I am a US/UK dual national, I paid voluntary contributions to top up my UK state pension. I believe these were Class 3 voluntary contributions. In looking at my NI record it shows all the contributions as Class 2 self-employed. Does this matter, is there a reason I should look into this?

I may be mistaken but I thought I read on this forum that it would change the US tax treatment? I have called HMRC and DWP but they have been unhelpful in resolving the issue. Any thoughts on this welcomed.

If you look back at your bank records to see how much you paid, that should tell you. Class 2 cost in the region of £150+, whereas Class 3 cost in the region of £900+ (per year). The actual cost varies slightly depending on what year you were purchasing and (I think) how many years later you are making the payment. Could be wrong on the latter.

I think both show as "self-employed" in your record, even though they are often described informally as "voluntary".

In terms of effect on the amount of your state pension, Class 2 and Class 3 are the same.

I don’t think it affects the US tax treatment as long as your NI record shows they were voluntary contributions, and not from a job, then they are not counted when calculating the reduction of your SS benefits due to WEP when you come to claim to receive SS. The SSA-308 form simply asks the dates of voluntary contributions, not what type of voluntary contributions they happen to be.

https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-308.pdf

As you know from the UK-Yankee forum, I'm still waiting on SSA (19 months and counting!) to process my SSA-308 form and PODSU form (which gives them access to my NI record). I'm curious to see what their response is (if they ever do explain it).

These voluntary contributions show as "self-employment" rather than voluntary/non-work related on the NI record, which is a bit ambiguous. I'd be curious to know if anyone else has been in this situation (most importantly, having provided the PODSU form) to know how SSA treats these "voluntary" NICs.

Thanks all. Dunroving, please do post the outcome if you feel comfortable, I'll be claiming next year.

Interesting to hear of that distinction. My record simply shows "Voluntary 52 weeks" for each week. I'll attach a copy for info.

I sent my SSA 308 forms off a week ago in support of my claim and waiting for the claim to progress. On ;line with SSA I can see that it is pending a review by the FBU in London

That's mine. The "voluntary" years are Class 3, "Self-Employment" years are Class 2.

I might have shot myself in the foot with my SSA-308. Two of my years were credits for full-time education (secondary school), but HMRC doesn't record these as such (it just says "two full years before 1975"). Also, because of the split US/UK years, there were years when I was covered by UK NI and also by US SSA contributions. I wonder if I may be close to maximum WEP and should have just said, "Let me have both barrels" rather than document all the detail they asked for.

I don't have any record indication on my SSA account showing any action via FBU or SSA. I just hope I don't die before it's all sorted out. I'd hate my executors to finalise the will execution and months down the road receive a letter from SSA saying they are owed $10,000.

Sigh….

Surely all this shouldn’t be this stressful…..

this thread is giving me anxiety. I left the UK in 2005 and have not returned, living in Dubai for 9 and US for 10, just moving to Saudi for the remainder of my career then plan to retire. I have not paid any national insurance since i left in 2005. Assume i am royally screwed for returning to the UK. I am not a US citizen, my only passport is UK

Not sure why you assume that? You’re a UK citizen, you can return anytime you like. But you might want to look in to buying additional NI years asap so that you can increase your UK pension.

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-nationa...-contributions

i just checked that out, thanks! does this cover national health also?

No, just OAP.

National health is paid out of the general budget and you will be covered on the first day you arrive back and become tax resident.