Voluntary Class 3 NI Contributions – How to Pay

Tom99

[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]I would like to pay for some backdated Class 3 voluntary NI contributions.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]It seems the only way to do this is by writing a letter to HMRC stating the years required and enclosing a cheque.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]There does not seem to be any Form to fill in, nor any way of paying online.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]Is this correct? [/FONT]

[Deleted User]

Hi,

have you had a bill yet, do you know how much you owe?

From Gov.uk,

3. Bank details for online or telephone banking, CHAPS, Bacs

Make your payment to the following HM Revenue and Customs’ (HMRC) bank account, unless you’re paying from overseas.
Sort code Account number Account name 08 32 20 12001004 HMRC NICO Telephone banking Reference number

Use your reference number when making your payment. You’ll find it on your bill.
For quarterly payments, your number will be 18 characters beginning with 11 and ending X.
For one-off payments, your number will be 18 characters beginning with 60 and ending X.

woolly_wombat

Tom99 wrote: »

[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]I would like to pay for some backdated Class 3 voluntary NI contributions.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]It seems the only way to do this is by writing a letter to HMRC stating the years required and enclosing a cheque.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]There does not seem to be any Form to fill in, nor any way of paying online.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]Is this correct? [/FONT]

Be aware that if you have opted out of SERPS/S2P in the past then it might only be worth paying voluntary NICs from 6th April 2016 onwards.

xylophone

I would like to pay for some backdated Class 3 voluntary NI contributions.

You come under the new state pension scheme?

Have you obtained a forecast?

https://www.royallondon.com/Global/documents/GoodWithYourMoney/TOPPING-UP-YOUR-STATE-PENSION-GUIDE.pdf

Tom99

[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]Thank you for the replies.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]I have a state pension forecast and understand which years I will benefit from paying.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]Since I don't have a bill or reference number it seems the only option is to write a letter.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]That is fine, I don't mind but in these days where nearly everything can be done online it seemed a bit old fashioned.[/FONT]
[FONT=Tahoma, sans-serif]Thanks for the help and links.[/FONT]

jamesd

A bit old fashioned but it's what I did to buy seven years some years back:

"name, address, NI number
Please find enclosed my cheque for £xxx for voluntary class 3 NICs for the 7 years yyyy through zzzz inclusive."

bodjen0611

Hi,

there seems to be various ways you can pay.
Hope this link helps

https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

R

clivep

bodjen0611 wrote: »

Hi,

there seems to be various ways you can pay.
Hope this link helps

https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

R

There are plenty of ways to pay once you have a bill but it's getting a bill that I can't see how to do online.

My wife has a small deduction to her forecast due to a few years contracted out. She therefore wants to buy class 3 for the 2016-2017 tax year. She can see her forcast in her online account which says for the 2016-2017 year "Your record for this year is not available yet".

I know exactly what year she wants to buy and how much it costs but cannot find any information about how to do this online. Can you only get a bill by phoning them or writing to them?

Requesting a written statement wouldn't work as it says "Please note: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) will only include tax years that ended more than 12 months ago in your statement. This is because it can take quite some time for all of the National Insurance you have paid, or been credited with, to appear on your statement" so I couldn't get one for the 2016-2017 tax year.

xylophone

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-application-to-pay-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-ca5603

molerat

xylophone wrote: »

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-insurance-application-to-pay-voluntary-national-insurance-contributions-ca5603

Only really any good for paying current contributions by DD.

From bodjen0611's link try here https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance/by-post

Send your payment to:
HM Revenue and Customs
National Insurance Contributions and Employer Office
Benton Park View
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ

If you don’t have an HMRC payslip

Include a note with:

• your name, address and phone number
• your Class 3 National Insurance contributions reference number (or National Insurance number)
• how much you’re paying
• the period you’re paying for

Quite straightforward and how I have done it before.

Sledgehead

As the OP indicates, there is an apparent reticence on HMRC's part to give people easy access to voluntary payment.

This could be for several reasons:
- you might have enough contributory years already so won't benefit from extra payments;
- it will cost jobs if they just told you how to work the reference out yourself;
- it might cause security issues if they told you what the reference was composed of (tho I think not telling people poses a greater risk.

So, to that end, I'm gonna tell you, based on a sample of one (me!) how I think the references are 'constructed'. If others have reference numbers in their possession, they might wanna help me confirm this theory, so that we can then all confidently 'construct' references, freeing us from the delay of written requests or lengthy telephone queuing.

Just one caveat: I still don't know what the last digit means ... but maybe we can work this out together.

Okay, here goes:

NI Reference Parts

---

Here's a typical 18-digit ref number with the digits replaced with characters:

PP£££££NNNNNNLLLLQ

Parts with the same character represent the same type of information. The length of that info is represented by the length of that character repeat.

Let's break it down:

PP
----

The first two digits are a code for the Period you wish to pay. Periods are:

whole year: PP = 60

£££££

---

The next five digits encode the £amount you want to pay. There are two ways of constructing this:

amount < £1000: £££££ = 52 x weekly_nic_in_pence
amount >= £1000: £££££ = 99999

As an eg, if weekly nics = £14.10:
£14.10 = 1410p
52 x 1410 = 73320
so:
£££££ = 73320

NNNNNN

---

The next six digits encode the digits in your NI Number in pairs.

I'm gonna break NNNNNN into 3 pairs:

NN NN NN

and name them

NN1 NN2 NN3

If your NI number is AB 11 22 33 C,

NN1 = 33
NN2 = 11
NN3 = 22

So the completed NNNNNN section will be:

NNNNNN = 331122

So they basically switch the number pairs around a bit.

LLLL

---

The next 4 digits again come from your NI number, but this time they encode the first two Letters.

Again, I'll split the 4 digits into two pairs:

LL1 LL2

For a NI number AB 11 22 33 C:

LL1 relates to A
LL2 relates to B

The letters are represented by their count in the alphabet, padded with a '0' for numbers less than 9.

So A=01, B=02, C=03 .... X=26

So for NI number AB 11 22 33 C:

LL1 = 01 (ie A)
LL2 = 02 (ie

And:

LLLL = 0102

Q
--

Honestly? Q is a single digit, but I have no idea what it encodes. Answers on a postcard ...

Bringing it altogether

---

Taking our example :
NI number = AB 11 22 33 C
Yearly class 3 nic = £733.20

Reference :
PP £££££ NNNNNN LLLL Q =
60 73320 331122 0102 ?

Where '?' is still a mystery.

PS: remember to say if you concur with this assessment so that we can have more confidence in this approach.