Some families could be forced to pay back their child benefit payments due to a little-known rule.
Child benefit is paid to anyone raising a child under the age of 16, or under 20 if they remain in education or training.
Child benefit is paid once every four weeks, with no limit on how many children can be claimed for.
Only one person can claim the benefit, but in two parent families both incomes are taken into account - reports the Express.
People earning more than £50,000 have to repay some of the benefits in a self-assessment tax return every tax year.
This is known as the High Income Child Benefit Tax Charge (HICBC) and will be applicable to many families across the UK.
People who earn between £50,000 and £60,000 will be taxed on an individual basis to repay the Child Benefit support they are not entitled to receive.
The Money Advice Service has explained parents and guardians will be required to pay back one percent of the Child Benefit sum for every extra £100 earned over £50,000 each year.
And people earning over £60,000 have to repay all the money received from child benefit.
People will still be paid the full amount of Child Benefit each month, however, the parent with the higher income will need to pay the sum back.
Once again, this is done through a Self-Assessment tax return so the extra Income Tax can be calculated by HMRC.
HMRC can claim for years of payments to be returned to them at once - with bills in the thousands seen in the past.
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With the benefit being paid over years, and this bill due all at once, it can come as a major shock.
But parents on higher incomes should still claim the benefit for National Insurance credit purposes.
The government website explains: “The person who claims will get National Insurance credits towards their state pension if they are not working or earn less than £166 per week.”
So if one parent is earning over the threshold, but another works or has a part-time job paying less you should still claim the benefit.
Steve Webb, partner at LCP and former pension minister, said: "Parents need to make sure that they claim National Insurance credits even if they are on a high income, and couples need to make sure that they put their child benefit in the name of the lower earner."
