Steerpike

I filled this out early last year and was 'accepted', and now everything is working like clockwork.

Q3 - I put "N/A" as I'm already overseas (have been for almost 40 years)

Q18 - I answered 'Yes'. I believe the question is really asking about your 'self-employment status'. 'Working for an employer' is the opposite of 'self-employed' in this context. Since I was a regular employee of a US company, I answered 'yes'.

Q21, on the form I filled out last year, was 'What is your salary or wage?'. Q23 is "I wish to pay by" ... and 'direct debit' is an option. I can't help you here as I chose to go with annual payment option.

By total coincidence, yesterday I received a letter from HMRC, telling me my annual contribution for the period April 12 2020 to April 10 2021 is 158.60 GBP. Last year, I got a similar letter, but the amount was 159.00 GBP - a difference of 40p!

tdrinker

Any employer

classicmds

Thanks!

Steerpike

From my post June 28, 2020:

I just received the identical letter for 2021. Payee account is again given as 'GBS Re NICO Receipts HMRC'.

As with my payment last year, I first entered the payee name as "GBS Re NICO Receipts HMRC" and was warned it was not supported. But I forged ahead this time, but the transaction failed to complete. So I changed the payee name to "HMRC NIC receipts"; I got the same warning as with the first attempt, but - I forged ahead with it and this transaction DID go through! So it would seem:
1) both "GBS Re NICO Receipts HMRC" and "HMRC NIC receipts" trigger a warning, but
2) the former fails if you keep going while the latter goes through!

So once again, I'll just have to check the HMRC website in a month or two and verify it went through all the way to my account. Only 3 more years of this ...

tdrinker

The account number is unchanged, so the funds will get to the right place regardless of payee name.

I had the same issue recently sending some money via Transferwise. They've changed their name to Wise, which wasn't recognised by my bank, but the payment went through when I used the old Transferwise name.

CA-NY

Jumping on this thread to get some help. I'm trying to make up my shortfall years with Class 2 voluntary payments. It's telling me my shortfall is £880.80 x 6 yrs and £780 x 1 yr for a total of £5584.80. I left the UK in 2012 and prior to leaving was self employed. I'm self employed in the US. Can someone help me understand why my shortfall is not the standard Class 2 rate of £158.60 (£3.05 x 52) that so many others seem to have? I spoke with HMRC in the UK last week to get my personal details all updated and they gave me the bank account details to go ahead and make the payment whenever I'm ready but I'm reluctant to just go ahead and pay without checking it's correct.

Steerpike

The only thought that comes to mind is the fact you were / are self-employed, but not sure why that would cause the difference. I would call them again and ask. In the few calls I've made to them, they've been very helpful. Please keep us posted as to what you find!

Glasgow Girl

To qualify for Class 2 Voluntary rates you have to have been employed immediately prior to moving abroad. Not sure what immediately means. I qualified for Class 2 but my employment the UK overlapped with my employment in the US because I had unused holidays and my UK company kept me on the payroll until they ran out. In my case there was no gap between jobs which would meet the immediate criteria. There must be some definition of what “immediate” means but I dont know what it is, you would think they would allow a short gap. Or it could be that employed excludes self employment.

Steerpike

What's weird here is, he was offered 'class 2' but at a different rate, which sounds contradictory. In my mind, you either qualify or not; I wasn't aware of different types of qualification at different rates. But I'm no expert!

Giantaxe

I presume he was quoted the Class 3 rate.

CA-NY

That's it! On further reading, the Class 3 rate of £15.40 per week x 52 weeks is exactly the £800.80 shortfall I'm seeing on my account. Need to go and read up and understand difference between Class 2 and Class 3. Thanks for that.

tht

Has anyone had their class 2 payment for 2020/21 show on the:
https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/check...count/nirecord
page yet?

I paid mine in April and it still shows as: "2020-21 Your record for this year is not available yet"

I know it took a while to update before, but 3+ months seems too long?

EdgeAA

Yes mine has updated for 2020-2021. It was probably about 3-4 weeks ago that it did for me.

Steerpike

I just looked, and no, mine also shows 'not available' ...

adele

I sent payment April 23rd and mine doesn't show up yet. I phoned them last Friday to check and they said it just takes time - the international caseworkers are backlogged right now and they have to do the update manually. Told.me it could be another 2-3 months.