National insurance query

tcem

If still working and have paid over 35 years national insurance contributions can you ask to stop paying. A friend of mine has received a letter from hmrc she is self employed and has been told she does not have to pay anymore. Does anyone know if that is the case?

Ayr_Rage

If they have qualified for a full state pension then further NI contributions will not increase that amount.

However I don't think anyone who works and earns above the limits is exempt from continuing to pay NI and Income Tax.

la531983

I suspect your friend has read things incorrectly or is winding you up.

QrizB

If still working and have paid over 35 years national insurance contributions can you ask to stop paying.

What exactly do you mean by "working"?

If you've got a PAYE job, no you can't.

Also 35 years is an irrelevant number; have you checked your State Pension forecast? You might need more or fewer years.

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

A friend of mine has received a letter from hmrc she is self employed and has been told she does not have to pay anymore.

Self-employed people who don't earn enough to be obliged to pay NI can still make voluntary NI payments. Does her letter concern voluntary payments that she's been making in previous years?

Secret2ndAccount

If you are below State Pension Age, and you earn more than £12,570 then you must pay National Insurance. applies to Employed and Self Employed (based on profits). The way it's calculated can get a bit complicated, so let's make it simple.

If you earn £5,000 you don't pay NI If you earn £20,000 you pay NI

If you don't pay NI it reduces your entitlement to Pension, and some unemployment and sickness benefits, so some people choose to pay NI voluntarily. At a certain point, paying more years of NI doesn't get you a bigger pension. Maybe your friend pays voluntarily and was told that further voluntary payments won't increase their pension.They might choose to stop.

It's not 35 years btw. That's a massive over-generalisation and doesn't apply to the majority of people. Check your personal number here:

https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

Read the whole thing, not just the top line.

If you want a more precise explanation of the NI calculation, give us some specific numbers, and maybe we can be more precise.

kermchem

For those on PAYE the question of whether you pay NI or not depends not on your annual salary, but on whether your salary for a pay period exceeds the NI threshold. You could work for 1 week and get paid £5K and so pay NI, or you could work part time for 52 weeks of the year for a total income of £5K and you will not pay NI. In neither case would you pay income tax if that £5K is the only taxable income for the year.

Secret2ndAccount

That is the complexity I was trying to keep out so that the OP could get a simple answer to their question.

flaneurs_lobster

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82042616#Comment_82042616

But there is no simple answer to the OP's question as framed, other than "it depends".

TheComputerGuru

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6673397/national-insurance-query

I am now over state retirement age and I am still working for an employer.

Upto state retirment age both me and my employer were paying NI contributions.
After state retirement age I am no longer paying NI, but my employer is.

Hope this makes things clear.

poseidon1

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6673397/national-insurance-query

Guidance below seems pretty clear on when class IV NI for the self employed ceases.

https://www.gov.uk/national-insurance