Employed and Self-emplyed - NICs and Expenses

dswilkes

I am employed earning about 65k a year on which I am taxed through PAYE. I claim about 1500 in professional subscription  expenses in this employment. In addition I have a small side-hustle which went over the trading allowance of £1000 last year for the first time (earning just over £2000). I have now registered for self-assessment.

I have two questions as a result:

1) NICs - I know that I won't be obliged to pay Class 2 NICs as my income from self-employment is well below the threshold. But I am concerned that not paying voluntary Class 2 NICs might leave a gap in my qualifying years for state pension etc. I have already paid about £5269.15 in Class 1 NICs in the last tax year - do I really need to pay the extra Class 2s on such a small amount not to gave a gap?

2) Expenses - I understand that in order to utilise the £1000 trading allowance as partial relief I need to claim no expenses. But does this apply to my PAYE employment as well as my self-employment or can I continue to claim tax relief for expenses of employment on the PAYE part of my income?

I have found the tax manual to be as clear as mud, and not really very keen to elaborate on these issues. I am aware that there's supposed to be an NIC annual maximum but I have struggled to find a figure for that anywhere!

Thanks in advance.

Daniel

molerat

1.  Your class 1 will cover SP (and other benefit) requirements.  Voluntary class 2 is only needed if there is no other source of NI credits.

[Deleted User]

On the other point - the £1000 trading allowance does not affect your ability to claim professional subscriptions against your PAYE income. It is a trading allowance, specifically appropriate to trading income.