Pulaski

At the moment you will get 13/35 of a full British pension when you retire. If you pay another six years of arrears, plus this year and next,, which will cost you about £1,150 at Class 2 rates, you will get 21/35 of a full British pension. The extra is worth about £34/wk or £1,780/yr. In other words, the payback period for you £1,150 is less than eight months of retire, so from anyone's perspective, an extraordinarily good deal.

You will need to get right on to the DWP immediately to get your paperwork sort out before the end of the tax year so you don't lose a year of arrears. That said, some people are reporting bein allowed to pay back to around 2006-07, so you pay be able to fill your boots with several more years of arrears!

Elgin1983

Yes, you need to be accepted for Class 2 in order to be eligible to pay the years since 2006 at Class 2 rates, so it's possible that when Class 2 shuts down, they may not accept any new applicants at that rate, which would mean you'd have to pay the previous years at Class 3 rate. But you still have enough time: it takes months, not years.

Edo

Hi Elgin

I have finally received my confirmation letter from HMRC that I have been accepted into the voluntary Class 2 NI scheme. They have sent me a breakdown for each year that I need to pay to make up for the missing years. I am going to make the payment directly from my UK bank account using the 18 digit reference no. on their letter. But my question is should I pay it all in one lump sum or break it down into individual payments just like they have on their letter? May be it doesn't matter but I thought to check it first with someone who has done it.

Also, do they issue receipts when they receive these payments?

snoopdawg

I paid a lump sum for several years payment, I don't remember if I did on line or sent a UK cheque though. I did get a receipt.

Edo

OK great, I will pay it in lump sum then. There's an option of doing it through bank transfer which is helpful

CDNReturner

I don't know if this is the same for everyone but postal communication from HMRC takes 3-6 months every time I've tried it. I really want to pay in for this year but they tell me I HAVE TO WAIT for the forecast to arrive and then I have to call them back to make an appointment (when they will call me) to discuss voluntary contributions. So far I've been waiting since the first week of January for my forecast.

They never believe me when I tell them their postal service takes months. This has been going on for the 12 years I've been here with any aspect of the UK government.

Edo

I requested my pension forecast in October 2016 and it just arrived this week. The letter showed as dated January 26th.

Hasan78

oh! I just send in my form for voluntary NI.. if it is delayed then it won't be NI 2 as i understand it changes by end of March to NI3.

Edo

Thats the March of 2018, not 2017.

Pulaski

I suspect that the change won't be retrospective - government tax and revenue policies rarely are. If so, people will continue to be able (subject to eligibility) to make Class 2 payments for years upto March 2018, and Class 3 will apply from April 2018 going forwards.

CDNReturner

Well, I'll be darned. My forecast arrived today via Schiedam in Rotterdam!

Better than I thought but since I still have a bit of money in the UK (earning a pittance) and the timeshare is now gone, I might as well buy myself some more pension.

Elgin1983

Hi Edo, sorry I haven't checked the board for a while. Yes I paid in a lump sum, but if you haven't already it's a good idea to phone them and check the details: when I phoned them they gave me a different account to send the money to, and told me to use my NI number and surname as the reference, not the 18 digit number they gave.

Then I called them a couple of weeks later to check that it had been accepted and the years credited, and they confirmed that they had

Edo

Bummer!!! I have already paid in lump sum using the 18 digit reference that they sent. Should better call them a.s.a.p.

But thanks for getting back to me Elgin

Almost Canadian

I have to admit that I would not be able to look at myself in the mirror without feeling a huge sense of shame if I attempted to rip off the British taxpayers to such an extent.

Tangram

I assume on the form you leave the UK address blank ? Also which form is it you send to request ability to do voluntary contributions and to find out how much it will cost you .... is it CF83 ?