Lovely to get advice from the 'golden oldies' above - but keeping up your NI is also useful in the short term. I'm a self employed artist and could probably get low income dispensation as some years are very lean, but as I had kept up with my NI class 2 contributions, I got maternity allowance when I had my second child - which was a godsend and pretty much the same value as I'd got on statutory maternity leave after my first child (although I'd had a nice part time job that should have given me a nice maternity package, I got made redundant when pregnant so couldn't get the company's package)

MagnificentSeven, I am a golden oldie too and I absolutely agree with you. All women should understand and stay on top of their national insurance situation. I became self employed in my late 20s but my accountant stressed the importance of paying full voluntary Class 2 NI contributions. As a result I will get a full state pension where plenty of my self employed contemporaries didn't bother and are now finding they won't. Also regarding Child Benefit I agree with all who advised to continue paying it and then declare it on your tax return and let HMRC deduct it or not as appropriate. This means that if the breadwinner in the family is made redundant or becomes self employed and not earning for a bit, you won't ever have to worry about re-claiming - and your NI record is complete.

Anyone earning £200,000 who goes about saying they are getting Child Benefit without mentioning that they declare it on their tax return is probably pushing their luck - and it makes you question their judgement

I'd also add it is always sensible to go to the 'horse's mouth' to get advice on tax and benefits, ie the Direct.gov website so here, for the record, are links to overviews of NI and Child Benefit

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/overview

https://www.gov.uk/child-benefit/overview

I am a golden oldie and, having read this link please please take my advice and make sure you keep your NI contributions up-to-date. If you don't you will need to pay later out of taxed income. We were advised by a well-known accounting firm on the 80's when we ran out own small companies not to take high salaries as one paid more NI. So we took salaries that were under the NI threshold and the rest in dividends. Guess what. When Equitable Life went belly flop we needed those state pensions and had to pay out our hard-earned cash to get the required number of years payments in. So my advice - ALWAYS pay the NI - it may not seem much money as a weekly amount now when you are all earning loads, but later on knowing that money is always coming in is a godsend. I had spinster an aunt who never worked but always paid her NI. She thoroughly enjoyed giving it away to her nieces, nephews and charities when she didn't need it. Her father had told her always to pay her NI as soon as it started in the 1940's, so she did!

Yes, thank you, that's why I need my accountant's help too!

Just to add:
The rules are based on income, not salary. So if you are a typical employee then your salary can be nearly £60k but after pension contributions, childcare vouchers, and possibly cycle to work your income can be £50k so still able to keep all (or most) of the child benefit.

However if you have a buy to let place then that counts as income so is included.

Thank you so much everybody for your kind help.

Yes. apologies, as papinian very gallantly didn't point out I got the combined salary part wrong. What matters is whether either of you earn over £50k. I do think the CAB page is quite a good explanation generally.

All the best with sorting it out.

Thank you Papinian. Well my salary is more than £50k though I am a Ltd co so I wonder what my accountant sees it at at the end of the year (once expenses are taken off etc). My husband's salary is not and therein is the answer. I'm still not sure if there is benefit in me claiming just to give it back though???? I will need to re-read all of this tonight when I am home.

Gemima: Everything lemonzest says is correct.

A couple of further points:

- Household income is not relevant to child benefit. What is relevant is whether one parent has an income in excess of £50,000. Between £50,000 and £60,000 the amount of child benefit reduces until at £60,000 there is no child benefit.

In the case of a couple where one parent earns £60,000 and the other parent earns £30,000 they get ZERO child benefit. In the case of couple where each parent earns £45,000 they get full child benefit. This illustrates why the child benefit changes introduced by the Conservatives are stupid and unfair.

As you will note, it is certainly possible that if your boss earns thousands more than you but still under £50,000 that your possible gets child benefit and you don't!

- As lemonzest notes, the rules re child benefit give the alternatives of not claiming it or claiming it and then paying it back as part of tax return. The advantage to claiming it and paying it back as part of tax return is that you don't have to do the tax return until the January after the April in which the relevant tax year ends - therefore you get the money for 9-21 months before you have to pay it back.

- As lemonzest noted, it is really really important that you either claim the child benefit or that you notify HMRC that you are not claiming the child benefit. This preserves your state pension entitlement.

Personally, I think it is better to claim it and then pay it back in your tax return.

If you don't claim child benefit, I believe you can send your children's short birth certificates in to receive NI credit. Thats what I was told by the registrar that registered my childs birth. Not that I've done it yet

Thank you. What a convoluted way to make sure you get your deserved pension! I went back to work after 1 year so perhaps it's not worth me claiming....

Thanks so much lemonzest. Such a minefield. I will have to study this carefully and perhaps speak to my accountant. I appreciate your help very much.

Like you and your friends, we are way over the threshold. I still get child benefit (i had to send back a form to HMRC a few months back) but every year my husband declares it on his tax return and we pay back 100% of it.
The reason i am claiming is for my NI contribution. You need 35 years for a state pension so i am still building up while being a SAHM. You just need to be 100% honest otherwise it could hit you if they realise ypur fraudulently claiming.

Sorry, Maths is not my strong point. The webpage describes an example...

"Anna and Bill are a couple with two children aged 14 and 16. Bill earns £54,000 a year. They get £1,752.40 Child Benefit a year. (£20.30 for the eldest child plus £13.40 for the second child = £33.70 x 52 = £1,752.40)

As Bill earns £4,000 over the £50,000 threshold, his extra tax will be equivalent to 40% of the total Child Benefit they get. (£54,000- £50,000 = 4,000 divided by 100 = 40%).

This means that while they will continue to get Child Benefit of £1,752, Bill will have to pay extra tax of £700 for that tax year. This is 40% of £1,752."

As far as I understand it, they may be claiming it, but paying more tax on the portion of their combined salaries over £50k?

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/tax/h ... gh-income/

I think it's still a good idea to claim, whatever the circumstances, as it still helps you to build up NI credits if you're not in work (as you're presumed caring for children).