Self-employed Class 2 National Insurance voluntary payments confusion

nutoka

I'm in my 40s and been registered self-employed since 2015 for my small crafting venture but haven't had to submit a self-assessment due to income under £1000.

I've been looking at making voluntary national insurance contributions and was told by HMRC that I could pay 6 years (2018/19-2023/24) at the Class 2 rate but for anything before that it would be Class 3.

Should being registered self-employed since 2015 be enough to secure those years as Class 2 or is there a strict 6 year limit for Class 2 even with the extended missing NI years scheme?

Also, I'm sure I read somewhere that Class 2 voluntary contributions had been extended for 2016/17 and 2017/18 also. Does anyone know if this is the case and could I be eligible for this even if 2015/16 is out of the question?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

molerat

You need to ask them why this does not apply to you.  I believe they are once again incorrectly interpreting the regulations. Years earlier than 2015 are a different matter.

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2001/1004/regulation/61B

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/national-insurance-manual/nim70300

https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/national-insurance-manual/nim73000

nutoka

molerat said:

You need to ask them why this does not apply to you.  I believe they are once again incorrectly interpreting the regulations. Years earlier than 2015 are a different matter.

Thank you - I will take a read of these. Have you or any other forum member successfully challenged HMRC quoting these regulations?

I did question the person I was speaking to at HMRC and asked if a supervisor or manager could confirm this situation was correct but they were steadfast and told me to write in if I had any concerns. Ideally I would like to get this sorted over the phone and hopefully this info will help.

Dazed_and_C0nfused

nutoka said:

I'm in my 40s and been registered self-employed since 2015 for my small crafting venture but haven't had to submit a self-assessment due to income under £1000.

I've been looking at making voluntary national insurance contributions and was told by HMRC that I could pay 6 years (2018/19-2023/24) at the Class 2 rate but for anything before that it would be Class 3.

Should being registered self-employed since 2015 be enough to secure those years as Class 2 or is there a strict 6 year limit for Class 2 even with the extended missing NI years scheme?

Also, I'm sure I read somewhere that Class 2 voluntary contributions had been extended for 2016/17 and 2017/18 also. Does anyone know if this is the case and could I be eligible for this even if 2015/16 is out of the question?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Were you definitely registered as self employed, as opposed to Self Assessment?

And what was the reason for not filing a return for 2015-16 and 2016-17?