I'm a UK citizen living in Japan and recently applied to make voluntary NI contributions. As I am not self-employed, I was expecting to pay Class 3 National Insurance Contributions. However, I received a letter informing me that HMRC has decided that I can pay Class 2 NICs while I am abroad. Additionally, the letter appears to lack any payment information (no insurance reference number, etc.) or any mention of how to make payments (other than how I can change from an annual payment to direct debit or 6-monthly direct debit by completing CF83 by post).
This leads me to three questions:
- Could the Class 2 categorisation be a mistake on behalf of HMRC?
- Have any other non-self-employed expats living here fallen into this category?
- Where does one find the amount to pay for this year's contributions?
- Is this something that is calculated later in the year? If so, when could I expect the information to be available?
- How does one actually make the voluntary payments for NI?
- I have searched the gov.uk website and cannot find information regarding this. As I can reach the maximum years without back payments, I would only be interested in making contributions from this year onward. Although I am not familiar with the procedure, would I have to wait for a payment request?
Forgive my ignorance, as I am quite new to all this. Any information anyone can give me would be greatly appreciated!
by Miserable_Forever816