How to pay NIC?

ge97

My aunty started working 3 months ago earning about £800/month, her boss would not pay NIC for her and she doesn’t have a NI number. Can she pay it herself? if yes, how?

00ec25

ge97 wrote: »

she doesn’t have a NI number

I assume she is not an illegal alien and has simply lost her NI number which she would automatically have been given at some point in the past nevertheless there are very serious issues raised by your post, not the least being is she actually in legal employment?

you are legally obliged to apply for an NI number if you start work. If you do not have a national insurance number and you need one, you should telephone the National Employment NINO application number on 0845 600 0643 to arrange an interview (textphone: 0845 600 0644). This interview will be at an office. It will seek to establish your identity and you will need to prove who you are

as she is earning £800/month then that is approx £200 per week which is well over the lower earnings threshold and also the primary threshold so the employer is acting illegally as they should be paying employers NI as well as deducting Class 1 NIC from her wages.
The employer can be prosecuted for this failure. As an employee, if you did not pay contributions when you were liable to do so, you can be required to pay them later.
It is actually your employer’s responsibility to deduct contributions and pay them to HMRC, but if you were involved with your employer in avoiding payment, you can be prosecuted as well.

learn this http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/class1.htm

ge97

she is not an illegal worker and She is in the process of applying for an NI number. She didn't need it until now.

She is working for an old lady as a cleaner/servant and they both don't know what to do about this.

My point is my aunt want to pay NIC. Can my aunt pay it herself or must it be paid by her employer? it may be too much work for her since she is very old.

John_Pierpoint

Can you auntie find another person to work for?
I really cannot see this old lady coping with PAYE, minimum wage, 4 weeks paid holiday etc. etc. Being an employer is a very complex responsible job these days.

It might be easier all round if Auntie becomes "self employed". Depending on how much she earns HMR&C are likely to take an interest in her self employed status and there are a number of tests for self employment that can be enforced.
(Google will probably find them for you)

The other alternative is to work through an agency, but the effective "fee" they will charge for doing all the paperwork etc can bee pretty steep.

00ec25

ge97 wrote: »

My point is my aunt want to pay NIC. Can my aunt pay it herself or must it be paid by her employer? it may be too much work for her since she is very old.

HMRC website http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/nic/background-nic.htm please familiarise yourself with it rather than just repeating the question, as JP says the options are set in stone and neither domestic cleaners nor their elderly employers are special cases :
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/faqs/faqnic.htm

either a) your aunt registers as self employed (and passes the HMRC tests proving this http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/calcs/esi.htmi ) in which case she pays self employed NIC http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/selfemployed/iwtregister-as-self-employed.htm

or b) your aunt signs with a registered employment agency who handle all her liabilities for her

or c) the elderly lady registers as an employer and follows the rules - I accept this is unlikely to happen, so your choice, a) or b)

ge97

Thank you everyone for your help. She just want to know the options available to her so she can proceed on this matter.