National Insurance Contributions

ni_student

Hi,

Hope this is in the righth forum. My partner has been with the same employer for almost 3 years. He recently received a letter saying there had been no national insurance paid in his name for the last tax year and if he wanted to get full pension etc he needed to pay £xxx.

Now im still a student but when i worked i was under the impression the employer took this out of your wages automatically along with taxes etc. Unfortunately my partners pay goes directly into his accout and he doesnt get a payslip so he didnt know that it wasnt being paid and it wasn't that he was getting extra wages he has been on the same since he started.

So I was just wondering were he stands with this? Should he speak to his employer? Unfortunately he has been messing all the employees about for the past 6-9mths by not paying them on time / no holiday pay etc and overall owes the employees thousands in upaid wages so I have a feeling he has been cutting corners :mad:

Anyway Id be grateful for any advice, thanks.

SueC_2

I'm no expert but I'd say he definitely needs to get things clarified asap. Is he employed under PAYE, or is he self-employed? If PAYE his employer should definitely be deducting tax and NI at source (ie. before he pays a net amount to your partner). If he is self-employed, then tax and NI are his own responsibility. Either way he needs to get it sorted out, as if he hasn't been paying NI, the chances are he hasn't been paying tax either. And the last thing you want is the tax man knocking at your door with a bill for overdue tax! I'd say speaking to his employer is the first thing to do, then take it from there. Good luck!

ni_student

Thanks Sue, I will speak to him this evening and get him to arrange to speak to the boss. Just to clarify he isn't self-employed.

Thanks again.

loisa

Everyone is entitled to an itemised payslip by law.

It sounds like the employer is up to something very dodgy (and knows it).

Perhaps you and your partner should seek expert advice from somewhere like Acas before speaking to the boss if possible.

http://www.acas.org.uk/index.aspx?articleid=1410

fengirl_2

he can't be self employed if he is under the direction of an employer. Does he receive a P60 annually? This is a tax matter, not an ACAS matter.

loisa

fengirl wrote: »

he can't be self employed if he is under the direction of an employer. Does he receive a P60 annually? This is a tax matter, not an ACAS matter.

Maybe so, but i don't think it would hurt to call them for a bit of impartial advice. It sounds like the employer is taking the p#!s and should not be getting away with it.