Nnational insurance

mrsfox1

I.'ve 35 years NI but I'm not entitled to a full pension because my company pension scheme  opted out  I've been told by pension office I need 40 years to claim full pension  .I'm a widow  gave up work to help look after my 97 year old mother in Ireland .I'm 62.3 told I can pay £60 a month to top up my pension  is it woth it 9

Dazed_and_C0nfused

From what you have posted you will get £4.81/week additional State Pension for each extra year you add.

However, the final year can be different as you cannot exceed £168.60 so if buying 4 years gets you to say £167.60 the the final year only adds £1.00/week. 

If you are going to be a basic rate taxpayer after State Pension age then that £4.81 will probably only really be worth £3.85/week but even so it is generally considered a good return.

£750 outlay will pay for itself in 4-5 years even if you do have extra tax to pay.

drumtochty

What about Class 2 contributions at around £150 a year.

Ceme3000

drumtochty said:

What about Class 2 contributions at around £150 a year.

The OP is not self employed.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

But maybe they could become self employed?

Ceme3000

Maybe! But will need to have profits of £6365 per annum.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

Not at all.  You can pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance now.

p00hsticks

mrsfox1 said:

.I'm a widow  gave up work to help look after my 97 year old mother in Ireland .

Are we talking Northern Ireland or the Republic here ?

As this may affect the options available to you for paying voluntary NI .....

Ceme3000

Dazed_and_C0nfused said:

Not at all.  You can pay voluntary Class 2 National Insurance now.

I didn't know that! So is it possible then to register as self employed "on paper" so to speak, and have zero turnover so that you can pay voluntary class 2 at £150 rather than buy a missing year at £780 or whatever it is?

Dazed_and_C0nfused

You still need to file a Self Assessment return though.

Ceme3000

Thank you, I'll look into this as I am not working and am currently 5 years short on my state pension forecast. Thinking about it I have a hobby that  I occasionally buy bits and pieces for, but have noticed that these items sell on Ebay for slightly more than I pay for them. Even if I only made a couple of hundred quid a year profit by reselling a few surplus bits and bobs, it would be worth the effort perhaps to register as a sole trader if I can keep my NIC going for class 2 rates.