Charged NIC even though ive been working as an Employee (have already paid NIC)

steveOooo

I registered as Self Employed in 2007 / 08 i think - did some work but not alot, have been working employed since 2009 ish and originally applied to have NIC not paid (i think if i expected my SE earnings to be low).

Have just had a letter requesting £65 in NIC (6 months worth) April - Oct 2011

I have been employed from Feb 2011 - present so have already paid NIC - in fact, I paid Emergency Tax this year so how can i

a) refute the NIC Self Employed request

b) get the emergency (BR) tax back?

c) cancel this NIC Self Employed request now and for good?

d) Can i just de-register as SE ? how flexible is this - what happens if someone wants me to do something on the side / ie odd jobs? Is the SE System flexible enough to cope with sporadic SE work combined with Employed work?

dtaylor84

You can apply for an exemption from class 2 NICs if your earnings from self employment are no more than around £5000. See http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/cf10.pdf

You can de-register as self employed if you wish, but to do any self employed work again you would need to be registered. Also you'd be liable for class 2 NICs for the period you were registered, unless you apply for the small earnings exemption above.

System

Considering that you have to register as self-employed with HMRC it follows that when that self-employment stops you need to let them know. That is by 2 ways, you put a cessation date in the tax return for the last year of trading and you contact the NIC office to give them the date of cessation too so they stop charging you class 2 NIC.
You can't assume that just because you are an employee paying class 1 NIC that HMRC know the self-employment has ceased as many people do both at the same time.

steveOooo

id like to keep the SE open for now - but will apply for NIC exemption.

Savvy_Sue

In the past, I managed not to have to pay when I hadn't renewed my certificate of exemption: I believe it lasts for 2 years, and rather than sending a reminder they just send you a bill.

steveOooo

is it ok to print the http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/forms/cf10.pdf form off and send - getting through via phone is next to impossible (of course calling via local number thanks to say not to 0870.com!)