UC self employed. Paying off historical gaps in NI contributions, counts as NI payments for SE purpo

seatbeltnoob

Just wondering if that counts as paying NI or is that considered paying off an old debt which isn't part of self employment?

Is there any guidance on this?

tomtom256

I would say no, as they would argue it's nothing to do with the current self-employment/business and should have been paid at the time.

If you have the MIF applied then it wouldn't make a difference, as it wouldn't lower your assumed income, but any expenses need to meet the usual allowable expenses test.

That being said you could try and argue it is for the business and see what happens.

Guidance is below, which is quite vague.

"National Insurance contributions

These are either Class 2 or Class 4 contributions for National Insurance that you have actually paid on your self-employment during an assessment period.

You don’t need to estimate how much you owe for the month. If you haven’t actually paid any National Insurance in the assessment period, you should report £0."

seatbeltnoob

for true earnings and expenses you shouldn't really count it.Because it doesnt relate to self employment for that period. But with cash in cash out basis, it matters when the cash moves not the period the payment relates to.

In any case, i'm going to start paying off gaps in old NI to keep my capital under 16K. Not too worried about the expensing it.