Voluntary NI Contributions - 18 digit reference

WH_Saint

Last year I obtained an 18 digit reference number in order to pay voluntary NI contributions for a partial year.

I missed the the April deadline to pay the quoted amount and now I see from my Government Gateway account I need to pay around £20 more - no problem. My question is, will I need to apply for a new 18 digit payment reference for the increased amount, or can I simply use the existing reference number but increase the amount to the current required amount ?

Tried unsuccessfully to get through to HMRC - get so far before being cut off with "we are not able to help with your enquiry". Hopefully one of the good folk of MSE has experience of this. TIA.

MakingUpGround

I was told earlier this year to keep the number for future years, but I've not used it twice, only the once so far 

Misslayed

I've made two separate payments for missing years, I was given a different ref number for each. 

FYI I was advised by the call handler who issued my ref number to wait about three weeks, then ring the helpline on 03002003500 to check if my payment had been received  and ask for my payment to be allocated to a specific year, which I did, and my record was updated immediately 

jem16

WH_Saint said:

Last year I obtained an 18 digit reference number in order to pay voluntary NI contributions for a partial year.

I missed the the April deadline to pay the quoted amount and now I see from my Government Gateway account I need to pay around £20 more - no problem. My question is, will I need to apply for a new 18 digit payment reference for the increased amount, or can I simply use the existing reference number but increase the amount to the current required amount ?

Tried unsuccessfully to get through to HMRC - get so far before being cut off with "we are not able to help with your enquiry". Hopefully one of the good folk of MSE has experience of this. TIA.

Part of your 18 digit reference number includes the amount you are paying so technically that's all that will vary from one year to another.

WH_Saint

jem16 said:

WH_Saint said:

Last year I obtained an 18 digit reference number in order to pay voluntary NI contributions for a partial year.

I missed the the April deadline to pay the quoted amount and now I see from my Government Gateway account I need to pay around £20 more - no problem. My question is, will I need to apply for a new 18 digit payment reference for the increased amount, or can I simply use the existing reference number but increase the amount to the current required amount ?

Tried unsuccessfully to get through to HMRC - get so far before being cut off with "we are not able to help with your enquiry". Hopefully one of the good folk of MSE has experience of this. TIA.

Part of your 18 digit reference number includes the amount you are paying so technically that's all that will vary from one year to another.

Thanks for that. I do see the amount in pounds & pence included in the reference number now that you have pointed it out.

Rather than pay by bank transfer and include the reference number, I think I am now leaning towards sending a cheque - at least that way I can include a note to explain the situation.

p00hsticks

A few years back I think there was a thread where someone had managed to work out how the 18 digit reference was constructed (apart I think from one digit) it was some sort of combination of (to the best of my recollection) NI number and/or date of birth r with the payment amount - unfortunately I can't locate that thread at the moment.  

RG2015

p00hsticks said:

A few years back I think there was a thread where someone had managed to work out how the 18 digit reference was constructed (apart I think from one digit) it was some sort of combination of (to the best of my recollection) NI number and/or date of birth r with the payment amount - unfortunately I can't locate that thread at the moment.  

Here it is, on the link below. Look for the post by @Sledgehead

I have also worked out mine with the exception of the very last character which is suspected to be a check digit.


https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5663729/voluntary-class-3-ni-contributions-how-to-pay/p1

RG2015

jem16 said:

WH_Saint said:

Last year I obtained an 18 digit reference number in order to pay voluntary NI contributions for a partial year.

I missed the the April deadline to pay the quoted amount and now I see from my Government Gateway account I need to pay around £20 more - no problem. My question is, will I need to apply for a new 18 digit payment reference for the increased amount, or can I simply use the existing reference number but increase the amount to the current required amount ?

Tried unsuccessfully to get through to HMRC - get so far before being cut off with "we are not able to help with your enquiry". Hopefully one of the good folk of MSE has experience of this. TIA.

Part of your 18 digit reference number includes the amount you are paying so technically that's all that will vary from one year to another.

I have just checked back and a couple of years ago I paid £741.00 but used the previous year's code which had 73320 as digits 3 to 7.

£733.20 was the previous year's amount but the £741.00 was nevertheless still applied correctly to NI record.

As an aside, last year I paid two years which was £1,575.60, which is six digits so did not fit in spaces 3 to 7.

HMRC dealt with this by giving me the code 99999 for the spaces 3 to 7, and put a note on my file as to which years were being paid. I guess they could have worked it out as I only had two years left to pay.

WH_Saint

Much appreciated RG2015 !

jem16

RG2015 said:

jem16 said:

WH_Saint said:

Last year I obtained an 18 digit reference number in order to pay voluntary NI contributions for a partial year.

I missed the the April deadline to pay the quoted amount and now I see from my Government Gateway account I need to pay around £20 more - no problem. My question is, will I need to apply for a new 18 digit payment reference for the increased amount, or can I simply use the existing reference number but increase the amount to the current required amount ?

Tried unsuccessfully to get through to HMRC - get so far before being cut off with "we are not able to help with your enquiry". Hopefully one of the good folk of MSE has experience of this. TIA.

Part of your 18 digit reference number includes the amount you are paying so technically that's all that will vary from one year to another.

I have just checked back and a couple of years ago I paid £741.00 but used the previous year's code which had 73320 as digits 3 to 7.

£733.20 was the previous year's amount but the £741.00 was nevertheless still applied correctly to NI record.

It was previously suggested that using the same reference number would suffice although I never actually tried it. 

jem16

WH_Saint said:

jem16 said:

WH_Saint said:

Last year I obtained an 18 digit reference number in order to pay voluntary NI contributions for a partial year.

I missed the the April deadline to pay the quoted amount and now I see from my Government Gateway account I need to pay around £20 more - no problem. My question is, will I need to apply for a new 18 digit payment reference for the increased amount, or can I simply use the existing reference number but increase the amount to the current required amount ?

Tried unsuccessfully to get through to HMRC - get so far before being cut off with "we are not able to help with your enquiry". Hopefully one of the good folk of MSE has experience of this. TIA.

Part of your 18 digit reference number includes the amount you are paying so technically that's all that will vary from one year to another.

Thanks for that. I do see the amount in pounds & pence included in the reference number now that you have pointed it out.

Rather than pay by bank transfer and include the reference number, I think I am now leaning towards sending a cheque - at least that way I can include a note to explain the situation.

I’d tend to stick to the bank transfer method. Most of the people with problems seem to be those who have sent a cheque and it’s taking ages to process.