HMRC to refund HICBC penalties

HMRC to refund child benefit fines for higher earners Higher earning parents who were fined by HMRC over child benefit errors could now receive a refund after the taxman agreed to review cases where penalties were issued between April 2013 and March 2016. Since 2013, parents earning more than £50,000 have had to complete a tax return to pay back what they owe, or officially opt out of receiving the benefit. Becky O’Connor, personal finance specialist at Royal London, said: “The Revenue did not communicate the charge properly at the time it was introduced in 2013. As a result, many parents found they not only had to pay back thousands of pounds in tax through self-assessment returns they didn’t know they had to produce, they were also whacked with late payment fines.”