HRMC has urged thousands of families to check if they could boost their income by £110 a month from tomorrow (September 26).
The tax authority has urged eligible people to apply for Child Benefit, which provides payments of £25.60 for an only or eldest child and £16.95 each for any other additional children.
This means if you have one child, claiming the support would boost your income by £1331.20 a year, the equivalent of almost £110.95 a month.
HMRC has issued the clarion call now as September 26 is historically the most popular day of the year for births, with almost 2,000 babies born on this day.
Myrtle Lloyd, Director General for Customer Services at HMRC, said: “With more babies set to be born on 26 September than any other day, we hope that parents of these newborns take full advantage of their Child Benefit entitlement.
“We’ve made it simpler than ever to claim online and receive a first payment within as little as three days – so download the app today or search on GOV.UK.”
You can put in a claim using the HMRC app or through the Government website, as soon as 48 hours after the baby’s birth has been registered.
Payments typically arrive within three days of the application going in, so new parents could get their first amount within a week.
Child Benefit claims can also be backdated by up to three months.
To get your claim in, you will need to provide these details:
- Child’s birth or adoption certificate
- Bank details
- National Insurance number for yourself and your partner, if you have one
- Child’s original birth or adoption certificate and passport or travel document, for children born outside the UK.
An important rule to note as regards how much Child Benefit you receive, is that you have to pay back part of your claim, if one person’s income in a claimant household is higher than £60,000.
The amount you pay back, through the High Income Child Benefit Charge, gradually increases as your income goes up above the threshold, and you have to pay the full amount back once your income reaches £80,000.
You can check how much you are entitled to using the Child Benefit tax calculator tool on the Government website.
A key perk of being on the benefit is you get National Insurance (NI) credits, which go towards your state pension.
You typically need 35 years of NI contributions to get the full new state pension, of £221.20 a week, and 10 years of contributions to get any state pension.
