Dear HM Revenue and Customs,

The Government announced that it would conduct a review of High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) in 2018. Could you firstly confirm this was the IFF study (Report 533; Oct'18). The conclusion of this report was that families had a 'reasonable understanding' of the charge but felt it was 'a penalty' for claiming child benefit, based on a survey of just 45 qualitative interviews.

In 2018 Government data suggests that 545,340 out of 7,325,845 UK families opted out of receiving child benefit (~7.4%) but the charge is still being applied to around 14-16% of families (>8% or nearly 600,000) and this figure has increased.

Could HMRC report:
- Clarify precisely what 'Adjusted Net Income' means? [your website definition still leaves some ambiguity]
- For the 2018 Study, why was such a small survey sample was considered to support the view families understood HICBC, when the following year data showed that over 120,000 families failed to report or paid incorrect HICBC?
- What steps have HMRC/Government taken/continue to take to tackle the perception of 'penalty' when claiming child benefit, given that the UK is not achieving a self-sustaining birth rate?
- If persons are able to adjust their net income, why would HMRC assume that families would be liable for HICBC when they could for example increase contributions to their pension and avoid the need to complete a self assessment?

Yours faithfully,

A J Lewis