uk national insurance voluntary contributions

[chang50]

Hi,

Is it true that it is possible to pay UK class 3 voluntary NI contributions after reaching retirement age and starting to receive your state pension?

[Kwasaki]

I wouldn't of thought so unless you refer it to a later year. 

They base your UK pension on the amount of NI payments made the minimum last I heard was 35 years for a basic UK pension.

Less than that that it goes down to a minimum of 10 years last I remember. 

Best telephone them and find out. 

[chang50]

9 minutes ago, Kwasaki said:

I wouldn't of thought so unless you refer it to a later year. 

They base your UK pension on the amount of NI payments made the minimum last I heard was 35 years for a basic UK pension.

Less than that that it goes down to a minimum of 10 years last I remember. 

Best telephone them and find out. 

Thanks another thing is that it gets frozen...so I need to pay 2 more years to make 35 years and they haven't given me a figure 2021-22 yet..

[Kwasaki]

49 minutes ago, chang50 said:

Thanks another thing is that it gets frozen...so I need to pay 2 more years to make 35 years and they haven't given me a figure 2021-22 yet..

I think the covid situation has messed things up,  I guess many DWP people are working from home.

Have you tried the UK gov web site to find out how much a week Class 3  N.I. contribution are, the only other way is to kept on phoning or sent an email.

An email is taking 2 to 3 weeks the last time I emailed them for them to answer but they acknowledge the email sent within a day or so. 

[chang50]

1 hour ago, Kwasaki said:

I think the covid situation has messed things up,  I guess many DWP people are working from home.

Have you tried the UK gov web site to find out how much a week Class 3  N.I. contribution are, the only other way is to kept on phoning or sent an email.

An email is taking 2 to 3 weeks the last time I emailed them for them to answer but they acknowledge the email sent within a day or so. 

Thanks again I did find some figures...I sent them an email hoping they can confirm they are accurate.

[Kwasaki]

49 minutes ago, chang50 said:

Thanks again I did find some figures...I sent them an email hoping they can confirm they are accurate.

Yeah get it sorted frozen or not it's enough money to live on in many places in Thailand.

Except for HiSo Brit's here. 555

[mrfill]

How much it costs depend on when the gaps in your record occurred.

The standard cost of buying 'Class 3' National Insurance contributions is £15.40 for a week of missing contributions in the 2021-22 tax year. It would cost you £880.80 for an entire year. 

However, if you are looking to fill gaps that occurred in the past two tax years, you would pay the rate from those years. So, voluntary contributions would cost £15.30 per week for gaps in 2020-21, and £15 per week for gaps in 2019-20. 

For those able to fill gaps dating between 2006 and 2016 (men born after 5 April 1951 and women born after 5 April 1953), the cost for a week is £15.40. 

 

Yes, you can buy back years after pension age.

 

You may be able to get some ideas from here ... https://www.gov.uk/check-state-pension

[Brick Top]

On 7/14/2021 at 3:46 PM, chang50 said:

Thanks again I did find some figures...I sent them an email hoping they can confirm they are accurate.

Would it be possible please to give me the actual email address , I have written letters and phoned them several times about paying my volentry class 3 contributions but never get a proper answer.

[Brick Top]

On 7/14/2021 at 2:00 PM, Kwasaki said:

I think the covid situation has messed things up,  I guess many DWP people are working from home.

Have you tried the UK gov web site to find out how much a week Class 3  N.I. contribution are, the only other way is to kept on phoning or sent an email.

An email is taking 2 to 3 weeks the last time I emailed them for them to answer but they acknowledge the email sent within a day or so. 

Could you give me there email address please , as I am fed up calling them and not getting through

[Polar Bear]

I don't know if it will work after retirement age, but I use the government gateway site. I can pull up my NI record and it shows which years are full and which years aren't, and how much I need to pay for each year to make it count. Then I make a payment for that amount, and eventually it credits. If it's not obvious which year you want to credit, they put it towards the oldest possible year, but I just make sure the amount I send matches a year, and they figure it out. But it avoids having to try to speak to anyone.

