The news is full of details of the number of families which receive child benefit but fall within the higher earning bracket and have still not registered for self-assessment. If this is you, you need to act now.
Changes came into force in January this year which dictated that households with someone earning more than £50,000 will lose a proportion of the benefit and households where the highest earner has a salary of £60,000 will lose the benefit entirely. Charges for the benefit can be paid in a lump sum or through your tax code.
The deadline to register for self-assessment was 5 October but the HMRC has recommended that even if you have missed the deadline you should still register for self-assessment as soon as possible to minimise any penalties. Fines for failing to register will be assessed on a case by case basis.
At this stage it will be difficult to meet the deadline for paper tax returns on October 31 and therefore parents should prepare to file a tax return ahead of the January 31 deadline for online returns.
