Claiming back voluntary NI contgributions

janb5

For the last six months I have been paying back money to HMRC in the belief it would boost my pension despite the fact I have worked 42 years.

I now realize it wont make any difference at all so I have stopped the direct debit.

Does anyone know if I can get a refund of the monies paid to HMRC which is just shy of £500?

Basically the information is this:


If your starting amount is simply the old basic state pension plus an amount for SERPS, then if you already have 30 qualifying years before April 2016 there is no point paying voluntary contributions for years before 2016.

This is because extra years before 2016 only count towards your basic state pension. So if you already have a full basic state pension, there is nothing that you can add to it.

In your case, as you already have 35 qualifying years then you cannot boost the ‘basic state pension’ element of the calculation.

IanSt

Did you get advice from anyone before setting this up?

If it was just your own research then there's probably little chance of being able to claim it back unless the research you read was from the hmrc or similar and was wrong.

marlot

Try here: https://www.gov.uk/claim-national-insurance-refund

IanSt

It seems it may be getting easier - well at least if they are for Class 3A (State Pension top up) and they were paid within the last 90 days.

From https://www.gov.uk/claim-national-insurance-refund/y/class-3a-state-pension-top-up/yes

If you’re within the 90 day ‘cooling off’ period, you can request a refund from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) for your State Pension top up payment.

Your refund may be less than you paid if you’re already claiming State Pension. This is because you may have already received some Additional State Pension.

HMRC: State Pension top up refunds
Telephone: 0345 600 4270