[Kwasaki]

35 minutes ago, Brick Top said:

Could you give me there email address please , as I am fed up calling them and not getting through

Here it takes them a while to reply because covid but a email usually is sent saying we have received your email.

 

https://www.gov.uk/international-pension-centre 

 

It's on Uk govt website or you can google contact IPC UK.

[Scouse123]

2 hours ago, Brick Top said:

Would it be possible please to give me the actual email address , I have written letters and phoned them several times about paying my volentry class 3 contributions but never get a proper answer.

 

https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

 

Phone 0300 200 3500

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Scouse123

[Scouse123]

2 hours ago, Brick Top said:

Could you give me there email address please , as I am fed up calling them and not getting through

 

www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance

 

In all my correspondence and letters, they do not give an email address. I have payments system for class 2 and 3, I have a phone and this website I have given you for contacting them with the available options.

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Scouse123

[Scouse123]

On 7/14/2021 at 1:04 PM, chang50 said:

Thanks another thing is that it gets frozen...so I need to pay 2 more years to make 35 years and they haven't given me a figure 2021-22 yet..

 

Stop panicking they will allow it and you to pay, you are nowhere near the cut off time limit for contributions.

 

The effect of those two years to make 35 years is negligible but they will let you pay.

[Brick Top]

Last year I paid £10,800 in voluntary payments as I only had 15 years , now I have 29 they wouldn't allow me to go back any further than 14 years. 

I still have another 3 years to go as I am 63 now , so that will be £780 this year and then a further 2 years so I will then have 32 years fully paid.

My problem is ,when I look at my Pension forecast and look back through the years paid its showing for the years 1997 to 2003 ( 6 years) "These years are still being looked into so see if they count towards your pension"

Its shown that now for the past 2 years , when I call them I can never seem to get the reason why. So I dont know if to keep paying the £780 for the next 3 years or not. If I continue to  pay them and those 6 years eventually qualify , then I have thrown my money away as with the 29 years I already now have and those 6 years would give me the full 35 years.

 

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Brick Top

[BritManToo]

6 hours ago, Brick Top said:

If I continue to  pay them and those 6 years eventually qualify , then I have thrown my money away as with the 29 years I already now have and those 6 years would give me the full 35 years.

You're wrong ..........

years purchased after the 2016 change are worth far more (4 pound+/week) than any year you purchase before that year, which add almost nothing.

[chang50]

14 hours ago, Scouse123 said:

 

Stop panicking they will allow it and you to pay, you are nowhere near the cut off time limit for contributions.

 

The effect of those two years to make 35 years is negligible but they will let you pay.

I've now paid everything including contributions for the tax year 2020-21.I phoned the UK asking if I could pay 2021-22 in advance knowing it is 800.80 the agent seemed unsure saying it would just sit in the system.He suggested phoning again near the end of the tax year.My pension is due next April shortly after the start of the 2022-23 tax year after which it will be frozen as I have been totally honest about living in Thailand..My concern is I will either miss a years contributions leading to a smaller pension or if I pay it will be pointless as my pension is already frozen.

[The Fugitive]

17 hours ago, Polar Bear said:

I don't know if it will work after retirement age, but I use the government gateway site. I can pull up my NI record and it shows which years are full and which years aren't, and how much I need to pay for each year to make it count. Then I make a payment for that amount, and eventually it credits. If it's not obvious which year you want to credit, they put it towards the oldest possible year, but I just make sure the amount I send matches a year, and they figure it out. But it avoids having to try to speak to anyone.

Many thanks for this advice. Most helpful and reassuring! I was about to do exactly the same but hesitated thinking they may 'lose' my payments or otherwise incorrectly allocate them. I read that you have to contact them first to request a payment reference number and they send you a bill, payments to be made either quarterly of monthly via direct debit. Did you request a reference number or do you send BACS quoting your National Insurance Number as your reference?

[Harveyboy]

18 hours ago, Brick Top said:

Would it be possible please to give me the actual email address , I have written letters and phoned them several times about paying my volentry class 3 contributions but never get a proper answer.

go onto gov web site  create an account you can speak to them  no charge for calls you are given an    i d number for each time you call  ive spoken a few times to them very helpfull

[Brick Top]

5 hours ago, BritManToo said:

You're wrong ..........

years purchased after the 2016 change are worth far more (4 pound+/week) than any year you purchase before that year, which add almost nothing.

