A family were slapped with a tax bill of more than £7,000 after a raft of child benefit changes.
Richard and Rebekha Nicholls, from Hull, started claiming child tax benefit in 2012 after having their first child, Enya.
The pair then welcomed two more children - Pippa and Ivy - into the family and continued to claim child benefit.
But soon after Richard started his new job with an increased salary, he received a £7,400 HMRC bill - even though his wages were still under the £50,000-a-year threshold.
He later realised the company car given to him at his new job was counted as an in-kind benefit and was included in his income by HMRC.
Speaking to Hull Live, Richard said: "This all started in October when the tax office said that we should be paying the high income tax benefit charge, and asked us to fill out a self-assessment to figure out how much that we owe them.
"Then at the end of January, we received a letter saying that we owed £2,500.
"But the following day we got another letter saying that this was wrong and it was in fact £7,400 we owed, and we are still yet to get a final bill figure, so it could be much more.
"This is all because I got a higher paying job three years after we started claiming child benefit, and the company car I was given put me over the income threshold because it is counted as an in-kind benefit.
"The thing that gets me is that, why are we only finding out about this now?
"The HMRC know what my wages are and send me a tax code every year, so why could they not tell us sooner that we had to be paying this charge, because then we wouldn't be in the position that we are in now."
The couple say when they contacted HMRC about their bill they were told that "it was not a bank" and that they could not pay off the bill over the course of a number of years, and if it was not paid in 16 months, they would have to go to court.
They say that they were told that they should take out a bank loan or ask a family member to lend them the money to pay it off, but that is something that they are not able to.
HMRC said: “We use a wide array of channels to reach those who may be liable to pay the High Income Child Benefit Charge.
"This includes putting information about the charge in packs made available to new parents which tell them how to claim child benefit. We continue to improve our communications including on social media, GOV.UK and via third parties such as family websites.
"If anyone wishes to find out more about the charge, especially whether they are liable to pay it, we encourage them to visit www.gov.uk/child-benefit-tax-charge or call our Child Benefit helpline on 0300 200 3100."
