From 7 January 2013, any taxpayer with income above £50,000 who receives child benefit, or whose partner receives child benefit, will be liable to a new High Income Child Benefit (HICB) charge.

For those responsible for a child under 16 (or 20 if the child is in approved education or training), child benefit is currently payable at a rate of £20.30 per week for the eldest child, plus £13.40 for each additional child.

Generally payable every four weeks, the benefit is worth £1,752 a year for a couple with two children, and is received tax free. Following a freeze to child benefit announced in the June 2010 ‘emergency’ Budget, the government is seeking to withdraw the benefit from the UK’s higher earners.

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