Income Tax (Earnings and Pensions) Act 2003 section 681D

Extension of charge in cases where child not living with claimant

Section 681D extends the High Income Child Benefit Charge to cover situations where the child does not live with the person claiming child benefit, but instead lives with another individual who has high income and benefits directly or indirectly from the child benefit payments.

• Where a person claims child benefit on the basis of contributing to a child's upkeep (rather than living with the child), and neither they nor their partner are liable to the High Income Child Benefit Charge, the charge can be extended to the person the child actually lives with
• The person the child lives with is treated as if they had claimed the child benefit themselves, meaning the charge applies if they or their partner have adjusted net income above £50,000
• If more than one person qualifies as having the child living with them in a given week, only the person with the highest adjusted net income for the tax year is subject to the charge
• A temporary absence exemption applies: if the claimant normally lives with the child but stops doing so for a period of no more than 52 weeks before resuming, the extension of the charge to the other person is disregarded