Voluntary contributions to state pension

oldsteel

Hello,
New to this board and I have a question that has bugged me for a while now. Having worked in Ireland for 20 years I have roughly half of my working life here in the UK and half there. I am eligible for the Irish state pension according to my contributions there. Looking at my UK NI records it says I can top-up some years to increase my state pension. I don't believe I can top-up for the years I was working in Irel, but there are some years here where I was self employed and no contributions are registered. This is a long lead-in to my main question which is, exactly HOW do I make a voluntary contribution?? There is much talk about eligibility but not the actual process of making the payment. In Ireland its done via your tax return, what about here in the UK???

xylophone

You have obtained a state pension forecast?

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

It would be a good idea to ring the Future Pension Centre for advice on your particular situation.

https://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1115&langId=en&intPageId=4610

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/deadlines

oldsteel

Yes I have obtained the forecast which says I can increase my pension, which is due in 2 yrs so I am in planning mode!! The second link is a good one thanks, this implies I pay via my self assessment tax return. Alas I have tried calling the future pensions centre in the past and after a huge wait been fobbed off - its not a journey I want to repeat. So now I know which years I want to pay contributions for, I need to know which class, and also how the contribution is linked to the specific years so it gets to the right place. Maybe the answer is on the SA100 in which case I need to brief my accountant?

xylophone

So now I know which years I want to pay contributions for,

You are sure of this?

Have a look at this.

https://www.royallondon.com/media/good-with-your-money-guides/topping-up-your-state-pension/

And I would still be inclined to check with FPC.

nigelbb

The only thing preventing you paying voluntary NI contributions while you were working in Ireland is if these years were more than ten years ago. It's double bubble if you work in two different countries & can contribute to two state pension schemes. You can end up with two full pensions.

eastcorkram

Unable to quote the post above, but if this site is still here in 5 or 6 years time, and of course if I'm still here, I'll let you know if that is correct!

nigelbb

eastcorkram wrote: »

Unable to quote the post above, but if this site is still here in 5 or 6 years time, and of course if I'm still here, I'll let you know if that is correct!

I have pensions from both France & UK. I paid voluntary Class 2 contributions for four of the years I was working in France which at that time cost me a grand total of £553.85 but I think it's £3/week now.

Tassie_Devil

Without speaking to the Future Pension Centre, you could very well ending up paying contributions for past years which will not provide you with any return.

nigelbb

Tassie_Devil wrote: »

Without speaking to the Future Pension Centre, you could very well ending up paying contributions for past years which will not provide you with any return.

+1

The frontline staff won't give you a definite yes/no but will arrange someone who can answer to call you back. I have had a couple of detailed conversations with the FPC explaining which years I needed to purchase to maximise my pension.

oldsteel

Looks like I need to put aside some time to talk to the FPC again. Interesting that I might be able to make contributions while I was working in Ireland, its all down to the details which I guess the FPC can help me with.

oldsteel

To draw a conclusion to this thread, and thanks for the useful replies by the way. I spoke with the FPC and HMRC on Friday and got some great advice. The reason I had a problem previously was that, having spent 19 years out of the UK, I was no longer 'registered' for NI contributions. So you can have a UTR number, making tax returns, and seem in every way back in the system, but until you are registered you cant make an NI contribution of any kind! The lady at HMRC did this for me over the phone. Bottom line is that as Tassie had said, as I had suffcient contributions from my previous UK employment there was nothing to be gained by making any further voluntaries other than for the 3 previous tax years. In fact, you can't make a voluntary contribution without speaking to HMRC first and obtaining a 15 digit reference number which links the payment to your account, class, years etc. So its a good system, I cant see how you could make a payment without speaking to HMRC first and they always ask if you have first spoken to the FPC who provide your bespoke advice. I was impressed at the quality of advice offered. So as quoted elsewhere here your starting point is the FPC who can be contacted on 0800 731 0175.