SP question for mum - paying voluntary NI.

liviboy

Thanks Molerat.

I dont understand the figures for 16-17 or 17-18 either. Notably 16-17 have been lumped together with the different amounts and 17-18 has been split completely.

They have split the years into X weeks at Class 2 and Y weeks at Class 3 but I dont understand why.

If anyone can shed any light I!!!8217;m sure both my mum as well as Molerat would appreciate it :-)

Regarding cheque...can the cheque be sent from my account as she doesnt have a UK current account any longer or would the cheque need to be in her name?

WillowCat

Not trying to be awkward, but I thought you had to be self employed to pay class 2?

liviboy

WillowCat wrote: »

Not trying to be awkward, but I thought you had to be self employed to pay class 2?

Google is your friend here :-)

I didn't realise Class 2 was available if living abroad until I posted (my OP talks about Class 3).

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/who-can-pay-voluntary-contributions

I too thought Class 2 was only for SE!

liviboy

molerat wrote: »

Buying the cheapest 5, 06-07, 07-08, 09-10, 10-11, 11-12 for £681.20 gives her £154.52 (155.65 - 9.29 = 146.36 x 1.025 x 1.03) leaving £9.82 to make up with post 2016, 2 years will leave her 42p short of the max. I don't understand those amounts for 16-17 and 17-18 though.



The simplest way IMO would be a letter and cheque in the post https://www.gov.uk/pay-class-2-national-insurance/by-post

Ah Molerat...my mum wasn’t working between August 2016 and September 2017... when not working abroad Class 2 isn’t available which might explain the split?

In which case her class 2 bill for 2018-19 SHOULD be the right amount.

As class 2 abolished in 2019 then it would probably be best to pay for 2016-17 at the mixed amount and 2018-19 at Class 2?

liviboy

Hi all,

Just to say that HMRC finally got around the cashing the cheque sent to pay mum's NI backdated amounts as above.

Any idea how long they usually take to update the NI record? Just want to make sure they credit the right years as detailed by molerat and in our letter to HMRC which accompanied the cheque.

Thank you again everyone for your help with this!!

p00hsticks

liviboy wrote: »

Hi all,

Just to say that HMRC finally got around the cashing the cheque sent to pay mum's NI backdated amounts as above.

Any idea how long they usually take to update the NI record? Just want to make sure they credit the right years as detailed by molerat and in our letter to HMRC which accompanied the cheque.

Thank you again everyone for your help with this!!

Can't really comment with regard to a cheque, but when I phoned up and made a payment for a previous year I as told it should show up on my NI record within a couple of weeks.

Incidentally, to possibly assist others reading, HMRC have now managed to drag themselves into the 21st century in this regard.

Rather than mailing a cheque you can now ring them up and tell them which years you wish to pay and they can provide you over the phone with the bank account details and one-time generated reference number to make a faster payment to them via online banking. If you provide them with your bank details they can also set up a direct debit over the phone to take monthly payments of voluntary Class 3 NI for the current year.

The only drawback is having to phone them (although I only had to wait a few minutes when I was on, using the number specifically for NI enquiries).

liviboy

p00hsticks wrote: »

Can't really comment with regard to a cheque, but when I phoned up and made a payment for a previous year I as told it should show up on my NI record within a couple of weeks.

Incidentally, to possibly assist others reading, HMRC have now managed to drag themselves into the 21st century in this regard.

Rather than mailing a cheque you can now ring them up and tell them which years you wish to pay and they can provide you over the phone with the bank account details and one-time generated reference number to make a faster payment to them via online banking. If you provide them with your bank details they can also set up a direct debit over the phone to take monthly payments of voluntary Class 3 NI for the current year.

The only drawback is having to phone them (although I only had to wait a few minutes when I was on, using the number specifically for NI enquiries).

This wasn't possible for my mum as she no longer has a UK current account she can send payments from, and they weren't prepared to accept an electronic transfer from my bank account,nor a cheque book. So the cheque was raised from my account and I had to send a signed letter accompanying her payment (why this is acceptable but an electronic transfer, which is likely more difficult to fake than my signature on a cheque book that lies around the house is anyone's guess!).

This might explain the delay in cashing the cheque.

However, for others I'm sure your information will be very useful and, who knows, in a few years time HMRC might move even more forward and allow payments to be made through the Personal Tax Account where you can manually assign each payment!

liviboy

Hi all,

HMRC finally processed the request last Friday (9th November).

However, so far, mum's account has only been updated to reflect 2016-17 as a full year and none of the other years backdated.

We haven't received the reply from HMRC yet but can anyone think of a reason why none of the other years have been updated to reflect the payment.

I also note that under 2016-17, it sates credits as:

You have contributions from

Self-employment: 20 weeks
Voluntary: 32 weeks

Any thoughts appreciated and will update once the letter is received from HMRC.

liviboy

Well the letter arrived today from HMRC and it couldn't be clearer:

Thank you for the payment of £1,191.40 which we received [IN AUGUST].

We have put the following voluntary contributions on to the National Insurance account of [MY MUM].

Year No. Contribs Amount paid Class of NI
2006-2007 52 £137.80 Class 2
2007-2008 52 £137.80 Class 2
2009-2010 52 £137.80 Class 2
2010-2011 52 £137.80 Class 2
2011-2012 52 £130 Class 2
2016-2017 20 £59 Class 2
2016-2017 32 £451.20 Class 3

Now the 2016-17 is still the only year showing on her online account.

Mum called HMRC tonight to ask. The first advisor she spoke to spoke about how after paying for 2016-17 there wasn't enough money to pay for 2015-16. I reminded mum we never paid for 2015-16 and to call back.


She called back and got a different advisor said they didn't know what the other advisor was talking about and that they could see the NI record was showing the years we had requested and as detailed on the letter. They couldn't advise why the online account was incorrect.


Is it just a waiting game or do you think mum will have to keep chasing?

DairyQueen

It will take more than a couple of weeks to show up on her online a/c. Suggest you keep checking back until the new year. If (say) nothing appears by the end of Jan than chase again.