Guide discussion: Voluntary national insurance contributions

Suhusa

You are entitled to pay Class 2 if you worked immediately before you went overseas and you work(ed) overseas. The overseas side of things does not have a time requirement - just that you had to work for the period you want to pay contributions for. As for the 'immediately', that is remarkably ill-defined. Others would have needed to stop working a week before moving to be eligble for Class 2. I am paying Class 2, despite having three weeks between stopping work and moving. No idea if they were more lenient due to covid though.

Rogerrabbit777

I finished my last shift on the saturday and left the country the following tuesday. Iam just confused as to what sections i should fill in on the form. I wanting to find out if iam entitled to claim class two as the overseas work was minimal seasonal hours although contracted

Suhusa

All sections except section 5 (that's the one about volunteers) should be relevant.

Rogerrabbit777

Thank you. I have found the notes for the form albeit theres not many of them. Im basically wanting to find out if iam entitled to class 2 payments. If its class 3 then i wont bother. So dont want to fill in the bank detail payment and also the section 23 about how to pay. Theres no section where it asks about the work you did overseas and the years i want to claim for so i presume they check that themselves? I guess i need to write a covering letter explaining?

Suhusa

There's a tick box towards the end about checking whether you have a complete record. Tick that. Also, if you put yearly payments then you'll simply get a bill for your contributions and you can decide whether to pay or not.

You'll only find out if you're eligible to pay Class 2 by applying. So simply tick you want to pay Class 2 and send it off.

Rogerrabbit777

Thank you. Much appreciated 

VXman

I filled in a CF83 recently to claim for 3 years abroad 2017-2020. I was told it would be at least 6 months before they would look at it. It's concerning sending a form off and then waiting at least 6 months to hear back. No clue if it arrived or not.

pinnks

Not wishing to add to HMRC's workload but they can tell you when it arrived and which date's post they are working on if you call.

p00hsticks

[Deleted User] said:

I am guessing as I have 34 years left to contribute the remaing 32 years I should just do nothing and now I am in employment the years 2022 to 2023 onwards will be in a much better state to tidy up over time.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 As you have so few years currently, filling any / all of them would boost your forecast.
 But in your shoes, if you intend to go on working for the foreseeable future, I'd personally not be spending money on them at this point.

 If circumstances change and you need to stop working for any reason before state retirement age then the option to make voluntary contributions is likely to still be there. And if you need to claim benefits for any reason in the future, that may also bring credits.

So in my opinion I'd say just keep monitoring your situation via your forecast every year to check you are still on track for that maximum and take action if needed at a later date...

Rogerrabbit777

[Deleted User] said:

p00hsticks said:

[Deleted User] said:

I am guessing as I have 34 years left to contribute the remaing 32 years I should just do nothing and now I am in employment the years 2022 to 2023 onwards will be in a much better state to tidy up over time.

I'm sorry for your loss.

 As you have so few years currently, filling any / all of them would boost your forecast.
 But in your shoes, if you intend to go on working for the foreseeable future, I'd personally not be spending money on them at this point.

 If circumstances change and you need to stop working for any reason before state retirement age then the option to make voluntary contributions is likely to still be there. And if you need to claim benefits for any reason in the future, that may also bring credits.

So in my opinion I'd say just keep monitoring your situation via your forecast every year to check you are still on track for that maximum and take action if needed at a later date...

I will hold onto my money for now as I intend to work for those remaining years.

Thank you for your advice and kind words.

I agree with pooh. If you have more years to work than what you need then imo theres no need to spend the cash especially if they are all full years and not a small top up amount.Im in a similar ish sitution but iam in my mid 40’s and need more years than i have until pension age. I have just bought three years as they were semi filled years so three full years has cost me the same as buying one and I will be then at the golden 10 year mark and work onwards. I also cared for a family member (why i worked part time) and even though they claimed DLA i was unaware of carers credit etc which has led to me having many semi filled years