Timing of additional NI contributions before/after state pension age

[MyNameIsUrl]

A friend who reaches state pension age in Jan 2020 will be 3 years short of contributions to her maximum. We assumed that before that date she would pay a voluntary amount of about £700 for each year, but we now understand a cheaper option is voluntary class 2 if she registers as self-employed for the current tax year and does some trading.

Can this be backdated to the last tax year as well (I would have thought not, but best never to assume)?

Would such contributions in the following, 2019/20, tax year (the one in which she reaches state pension age) also count as a full year's contribution?

Can payments be made retrospectively after state pension age?

[kempiejon]

I think this might be a good starting point. https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-i ... /deadlines

[chas49]

A friend who reaches state pension age in Jan 2020 will be 3 years short of contributions to her maximum. We assumed that before that date she would pay a voluntary amount of about £700 for each year, but we now understand a cheaper option is voluntary class 2 if she registers as self-employed for the current tax year and does some trading.

Can this be backdated to the last tax year as well (I would have thought not, but best never to assume)?

Would such contributions in the following, 2019/20, tax year (the one in which she reaches state pension age) also count as a full year's contribution?

Can payments be made retrospectively after state pension age?

Actually, according to the gov.uk page at https://www.gov.uk/working-for-yourself ... need-to-do, your friend does not need to register if she is declaring less than £1000 income from self-employment:

Register as self-employed
You’ll need to register for Self Assessment if any of the following apply:

you earned more than £1,000 from self-employment between 6 April 2017 and 5 April 2018
you need to prove you’re self-employed, for example to claim Tax-Free Childcare
you want to make voluntary Class 2 National Insurance payments to help you qualify for benefits
You must also follow certain rules on running and naming your business.

If you don’t need to register, you can still make voluntary Class 2 National Insurance payments - for example to make sure you get the full State Pension.

I have added the bold italics!

So, since the self assessment deadline for the 2017/18 tax year has not yet arrived, there's nothing to stop her registering for SA, declaring a small profit (less than £1000, not taxable),, and paying voluntary Class 2 contributions for that year. And repeating that for 18/19, and 19/20.

And the same page states

If you’re over State Pension age
Your situation
You’ve reached State Pension age and want to fill in gaps in your National Insurance record
Which class to pay Class 3

Which would be more expensive. But I can't see any reason why she couldn't pay Class 2 for the period up to her birthday...

Unless someone else knows better obviously!

[MyNameIsUrl]

So, since the self assessment deadline for the 2017/18 tax year has not yet arrived, there's nothing to stop her registering for SA, declaring a small profit (less than £1000, not taxable),, and paying voluntary Class 2 contributions for that year. And repeating that for 18/19, and 19/20.

Although her SA form for 2017/18 has already been submitted online, I understand it can still be amended. But is declaring a small profit from self-employment legal if it hasn't actually taken place? For 2018/19, she is about to do some ebay trading so that it's not all fictional.

[mearnsfool]

Phone the future pensions centre they are very helpful and will advise.

[chas49]

So, since the self assessment deadline for the 2017/18 tax year has not yet arrived, there's nothing to stop her registering for SA, declaring a small profit (less than £1000, not taxable),, and paying voluntary Class 2 contributions for that year. And repeating that for 18/19, and 19/20.

Although her SA form for 2017/18 has already been submitted online, I understand it can still be amended. But is declaring a small profit from self-employment legal if it hasn't actually taken place? For 2018/19, she is about to do some ebay trading so that it's not all fictional.

This may not be relevant to the OP but I just noticed that the deadline for registering for SA "if you’re self-employed or a sole trader, not self-employed, or registering a partner or partnership" for the tax year ended 5 April 2018 is 5 October 2018 - which is today!!