I am British and now live in the USA for 15 years. My online HMRC account has been deactivated because I did not login for more than 3 years. I didnt know that I would have to.

So I have to register with HMRC again, but because I now live in the USA I do not have the British Passport and British ID items to register again.

Does anyone know how I can confirm my identity so that I can make UK national pension voluntary contributions.

I have called every HMRC department in the UK for the past 3 hours and no one seems to know how I can verify my identity? How can this have never happened to someone before ...

It happened to me, so I reverted to mailing paper forms.

In my case I waited and tried again, after renewing my passport, but the web site no longer offered me "passport" as an option for verifying my identity. .... but it did offer "driving licence, despite me having lived in the US for 20 years and my last UK licence having expired about 15 years earlier.

I used my U.S. passport to set up my account

Thanks guys. I am going to try using the iphone APP and the USA passport. Hopefully in the next few days.. Fingers crossed.
I really hate this top security modern world we now live in.

Good news I eventually found a way using both desktop and mobile to confirm my identity using my USA passport with a chip. I have no idea how your average old person will cope. I needed help from others to get it done.

Out of interest, what do you report to HMRC? I have a very small account in the UK now (sub 1000 GBP) that earns no interest, so I tell HMRC nothing (because there is nothing to tell).

When we lived in the USA we had nothing tax related to report to HMRC but having an online account meant I could view my NI contributions and contact DWP etc.

That is a good point. I left for US straight out of grad school so no clue where my NI contributions are at.

Have you been following the thread about Class 2 NI? Lots of us have taken advantage of topping up past years of NI contributions for an unbelievably low price. I added 17 years to my NI record for something like $4k. The payback time is literally *months* not years once you start drawing your pension. This deal ends next April but anyone with earned overseas income who was employed in the UK before going abroad can pay up to 6 years class 2 NI in arrears.

Never employed meaningfully in the UK. Finished grad school and straight on the boat to USA. Sadly I do not qualify

ps seen the thread, its very informative!

Ah but ...are you sure? Back in the day one could get automatic NI credits for each year in higher education. I have 3 such years. Would those be equivalent to 'work' years? If you were able to see your record you could check.

It is a good point and I should check. I'll be honest I dont have the motivation since its (fingers crossed) unlikely we will need it.