Parents of adults taxed by HMRC as if still getting child benefit

HMRC told a reader he was owed £815 for overpaid tax for 2020-21. Photograph: Realimage/Alamy

Parents of adult children who sit down to do their tax return this weekend should check if they are due a refund.

One Guardian reader has just discovered HM Revenue and Customs is taxing him as if his family is still getting child benefit, even though his two children are now 22 and 19, and the family stopped receiving the cash almost 18 months ago.