Voluntarily Paying Class 2 NI yes or no?

Elze

I am self employed and earn just under the threshold of £5965, so I don't have to pay Class 2 NI. Of course I don't want to have a gap in my pension contributions so I want to make sure I do pay Class 2 NI.

However, I also claim child benefit - although my husband earns above the limit so we don't get it, but we are registered for it as I used to get it before the limit was introduced.

My question is: Is there a need to pay Class 2 NI voluntarily? All information about child benefit seems to suggest parents (mothers mostly) are already covered for NI regardless of whether they work or not.

Am I right? Would I be paying needlessly?

vacheron

The last time we checked, the person receiving the child benefit will automatically be credited with NI contributions until the child is 12 years old. After this point the child benefit payments will continue but the NI accumulation entitlement will cease.

If the parent receiving the benefit is also working and paying NI during this time they will effectively be receiving a double NI entitlement. In this case it is possible to transfer those duplicated years to the other parent retrospectively using a form, then name of which which I forget.

We are eligible for this as the CB was in my name while my wife was not working. However we have not yet got round to actually transferring those duplicated years over to her.