Voluntary Contributions for the tax year in which I reach State Pension Age?

pinnks

It says you’ll pay the rates that applied in the 2022 to 2023 tax year.  That could be read to mean the rates that applied to each year in 2022/23, so 2020/21 would remain a £795.60 and so on, or it could be read to mean that all years now cost the 2022/23 rate of £824.20.  Who wants to flip a coin?

Doctor_Who

pinnks said:

It says you’ll pay the rates that applied in the 2022 to 2023 tax year.  That could be read to mean the rates that applied to each year in 2022/23, so 2020/21 would remain a £795.60 and so on, or it could be read to mean that all years now cost the 2022/23 rate of £824.20.  Who wants to flip a coin?

My Gov.UK NI record shows 2021-22 as an incomplete year (no NI contributions). It then says:

You can make up the shortfall

Pay a voluntary contribution of £800.80 by 5 April 2028. This shortfall may increase after 5 April 2024.

So do I pay £800.80 or £824.20 (the rate applied in 2022-23)!? Maybe the figure in my NI record hasn't caught up with the recent changes......but this is surely going to cause even more confusion!

pinnks

5 April 2024 is the normal 2-year date, after which the price goes up for the remaining 4 years.  Question is, does the extended deadline apply to the rates for 2020/21 and 2021/22, or do the normal increase dates apply.  My guess is the NI records have not been updated yet but it is all far from clear...  Thankfully, or otherwise, I paid 2020/21 in March, so the question for that year is only of academic interest to me but 2021/22 is another matter...
 

molerat

All will likely become clear after this weekend's shut down for maintenance.

Suffolk_lass

When I looked it up to see what I needed to pay (in my state pension forecast) it gave me what I needed to pay for each year of shortfall - so that is what I have paid. It was (and remains, because I have checked again this morning) as follows:

19-20 £824.20
20-21 795.60
21-22 £800.80
22-23 £824.20
Total £3244.80

If I have not paid enough, it will tell me after they apply the voluntary contributions, or potentially when I apply to take it, although with 44 years of full contributions (lots of which were while in an occupational scheme and opted out) I guess they might not tell me. 

pinnks

Those are indeed the current amounts and had an extended deadline to keep those amounts of 31 July 2023.  The question being pondered is how the further extension to 5 April 2025 will operate.

pinnks

I asked HMRC about how the extended deadline works in terms of post-2016 years in particular and they have confirmed that the only change is that 31 July 2023 is replaced by 5 April 2025, as we all thought/hoped etc.

Doctor_Who

Great, so no rush to pay for 2021-22 before 31 July 2023! To be honest, an increase of £23.40 is pretty minor and would be mostly covered by the interest earned on £800 up to April 2024. Hopefully by the end of the year they'll have a more automated way to get the reference number etc.

pinnks

One can live in hope, lol

Silvertabby

The system worked fine until you-know-who incited mass panic and blew up the phone lines.