dracupg

Hi All, long time no post :-)

Does anyone have any experience of doing this? I understand there is a looking 31-Jul-23 deadline for buybacks from 2006. Only just found out about it as I had assumed that it wouldn't apply to use as we have been here over 20 years.

Martin Lewis's feature on it.
https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/sa...contributions/

tdrinker

Lots of information on this thread:
Class 2 NI. What about us poor expats paying voluntary contributions?

Pulaski

That is an excellent thread, that has been running for seven years, so it probably makes sense to start near the end, especially regarding the concessions to allow retrospective contributions as far back as 2006-2007 and the extension of that concession to July 2023.

dracupg

LOL, I'm a bit late to the party on this one.

Pulaski

That's as maybe, but if you pull your finger out you have 3 months to grab a unprecedented opportunity to make as many as 17 years NI contributions in arrears for any years since 2006-2007 for which you have not made previously contributions.

If you are eligible for Class 2 contributons, and apply to make them, the cost per year is less than £165, which will be repaid to in about the first 7½ months after you retire, which is an absolutely killer deal. To be clear, no matter how many years of Class 2 contributions you make, the increase in your state pension from those voluntary contributions, will repay whatever you pay in about 7½ months.

dracupg

Yeah, looks like a no-brainer. Which is exactly the amount of thought I like to put into these things

ryanx

I lived and worked for many years in the UK - built up 18 full years worth of NI contributions. However, I left many years ago and been traveling non-stop around the world since then and working as an online teacher to make a meager income and never becoming a tax resident in any country. A few weeks here, a couple of months there.

In order to fill in the gaps in my contributions and to qualify for a full state pension is this good enough for the DWP in UK to allow me to pay the much cheaper class 2 and not class 3? What complications could arise from a situation like this? For example how I got paid, into what bank account etc. It's all legitimate and above board but I just lived a digital nomad life with no residential or tax ties to any particular place.

christmasoompa

You’ve previously asked about Canadian citizenship, which means 3+ years living there, so presumably must have paid tax there?

ryanx

That was a life time ago. I appreciate your response.

tdrinker

Reviewing the guidance notes and application form:
http://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national...-contributions
http://assets.publishing.service.gov...02905/CF83.pdf
I don't see anything preventing you from applying for class 2 provided you were working in the UK immediately before moving overseas, and were continuously working overseas irrespective of location. I don't know enough to say if someone can have no tax residency anywhere, and I strongly suspect the HMRC NI department's sole concern will be your eligibility or otherwise to pay NI. They will be able to check whether you were working / paying NI in the UK before you moved overseas, and will either take you at your word that you were working overseas or ask for evidence, which at worst you can't provide (didn't keep records, or whatever). I suspect they won't ask for evidence of overseas work, not least because they have a huge backlog of applications to process, but it's just my guess.

christmasoompa

But you said you hadn't worked anywhere long enough to be tax resident there, which isn't the case if you lived in Canada for 3+ years. So just wondered if there were other places that you would have worked and paid taxes that you'd not mentioned as well as Canada?

Without being able to prove you've been working and paying taxes elsewhere, it may have to be Class 3, so have a good think about where you've worked and what you can do to prove you've lived and paid taxes there.

ryanx

I appreciate your thoughtful response.