uk national insurance voluntary contributions

[chang50]

4 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

Yes 18 digit number required to pay by bank transfer,

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

Just to be sure is this 18 digit ref. number applicable to paying from outside the UK?On the GOV.UK website the ref. number for overseas payments is given as your NI number etc.

[BritManToo]

Just now, chang50 said:

Just to be sure is this 18 digit ref. number applicable to paying from outside the UK?On the GOV.UK website the ref. number for overseas payments is given as your NI number etc.

How would they know I was overseas?

I'd pay from a UK bank account.

[chang50]

3 minutes ago, BritManToo said:

How would they know I was overseas?

I'd pay from a UK bank account.

I do pay from a UK bank account but I have already informed them I live in Thailand..

[Polar Bear]

12 hours ago, The Fugitive said:

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?

Huh, weird, I was sure I had already replied to this. 

I called them and got all the details before I made a payment for myself. I never got a bill. These are the account details I use for BACS:

Acc name: GBS RE NICO RECEIP
The name was longer but that's all I could include
Ac no: 30944793 
Sc: 202048

The reference is NINumberICSurnameFirstinitial
For example, 
NI012345AICSMITHJ
Where NI is: NI012345A
IC
Surname: Smith
Initial: J

My surname is too long so it's cutoff and there's no initial, so my ref is 18 digits long. 
My husband has a shorter surname, so with his initial, his ref is 17 digits long

As I said I did speak to them first to get the details, and obviously, that would be the sensible thing to do. However, I did just work out the reference for my husband and send the payment, and they've always credited OK, but of course there's a risk that could go horribly wrong. Especially for the first payment. 

I don't have a direct debit. I just wait until it shows up in my NI record as an incomplete year and send a single payment. It does take months for the payments to credit. If you want, you can call about a month after you've sent it, and they can check and credit it within days, but I just wait it out. 


Looking at the website, these bank details are specifically for people overseas making a payment from a UK account. 
https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance/bank-details

 

[The Fugitive]

8 hours ago, Polar Bear said:

Huh, weird, I was sure I had already replied to this. 

I called them and got all the details before I made a payment for myself. I never got a bill. These are the account details I use for BACS:

Acc name: GBS RE NICO RECEIP
The name was longer but that's all I could include
Ac no: 30944793 
Sc: 202048

The reference is NINumberICSurnameFirstinitial
For example, 
NI012345AICSMITHJ
Where NI is: NI012345A
IC
Surname: Smith
Initial: J

My surname is too long so it's cutoff and there's no initial, so my ref is 18 digits long. 
My husband has a shorter surname, so with his initial, his ref is 17 digits long

As I said I did speak to them first to get the details, and obviously, that would be the sensible thing to do. However, I did just work out the reference for my husband and send the payment, and they've always credited OK, but of course there's a risk that could go horribly wrong. Especially for the first payment. 

I don't have a direct debit. I just wait until it shows up in my NI record as an incomplete year and send a single payment. It does take months for the payments to credit. If you want, you can call about a month after you've sent it, and they can check and credit it within days, but I just wait it out. 


Looking at the website, these bank details are specifically for people overseas making a payment from a UK account. 
https://www.gov.uk/pay-voluntary-class-3-national-insurance/bank-details

 

Incredibly helpful! Thank you so much for taking the time and trouble to explain. It is very much appreciated.