Does seasonal work count as a years NI contributions?

smjxm09

If someone makes for example a few national insurance contributions in a given tax year whether that is through a weekly or monthly salary would that be classed as a years contribution? The reason for the question is that I am trying to get seasonal work and was wondering if that would count as full payment or would I need 52 weekly or 12 monthly payments to get a years entitlement.

bigfreddiel

I like it, I work for a few weeks a year, say five, and the gov gives me a full years NI credit! Bring it on, where do I sign up?

And I was just about to actually buy a years worth of credit for approx £900!


Get real, do you really think this is how the gov works?

Cheers fj

HappyMJ

smjxm09 wrote: »

If someone makes for example a few national insurance contributions in a given tax year whether that is through a weekly or monthly salary would that be classed as a years contribution? The reason for the question is that I am trying to get seasonal work and was wondering if that would count as full payment or would I need 52 weekly or 12 monthly payments to get a years entitlement.

You will need to have a full year. You can pay for missing weeks. To find out how much you need to pay you'll need to call HMRC.

You can be credited with NI contributions in the weeks you are not working by registering for JSA. You might not be entitled to any money but you will get NI credits for free.

Child Benefit can also get you NI credits too so if you have no other income make sure you claim it even if your partner has to pay it back due to too much income...always claim it.

smjxm09

bigfreddiel asks me to get real but then i find this on another thread so maybe bigfreddiel is not so clever after all?:rotfl:

If for example I worked for four months after April, would I get a full credit for the year and if not could I top it up via a payment?

Many thanks

Assuming you reach State Pension Age after 5th April 2017, then provided you earn enough during those four months in 2016/2017 you should get a full Qualifying Year for 2016/2017.

If your earnings total above about £5,824 for those 4 months (so monthly earnings of above about £1,456pm) you should get a full Qualifying Year.

If you earn marginally below £5,824 over those 4 months you might only need to buy a few missing weeks or so to get you up to a full year.

If you earned £4,000 say that would give you credit for about 35 weeks (= 4000/5824 x 52) leaving you about 17 missing weeks, purchasable at a cost of perhaps £240 to get you a Qualifying Year (= 17 weeks x 14.10 per week).

That assumes the class 3 rates and bands aren't changed in the budget next month.

System

National Insurance isn't cummulative, unlike income tax. So it doesn't matter how much you earn in one week, you only get one week's credit.

There are I think special rules for some very seasonal/erratic earners, like writers, artists and actors ?
Or if you are a company director, where different NI rules apply and that is on an annual basis.

bigfreddiel

smjxm09 wrote: »

bigfreddiel asks me to get real but then i find this on another thread so maybe bigfreddiel is not so clever after all?:rotfl:

Well obviously I thought everyone knew that once you pass your sp age you cease paying NI.

QED matey!

fj:easter_os

greenglide

National Insurance isn't cummulative, unlike income tax. So it doesn't matter how much you earn in one week, you only get one week's credit.

For payment purposes the amount deducted from pay is not accumulated so if you are paid a huge amount in a week / month you can very easily hit the upper earnings limit and pay less - the opposite of income tax.

But for NI qualifying years it is simply the total amount earned in a single employment that counts. Reach the lower earnings limit in annual earnings in a single employment and the year qualifys irrespective of the NI paid or not.

You can pay contributions and the year does not qualify or you can have a qualifying year but pay no NI - year the lower earnings limit is lower than the lower earnings threshold (or vice versa - I am easily confused by these two).

atush

they should do it in Quarters like US Soc Sec, where students, seasonal workers and the like can get 1/4 yr credits. 4 of which will add up to a full year.

smjxm09

Does anyone know how class one contributions are calculated when it comes to gaining a years state pension, as I had to give up work to become a full time carer and haven't worked in this tax year and probably won't for some or all of the next one. Again would I need a full year of class one contributions to gain a years state pension or would a part year count as a full years pension? This is just a hypothetical question as I don't know what the future will bring but I know I don't qualify for a full state pension despite 42 years of NI contributions as I was contracted out.

molerat

http://www.rights4seniors.net/content/qualifying-years

Qualifying Years

Entitlement to the Basic State Pension is dependent on the number of qualifying years you accumulate over your working life.

A ‘qualifying year’ is a tax year (April to April) during which you have paid, have been treated as having paid or have been credited with enough National Insurance Contributions (NICs) to make that year qualify towards a Basic State Pension.
Since 1978 a qualifying year is one in which you have paid (or treated as having paid) contributions on earnings of at least 52 times the Lower Earnings Limit. For the year 2015-16 the lower earnings limit is £112/week (from £111 per week in 2014-15) so you would need to have been paying NICs on a salary of £5,668 at least.
Since 6th April 2010

From 6th April 2010 a qualifying year is any year in which your earnings factor is equal to or more than the Lower Earnings Level for that year.

and http://www.monetos.co.uk/pensions/state-pensions/basic/ni-contributions/

A qualifying year is defined as a tax year of your working life when you earned enough to pay National Insurance contributions, or were credited as having paid National Insurance contributions. You have to contribute a certain amount during the year for it to count as a qualifying year. If you earn £4,524 or more during the tax year 2007/2008, and pay or are credited with National Insurance contributions on this amount, the tax year 2007/2008 will count as a qualifying year for you.

Are you receiving carer's allowance ? https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance-credits/eligibility