Voluntary Class 3 NI Contributions – How to Pay

jem16

Mozz13 wrote: »

I worked mine out using Sledgehead's formula and paid the £733.20 required for 2016/17 via my Bank of Scotland online facility. The HMRC NICO account details were already listed in my 'recipients' list (strange but true!) and I filled in the calculated reference number and amount in the space provided.

How did you work out the last digit which seems to be random?

lisboa84

Can you claim tax relief on voluntary national insurance contributions?

molerat

lisboa84 wrote: »

Can you claim tax relief on voluntary national insurance contributions?

No..........................

Mozz13

Hi Jem16,

...for some reason, having the Q on the end worked using Sledgehead's formula. Apparently it isn't 'year specific' as another post has suggested we keep our same unique individual reference number, year on year.

M

jem16

Mozz13 wrote: »

Hi Jem16,

...for some reason, having the Q on the end worked using Sledgehead's formula.

So you just ended it with the letter Q?

Apparently it isn't 'year specific' as another post has suggested we keep our same unique individual reference number, year on year.

M

So even though part of the reference number includes the amount I needed to pay for 2016/17 it would still work next year when it’s a different amount?

RG2015

Mozz13 wrote: »

Hi Sledgehead,

Thank you so much for supplying the National Insurance formula required to obtain ones 16 digit reference number when paying Class 3 voluntary contributions.

I worked mine out using Sledgehead's formula and paid the £733.20 required for 2016/17 via my Bank of Scotland online facility. The HMRC NICO account details were already listed in my 'recipients' list (strange but true!) and I filled in the calculated reference number and amount in the space provided.

A slightly tentative three and a half weeks later, and my HMRC NI 2016/17 year appeared as 'full'! (Relief all round).

Thanks for saving me ages waiting on the phone service - and I'm now fully equipped to pay next year's contributions in a worry free state of mind. M

:T

jem16 wrote: »

How did you work out the last digit which seems to be random?

Sledgehead's formula works for my reference and my final digit was 3. Does this relate to Class 3 NI payments?

I paid mine online by faster payment on Fri 29 Mar and phoned up on Thu 4 Apr. I was informed that the payment was received on 29 Mar and the HMRC rep allocated it while I was on the phone. My pension forecast was updated on my PTA immediately.

lj12

Another data point: the 2nd time I made NI contributions, and again got a reference number via the phone help line, the final digit of the reference number did *not* match the Damm algorithm (mentioned in my previous post). :-(

The rest of the number did match again the reference as described in @Sledgehead #11.

So I will stick with using the phone help line to get the reference number final digit for time being.

laineybabes

I paid a Voluntary NI payment via my bank using the 18 digit reference they supplied and have since confirmed the NI office have received it. I had a look at the previous threads on the forum and worked out the 18 digits referred to my payment and National Insurance number etc as detailed using the examples given. All good. I had a balance to pay for the same year (17/18) and received a letter stating "here is your 18 digit reference to make payment via bank", however the reference was 23 digits, it include five "9" s in the middle. All otrher details were as before, ie amount, Ni number etc. and ended with the letter "x" I therefore decided to omit the "9"s and use the remaining 18 digits to pay through my bank. I made the payment on 15th April and it was taken from account on same day. As of today 24th April, after telephoning the NI office, they confirmed they had NOT received my balancing payment. I am now worried that omitting the "9s" was not the correct thing, however I am convinced that the 18 digits I was left with is correct as it followed the same pattern and information as my previous payment which was fine. Can anyone suggest if they think I was ok to omit the details? HMRC have indicated I need to wait 10 days excluding the Easter holidays before they can start a trace. If nothing else I'm sure the payment will be found at the reference I paid it to!. Isn't it strange that when you make incorrect payments to non existing bank accounts they usually are bounced back into your bank within a week or so but not HMRC, they keep it in a suspense account!:)

jem16

laineybabes wrote: »

Isn't it strange that when you make incorrect payments to non existing bank accounts they usually are bounced back into your bank within a week or so but not HMRC, they keep it in a suspense account!:)

You didn’t pay it to a wrong bank account though as the sort code and bank account number was presumably correct. The reference number is purely for HMRC to know which NI record to then credit against.

I would have said the 5 nines shouldn’t be there either. It may just be taking a little longer due to the Easter holidays.

laineybabes

My gut feeling is I paid using correct reference, I checked the bank and sort code details numerous times and all ok, hopefully it will update soon. Thanks