Child Benefit Penalties Faced By Thousands

Tens of thousands of parents face being fined for failing to register the child benefit they received this year with the taxman.

An estimated 165,000 people missed Saturday's deadline, meaning they could face penalties as well as losing the handout.

HM Revenue and Customs has urged those who have not registered to do so now to avoid further costs.

A spokesman for HMRC said: "More than 29,000 people registered for self-assessment over the weekend, taking the total registrations to 160,000.

"This means that 165,000 people still need to take action and on past experience we expect more people to register in the coming days.

"Although we are past the deadline, people should still register for self-assessment to minimise any penalties they may face."

Fines for failing to register will be decided on a case-by-case basis, HMRC said.

Under Government reforms, households where one parent earns more than £60,000 a year have to return the entire amount through the self-assessment system unless they have opted out of receiving it in the first place.

It will be taken away on a sliding scale where mothers or fathers earn between £50,000 and £60,000.

The system for recovering the money has proved highly controversial as families where both parents earn just under £50,000 each will keep their payments.