I am not understanding what you mean , I paid right back to 2006 (14 years) before I paid I got a very detailed letter from HM Revenues and Customs PT Operations.

Informing me if I back paid these 14 years , it would increase my pension from £72.92 a week to £164.21 a week. So an extra £91.29 a week or £4747.08 per year more , so it cost me £10,082 to back pay all those 14 years to 2006. I calculated that it would take me just over 2 years to get my £10,082 back by the increase in pension. So to me it made complete sence to back pay all those 14 years , they wouldn't allow me to back pay beyond 2006/2007 otherwise I would have to allow me to get the full pension. 

[BritManToo]

9 minutes ago, Brick Top said:

I am not understanding what you mean , I paid right back to 2006 (14 years) before I paid I got a very detailed letter from HM Revenues and Customs PT Operations.

Informing me if I back paid these 14 years , it would increase my pension from £72.92 a week to £164.21 a week. So an extra £91.29 a week or £4747.08 per year more , so it cost me £10,082 to back pay all those 14 years to 2006. I calculated that it would take me just over 2 years to get my £10,082 back by the increase in pension. So to me it made complete sence to back pay all those 14 years , they wouldn't allow me to back pay beyond 2006/2007 otherwise I would have to allow me to get the full pension. 

I also had a full assessment.

They told me extra years I pay before 2016 (changed from 30 to 35 years) would make no difference to my pension. I'd already made 30 years contributions by then, which entitled me to the full old pension. Years I pay after 2016 would add pounds 4.25/week to my 'old' pension entitlement.

 

I decided not to pay for any extra years as it needs 7 years of pension payments (add cost of contributions, subtract 20% tax on the extra pension income) to recover your extra contributions, and I consider my chances reaching or living past age 73 to be low, so not a good bet for me.

 

I suspect you've wasted a lot of money.

Lots of stories around of people who paid extra years but got nothing more from it.

Edited July 24, 2021 by BritManToo

[Brick Top]

49 minutes ago, Harveyboy said:

go onto gov web site  create an account you can speak to them  no charge for calls you are given an    i d number for each time you call  ive spoken a few times to them very helpfull

Hello , which government website ? , I already have an account on the UK Goverment Gateway system for about 20 years but I cant find anyway to phone free on there ?. Is it another Government website your refairing to ?

[Brick Top]

9 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

I also had a full assessment.

They told me extra years I pay before 2016 (changed from 30 to 35 years) would make no difference to my pension. I'd already made 30 years contributions by then, which entitled me to the full old pension. Years I pay after 2016 would add pounds 4.25/week to my 'old' pension entitlement.

 

I decided not to pay for any extra years as it needs 7 years of pension payments to recover your extra contributions, and I consider my chances reaching or living past age 73 to be low, so not a good bet for me.

 

I suspect you've wasted a lot of money.

Lots of stories around of people who paid extra years but got nothing more from it.

Well I looked into my case for about 2 years before I handed over £10,082 to them. Before I only had 15 full years now i have 29 full years ,  it just seemed a No Brainer to me as by paying it increased my pension from £72.92 a week to £164.21 a week so I would have to live beyond 69 to make it worth my while. 

[BritManToo]

14 minutes ago, Brick Top said:

Well I looked into my case for about 2 years before I handed over £10,082 to them. Before I only had 15 full years now i have 29 full years ,  it just seemed a No Brainer to me as by paying it increased my pension from £72.92 a week to £164.21 a week so I would have to live beyond 69 to make it worth my while. 

Your estimated quote assumes you pay the next 3 years contributions.

So far you've only got 150 pounds/week estimate.

So you've paid 10k pounds to get an extra 75 pounds/week - 20% tax ...... = extra 60 pounds/week

Maybe the calculation works better for you because you'd originally paid so few years.

 

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by BritManToo

[Brick Top]

13 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Your estimated quote assumes you pay the next 3 years contributions.

