Self Employed and National Insurance Contributions for State Pension.

triplea35

I am 61. I retired and took a pension from salaried emplyment in 2010. I then started to work part time self employed. Until recently the profit was so low that I was exempt from NI contributions.
The year 2015/2016 I made sufficient that I paid both Class 2 and a small amount of Class 4 contributions.

Always thought I had paid sufficient NI contributions for State Pension but after reading advice on hear thought better check and get a forecast.

It shows that based on current record I would be entitled to £125.89 a week. Forecast that if I continue NI contributions until 5th April 2022 I would be entitled to £148.68

Looking at my National Insurance record I have a full record from 1972 to 2009/2010. I then have 5 years where it shows not full. When I look on details it just says: 'We are checking this year to see if it counts towards your pension. We’ll update your record when this is finished, you do not need to do anything.' These are the years I was exempt from NI contributions, they seem to be taking a long time to check!
For 2015/2016 the year is full and have recently submitted 2016/2017 tax return and have again paid Class 2 & 4 contributions.
However I was thinking about cutting my hours back again and might end up only paying Class 2 or even no NI again.

If I continue working until retirement age but only pay Class 2 will these count as full year contributions?

If I go below the level for Class 2 or stop working completely before 2022 can/should I pay voluntary contributions.

Should I enquire on the 5 not full years and making any voluntary contributions for these years.

Thanks in advance, bit headwrecked by it all, and got my wife's to start on next!

p00hsticks

triplea35 wrote: »

Should I enquire on the 5 not full years and making any voluntary contributions for these years.

As you already appear to have 35+ full years pre 6/4/16 there is no point in adding / topping up any further pre-2016 years as they will notincrease your state pension further. You need to concentrate on years going forward.

xylophone

With regard to increasing your state pension, only years from 2016-17 will count.

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance/what-national-insurance-is-for

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/abolition-of-class-2-national-insurance-contributions/abolition-of-class-2-national-insurance-contributions