My partner ending self employment - future NIC question?

Midnight_Tboy · 16 September 2018 at 1:12PM

Hi all,

Hope I've posted this in the right section, apologies if not.

I'm working full time, but my partner is self employed as a sole trader for the past 3 or 4 years in an online business. We have 2 children

Her only history before then was working from a late teenager til that company went bust (which resulted in her having a gap NIC year), then becoming a mother to our children, until the point of going self employed

Before she went self employed, I believe her NI contributions were automatically paid (I'm not sure where from/how they were covered initially). She was originally a housewive/looking after the children. The children are currently 10 and 13yrs old.

Previous years when we're completed the self assessment, we've paid the class 2 NIC (and in 1 case opted to skip it)

Due to a few circumstances, since this tax year, there's been no opportunity yet to even start work, and we're already into September now with no money earned from her self employment.

We're considering ending her self employment now, as time to be able to spend with her working is a serious issue.

From what I understand, its fairly simple to "stop working self employed", but I'm wondering what happens regarding NI contributions for her from that point? Are they automatically covered by the government like they were before she went self employed, or is there something we need to do? Or are we then left having to pay it manually from now on?

Hope you can all help,

Many thanks

frugalmacdugal · 16 September 2018 at 1:23PM

Hi,

no expert, but to get 'automatic' contributions she would need to be actively job seeking,

or she could pay voluntary contributions, look.

Midnight_Tboy · 16 September 2018 at 1:43PM

Thanks,

Thats sort of what I was wondering.

Back then, she didn't have to do anything as such to get them. After the old company she worked for went bust, it was about a week before was meant to go on maternity leave, so then had to get a statutory maternity pay I think it was.....from that point it's always automatically been covered for her. I've (almost) always been in full time employment since then

I'm presuming that we had children under a certain age may of had some part to play in it?

Just looking at that Class 3 voluntary NIC, it seems to be a lot more than Class 2 NIC, so that would actually make it more expensive than just staying as self employed?

confusing times

frugalmacdugal · 16 September 2018 at 1:49PM

Hi,

as I said I'm no expert, just going from personal experience, hopefully somebody will jump in who knows what they are talking about.

Good luck.

Midnight_Tboy · 16 September 2018 at 1:57PM

Thanks....We're still uncertain as to the decision to end it - it would certainly take away some of the stress worrying about how far behind with not having started this year etc.....I do wonder how things would've been right now had she not went self employed, ie if would've still been automatically paid etc. Appreciate the help from all who can

Comms69 · 16 September 2018 at 2:24PM

Midnight_Tboy wrote: »

Thanks....We're still uncertain as to the decision to end it - it would certainly take away some of the stress worrying about how far behind with not having started this year etc.....I do wonder how things would've been right now had she not went self employed, ie if would've still been automatically paid etc. Appreciate the help from all who can

It’s paid automatically if claiming certain benefits. You may or may not be entitled to it

But there’s not ‘end’ to self employment. You can’t serve yourself notice. You start and stop as you choose

Midnight_Tboy · 16 September 2018 at 2:45PM

Comms69 wrote: »

It’s paid automatically if claiming certain benefits. You may or may not be entitled to it

But there’s not ‘end’ to self employment. You can’t serve yourself notice. You start and stop as you choose

Thanks.

Well I believe we still get a tiny amount of child tax credits, no working tax credit though (which is probably about to stop with annual wage rises etc I think)....and of course Child Benefit....I wonder if that would get her to auto enroll back onto it? Googling it I cant seem to find any definite answer.

By ending, I mean stop of course, but yes, last earnings was like march last year (and self assessment is upto date)

frugalmacdugal · 16 September 2018 at 2:53PM

Hi,

have a look here, might help.

Savvy_Sue · 16 September 2018 at 11:13PM

child benefit used to give Home Responsibilities Protection (effectively an NI stamp, valid towards your pension but not for all potential future claims), and this USED to apply however old the children were, but I think that changed, so I'm not sure if she'd still be covered or not, hopefully the links will help, so this is just to confirm that she was indeed 'automatically' covered at some points.

However, it might be worth her getting a state pension forecast to see how many years contributions she's got, to work out how many more she might need, and consider whether it's worth making up the gaps and / or continuing to pay a voluntary stamp.

My partner ending self employment - future NIC question?

Comments

Categories

Get our FREE Weekly email full of deals & guides - and it’s spam-free