So far you've only got 150 pounds/week estimate.

So you've paid 10k pounds to get an extra 75 pounds/week - 20% tax ...... = extra 60 pounds/week

Maybe the calculation works better for you because you'd originally paid so few years.

 

 

Yes , your correct , I still have to pay another 2 years (i just paid last years £780) , so it would take me 3 years to recoup the money paid.

I am not sure were you get the 20% tax from as I am well under the tax threshold myself.

It seems every case is different , maybe mine is different as I was self employed from 1982 until I moved here in in 2001

[steve187]

2 hours ago, chang50 said:

I've now paid everything including contributions for the tax year 2020-21.I phoned the UK asking if I could pay 2021-22 in advance knowing it is 800.80 the agent seemed unsure saying it would just sit in the system.He suggested phoning again near the end of the tax year.My pension is due next April shortly after the start of the 2022-23 tax year after which it will be frozen as I have been totally honest about living in Thailand..My concern is I will either miss a years contributions leading to a smaller pension or if I pay it will be pointless as my pension is already frozen.

i would phone them again and ask for i think its a 13 or maybe a 16 digit reference number that will refer to the payment, pay the money, at some stage it will be allocated to your account and show as 21/21 class 3 payment, if you start to receive your pension and its a year short, it will at some stage be updated and will be back dated.

I am in the same boat, i paid class 2 via HMRC on the 8th of April this year for 20/21, it is still in my HMRC account and has still not ben allocated, i have spoken to pensions and was told as i have posted above, my pension started late April 2021, i am still one year short about £20 every 4 weeks

 

edit what is your pension forecast showing

 

Edited July 24, 2021 by steve187

[chang50]

1 hour ago, Brick Top said:

Yes , your correct , I still have to pay another 2 years (i just paid last years £780) , so it would take me 3 years to recoup the money paid.

I am not sure were you get the 20% tax from as I am well under the tax threshold myself.

It seems every case is different , maybe mine is different as I was self employed from 1982 until I moved here in in 2001

Everything I have read including official letters from the DWP to me have said there is no benefit to be gained in paying voluntary contributions for tax years earlier than 2016-17.Your personal circumstances might be highly exceptional of course as you suggest.

 

[chang50]

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

i would phone them again and ask for i think its a 13 or maybe a 16 digit reference number that will refer to the payment, pay the money, at some stage it will be allocated to your account and show as 21/21 class 3 payment, if you start to receive your pension and its a year short, it will at some stage be updated and will be back dated.

I am in the same boat, i paid class 2 via HMRC on the 8th of April this year for 20/21, it is still in my HMRC account and has still not ben allocated, i have spoken to pensions and was told as i have posted above, my pension started late April 2021, i am still one year short about £20 every 4 weeks

 

edit what is your pension forecast showing

 

Thanks I will phone again.I was sure there had to be a way of making this last payment.My current forecast is 167 per week but that is minus the 20/21 payment I made recently that is stuck in the system..Together with the 21/22 payment if I make it this will rise to 177.

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, Brick Top said:

I am not sure were you get the 20% tax from as I am well under the tax threshold myself.

I have other pensions ..........

Just had a look, currently they will give me 156 pounds/week, I can up that to 176.50/week by paying a tad under 4,000 in voluntary class 3 contributions. Getting me an extra 1066 pounds/year -20% tax = 850 pounds/year. 5 years to recoup so I'd need to live to age 71.

 

[BritManToo]

1 hour ago, steve187 said:

i would phone them again and ask for i think its a 13 or maybe a 16 digit reference number that will refer to the payment, pay the money, at some stage it will be allocated to your account and show as 21/21 class 3 payment, if you start to receive your pension and its a year short, it will at some stage be updated and will be back dated.

Yes 18 digit number required to pay by bank transfer,

Number only available from helpline ............... helpline always busy.

 

Someone says first 2 not applicable (or 60) for one off payment

next 7 your NI number (my NI has 9)

next 2 'IC'

next 5-6 first letters of surname (my surname only has 5)

final your initial.

Edited July 24, 2021 by BritManToo