Voluntary NI Contributions - 18 digit reference

p00hsticks

radaegnever said:

Isn't it ridiculous in 21st Century? More specifically, I had to make tax  payment for my mother & did that by logging on & online. Payment taken immediately.    I'm aware many others are struggling to get through b4 April. Maybe it's a ploy by HMRC to reduce the amount of pension payments to be made in the future?? :-(

That's not really a fair comparison - just look at the number of threads on this board asking 'Should I buy back years '? 'Which years should I buy' ? etc etc etc.
You don't see an equivalent number over on the tax board asking 'should I pay this tax payment that I owe ?' 

If HMRC just enabled people to make whatever voluntary contributions they wanted online, with no confirmation as to whether or not it would actually be of any benefit to them, it would not only save HMRC having to provide so many call centre staff but also increase the NI they took in as people paid unecessarily for years that they didn't actually need to.

Cue Martin Lewis's cries of outrage a few years down the line that the nasty government allowed people to just make such payments without first having to seek advice.

Five or six years ago, I did exactly what people are trying to do now. I looked up my State Pension forecast online, rang the Future Pension Centre, confirmed what I needed to do, rang HMRC and not only got a reference and bank details to allow me to make a faster payment to buy a couple of back years, but the HMRC rep also set up a direct debit for me to pay monthly for the current year. I got straight through to both the FPC and HMRC, answered a few security questions and the whole process can't have taken more than about twenty-thirty minutes from start to finish.

The process isn't complicated, and it - and the deadline - have been known and spoken about about by many of us here on this board, and by people like Martin Lewis, for years,. The only problem is that suddenly as the deadline looms an incredibly large number of people have just woken up and smelt the coffee, after seven years of drifting along in blissful ignorance...

radaegnever

Yes, you're right. It less likely an HMRC ploy and more about their incompetence or laziness to provide an online payment, with reference to NI, year to be paid, monie due, etc etc.

Anyway, gave up trying to get through on telephone - cost too much on mobile. Last call, recorded message stated something about "not to worry about the April 2023 deadline due to unprecedented circumstances". There are many posts on HMRC forum of others in same situation.

 Have seen elsewhere on web that magic 18 digit number includes the amount to be paid & some of your name(?)& it's different for each year to be paid for ?? It seems it would be impossible to try to generate "magic number" myself.

 I've decided to risk sending cheques with cover letter, with amount to be paid, year that contributions are for, NI number, name, tel. addresss(as per HMRC website instructions for postal . Luckily had some cheques available, as bank doesn't issue cheques anymore :-)

 If the cheques don't get lost (standard post - HMRC don't sign for "signed for" apparently), I've ensured I have enough monies in bank account to cover them until at least September 2023 (apparently that's when HMRC are likely to get through the post/online stuff).

 If the cheques get lost/unbanked by end of Year - I'll have to try calling again (maybe it'll be quieter later in year or HMRC may provide an online payment, based on inputting national insurance, year to be paid, amount etc. for those who don't have a bill ) and pay remaining contributions (at higher rate?).

 Following these unpleasant feedbacks from "moneysavingexpert" forum, I've stepped back from panicking about this and reviewd my options. Some time ago, I got a Pension statement following long term injuries from a car. It said I had enough contributions. Apparently, the rules changed (sometime 2016?), which I wasn't aware of  and HMRC didn't send any notification. Also apparently Martin Lewis from MoneySaving Expert has been going on about voluntary NI &calling for magic number, for many years but we don't generally watch his tv programmes - caught the one about NI contributions by chance. I try to keep abreast of things, but I'm sure there are many issues that I am "blissfully" unaware of. ( Have spent missing years, surgeries etc. learning about property law for my mother, due to incompetent solicitors nearly costing me thousands in excess tax, inheritance tax, power of attorny laws, mental health issues, self-assessment rules, managing 2 households etc. etc.)

 With a minimum of four years missing, if my cheques get lost, me and partner have discussed living off our employer pensions and savings and me holding back from claiming my pension for as long as possible, which may make up the shortfall (If I have to go in a home/hospice I'll never have enough to live off whatever I do now).

I dropped the ball with voluntary NI contributions, but being a carer, covid, inflation etc like many others (& having had to learn about property law for my mother, due to incompetent solicitors nearly costing me thousands in excess tax, inheritance tax, power of attorny laws, mental health issues, self-assessment rules, managing 2 households etc. etc. ) I'm worn out.

More soberly, I have a strong probability of not living much past retirement age (was 67, now 68? & whatever future governments may change it to later....), so these voluntary contributions won't matter much anyhow.

molerat

Changing the current system to allow on line payments is a major IT project and voluntary contributions is likely not that great a factor in the system.  It has worked fine as is for many years and has only become a problem in the past 6 months or so and will go back to normal well before the end of the next FY.  Is it worth spending millions on something that is not really needed in the future. 

Not a personal criticism, as I know life often gets in the way of doing what needs to be done, but this deadline was enacted in 2013 along with a soft deadline in 2019 until when prices were held at old rates so conforming to the 2 year / 6 year rule for payments.  We sorted out our necessary payments before that date. We had been carefully monitoring the SP situation since stopping work in 2009 and having to take stock of the 2011 changes to pension ages and the fortuitous 2016 changes which increased the amount of pension we could get.  There have been many changes over the years and we have received letters about some of them, in fact MrsM once had a letter encouraging her to fill past gaps at special rates.  I remember talking to my SIL a couple of years ago about getting her pension sorted out and got all the information together for her to pay when she had the funds which was the end of 2022.

Deferring your pension is not the big win it used to be pre 2016, it is pretty much neutral and takes around 17 years to recoup the pension lost by not claiming it, the same amount paid out over a shorter period.