Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of allowing a person to transfer a proportion of the £50,000 earnings threshold to their partner whose individual income exceeds the threshold for the High Income Child Benefit Charge.

This question was answered on 15th May 2023
The High Income Child Benefit Charge (HICBC) is a tax charge which was introduced in 2013 for recipients of Child Benefit payments on higher incomes. The HICBC applies to Child Benefit recipients who have, or whose partner has, an adjusted net income of £50,000.

The UK has a system of independent taxation where every individual, including each partner in a couple, is treated equally within the income tax system and has their own personal allowance and set of rate bands which they can set against their own income. It is a fundamental principle of independent taxation that the individual incomes are taxed separately, and this ensures independence and privacy in their tax affairs. Allowing transfers of income between partners would run counter to this principle.