Self Employment and NI Contributions.

phazed_2

Firstly, sorry if this is in the wrong section. Anyway I'm hoping someone on here is able to help me with my problem!

I currently am working in an apprenticeship and aim to become fully employed in the same company (they have given me some guarantee in this) once my apprenticeship has finished later next year, and so am currently not paying NI and Tax.

I have also recently registered as self-employed as I've started up a small business with my business partner, because I do not believe that my share of the profits in the first year will be over the threshold I am going to apply to become exempt from paying my Class 2 Contributions by applying for a certificate of small earnings exception. But all over the form it warns me that if i apply to not pay class 2, it could effect me later in life, but I will be paying class 1 contributions once I am working properly instead of my apprenticeship and will be paying NI and Tax for that then.

So what I am asking is, would it be safe to apply to become exempt from paying class 2 contributions as I aim to be paying class 1 next year or should I not?

Sorry if I've got anything wrong and I would greatly appreciate it if you corrected me in my understanding! I am finding all this rather confusing

Cheers!

anamenottaken

Assuming you are young and expect to pay at least 30 years of NI contributions, you would qualify for a full basic state pension so the warning about not paying Class 2 when you can be exempt isn't something to worry about IMHO.