Confused on how to pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance

Silvertabby

zagfles said:

tacpot12 said:

You should only need to call the Future Pensions Centre if you aren't certain that making voluntary contributions will increase your pension, but I think the NI Office checked that I had done this and that I had been told that the contributions would make a difference. I can't remember if they said they wouldn't take a payment if I hadn't spoke to Futher Pensions first.  

Thanks - I understand the rules so will try the NI office direct when the time comes...

The NI office did ask me if I had spoken to Future Pensions, but were fine when I said that wasn't necessary as I was only paying for full post 2016 years.

They gave me an 18 digit reference.  I then made the payments by BACS, quoting the reference.  Payments appeared on my records within about 6 weeks.  (Paid for 4 years in 2 instalments).

Crabby

When's the best time to make a payment? 2021/22 will be my last full tax year before SP, should I wait till April, my birthday is in August.

SusieT

Crabby said:

When's the best time to make a payment? 2021/22 will be my last full tax year before SP, should I wait till April, my birthday is in August.

I would pay it in February or March, that way it will be there for the end of the tax year and you will get the benefit of it straight away when you draw your pension. 

polkasquares

zagfles said:

Marcon said:

Have you actually applied to pay them: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/743370/CA5603.pdf

That looks to be for regular payments, only options are quartery or DD. No option for a one off payment.

I came across the same link which seems to relate about setting up a direct debit/monthly/quarterly bill with them which isn't what I'm after. I want to make a one-off payment and there doesn't seem to be any info on their website telling me how to do this. Apparently I need a 18 reference number in order to make a one-off payment. Surely I can't be the only one who wants to make a one-off payment. I'm surprised there's no information about it on their website which would just lead to people calling them. So now it looks like I will have to phone them and see what they say.

polkasquares

tacpot12 said:

You should only need to call the Future Pensions Centre if you aren't certain that making voluntary contributions will increase your pension, but I think the NI Office checked that I had done this and that I had been told that the contributions would make a difference. I can't remember if they said they wouldn't take a payment if I hadn't spoke to Futher Pensions first.  

Did you make a one-off payment? Were you able to select a specific year where you want to make the payment on? For my situation, I have a specific year that I'm looking to make the one-off payment on as that was the year where I have paid some NI Contributions, so it makes sense to select that particular year to make my payments on.

polkasquares

Silvertabby said:

zagfles said:

tacpot12 said:

You should only need to call the Future Pensions Centre if you aren't certain that making voluntary contributions will increase your pension, but I think the NI Office checked that I had done this and that I had been told that the contributions would make a difference. I can't remember if they said they wouldn't take a payment if I hadn't spoke to Futher Pensions first.  

Thanks - I understand the rules so will try the NI office direct when the time comes...

The NI office did ask me if I had spoken to Future Pensions, but were fine when I said that wasn't necessary as I was only paying for full post 2016 years.

They gave me an 18 digit reference.  I then made the payments by BACS, quoting the reference.  Payments appeared on my records within about 6 weeks.  (Paid for 4 years in 2 instalments).

So once they have provided you an 18 digit reference number, where you able to select a specific year to make your payments?

jem16

polkasquares said:

Silvertabby said:

zagfles said:

tacpot12 said:

You should only need to call the Future Pensions Centre if you aren't certain that making voluntary contributions will increase your pension, but I think the NI Office checked that I had done this and that I had been told that the contributions would make a difference. I can't remember if they said they wouldn't take a payment if I hadn't spoke to Futher Pensions first.  

Thanks - I understand the rules so will try the NI office direct when the time comes...

The NI office did ask me if I had spoken to Future Pensions, but were fine when I said that wasn't necessary as I was only paying for full post 2016 years.

They gave me an 18 digit reference.  I then made the payments by BACS, quoting the reference.  Payments appeared on my records within about 6 weeks.  (Paid for 4 years in 2 instalments).

So once they have provided you an 18 digit reference number, where you able to select a specific year to make your payments?

If you're only paying for one tax year, then that 18 digit reference includes the amount for that year so they know which year to attribute it to. If paying for more than one year they will have made a note when you phoned about which years you want to pay.

Silvertabby

jem16 said:

polkasquares said:

Silvertabby said:

zagfles said:

tacpot12 said:

You should only need to call the Future Pensions Centre if you aren't certain that making voluntary contributions will increase your pension, but I think the NI Office checked that I had done this and that I had been told that the contributions would make a difference. I can't remember if they said they wouldn't take a payment if I hadn't spoke to Futher Pensions first.  

Thanks - I understand the rules so will try the NI office direct when the time comes...

The NI office did ask me if I had spoken to Future Pensions, but were fine when I said that wasn't necessary as I was only paying for full post 2016 years.

They gave me an 18 digit reference.  I then made the payments by BACS, quoting the reference.  Payments appeared on my records within about 6 weeks.  (Paid for 4 years in 2 instalments).

So once they have provided you an 18 digit reference number, where you able to select a specific year to make your payments?

If you're only paying for one tax year, then that 18 digit reference includes the amount for that year so they know which year to attribute it to. If paying for more than one year they will have made a note when you phoned about which years you want to pay.

This.  I did say which years I wanted to pay.  Mind you, I had full (financial years) of NI conts from 1972 until 2016, so there was no doubt that I was only plugging post 2016 gaps.

eastcorkram

You often read on here about making sure you pay the right years, that will benefit you. So I was  wondering , presumably it's possible to pay the wrong year , which adds nothing.

Surely that's nuts? There should be something that pops up an error message if you try to pay the wrong one.

If someone has paid a wrong year, which therefore hasn't increased their pension, can you get the money back?

p00hsticks

eastcorkram said:

You often read on here about making sure you pay the right years, that will benefit you. So I was  wondering , presumably it's possible to pay the wrong year , which adds nothing.

Surely that's nuts? There should be something that pops up an error message if you try to pay the wrong one.

If someone has paid a wrong year, which therefore hasn't increased their pension, can you get the money back?

I believe that's why HMRC tend to ask you if you have checked with the Future Pension service before accepting your money.

I think I've read on here that people have got their money back if they've been wrongly advised about which years to purchase, but I'm not sure how easy / common that is. After all, it's perfectly possible for the purchase of an extra year to boost someones Pension forecast at the time, but for it to later turn out that the year was unecessary as the person goes on to accumulate further years at a later date (e,g if the person goes on to return to work or get credits from benefits)