Report warns of child benefit "disaster" The UK government's plan to withdraw child benefit for high earners" families is "seriously flawed in principle and in practice" according to a report by leading accountants. The Institute of Chartered Accountants for England and Wales has called on the Treasury to scrap the reform and put forward a more workable alternative, saying it could be "an operational and reputational disaster" for the government. The association, which represents 116,000 chartered accountants, said it suspected there would be "widespread non-compliance" and that it doubted whether the measure would raise as much money as expected. The reform is designed to take child benefit, previously a universal payout, from families where one partner earns more than £50,000 by levying higher tax charges on the higher earner. The benefit is worth £20.30 a week for the first child and £13.40 a week for each subsequent child. The government has already backtracked on the reforms, sparing families of people earning between £43,000 and £50,000 amid fears of a backlash from the middle classes. The report said families in similar financial situations could be treated differently depending on whether both parents earn and how many children they have, creating very high marginal tax rates for some. As the system relies on clawing back the benefit, changes in circumstance such as a divorce or the birth of another child, could make it difficult or impossible to calculate, the report adds. Taxpayers could also find their confidentiality breached as Her Majesty's Revenue & Customs may need to share information with partners or former partners. "We believe that a tax law with which a taxpayer is unable to comply without relying on another party, with whom he or she may or may not share information, and may not still be in contact with, is fundamentally flawed and brings the law into disrepute," the report said. Instead, the institute recommends that the changes should be made through the social security system, where benefits are calculated in terms of household income rather than on an individual's earnings, and the principle of a lack of confidentiality between couples is already established. The association is also concerned that the HMRC will struggle with the extra administrative burden as it already suffers from "clearly overstretched resources." "We are concerned that it will impose severe strains on the tax system and on its operation and is likely to bring the tax system into disrepute," the report said. A Treasury spokesman said: "Our child benefit reforms are being implemented as simply and fairly as possible. HM Revenue & Customs is confident the changes can be delivered effectively, while also protecting taxpayer confidentiality.