income Child Benefit Charge
Above £60,000 of adjusted net income, part of the Child Benefit is paid back through a tax charge, and above £80,000 all of it is. This page works out the charge for one income, on 2026/27 rates, and what a pension contribution does to it.
Your figures
It opens on an example: £68,000 of income, £3,000 of gross pension contributions and two children. Change any of them. Your figures stay in this browser. The sums run on this page; nothing you type is sent to us or kept.
On these figures
On these figures, adjusted net income is £65,000 and the charge is £584 a year: 25% of £2,337 of Child Benefit, leaving £1,753.
- Child Benefit £2,337 2 children: £44.95 a week, for 52 weeks.
- The charge £584 25% of the Child Benefit, on adjusted net income of £65,000.
- Kept £1,753 The Child Benefit less the charge.
- What the pension contribution changes £351 Less charge with the pension contribution: it lowers adjusted net income from £68,000 to £65,000, and the charge from £935 to £584.
From £60,000 the charge is 1% of the Child Benefit for every £200 of adjusted net income over £60,000, so by £80,000 it equals the Child Benefit. On these figures, a further £5,000 of gross pension contributions or Gift Aid would bring adjusted net income down to £60,000.
A year, on 2026/27 rates.
Figures follow the law as it stands. Announced and draft changes are not included.
How it is worked out
- Child Benefit is £27.05 a week for the eldest child and £17.90 for each other child in the 2026 to 2027 tax year, counted here for 52 weeks.
- The charge is 1% of the Child Benefit for every £200 of adjusted net income over £60,000, rounded down to a whole percentage, so by £80,000 it equals the Child Benefit.
- Adjusted net income is taxable income less gross pension contributions and Gift Aid. Salary sacrifice lowers the pay itself.
What it leaves out
- A partner’s income. When both partners are over the start of the band, the one with the higher adjusted net income pays the charge.
- Child Benefit for part of a year.
- Trading losses and other reliefs that also lower adjusted net income.
- The Income Tax a pension contribution saves as well. The ISA or pension calculator shows that.
More on the assumptions behind the app’s own projection: how the retirement figures are worked out.
Questions
Who pays the charge?
The person whose adjusted net income is over £60,000. If both partners are over it, the one with the higher adjusted net income pays it.
Source: GOV.UK
What is adjusted net income?
Total taxable income, including savings interest and dividends, before the Personal Allowance and less certain reliefs, such as gross pension contributions and Gift Aid.
Source: GOV.UK
What happens if the payments are turned off?
Child Benefit can be claimed with the payments turned off, and then there is no charge. The claim still gives National Insurance credits that count towards the State Pension, and gets the child a National Insurance number without a separate application.
Source: GOV.UK
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Oxygene Finance provides information, not financial advice. Figures are estimates based on what you enter and on assumptions you can change. For decisions that matter, a regulated financial adviser or an accountant can look at your whole situation.