For the wife and I we pretty much dropped off the map for HMRC since the late 80’s and not made any NI contributions since, we managed to get a call through to them a few days ago to ask about how to go about topping up our contributions so there are a couple of forms being mailed to us here in Delhi - fingers crossed they arrive.
Is this process as complicated as it seems? Are there accountants out there who can assist if needed?
On the tax side we haven’t been in the country so no real exposure there but am sure it will take a bit of detailed form filling - I bought a bungalow in the UK which I will be renting out so will have to start declaring things.
You can do it all online - I assume you still have National Insurance numbers! You will have to upload a digital photo and another form of ID such as your UK passport.
You can only top up for the past six years though, not all the way back to the 80s unfortunately.
But it’s usually worth doing. I filled in the gap for the years I lived in Turks and Caicos and now get the full UK State Pension.
Bung any questions in here, we have some experts like @George1 and @larkswood12 who know more about the inner workings of HMRC than I do!
Many thanks for that Chris, I spent days getting lost on that website. The problem is the personal details like addresses have changed so it gave me a number to call, it only took 45 minutes to get through! For the wife it’s even more complicated because everything on record is still in her maiden name. The lady we spoke too was really helpful though, we just have to see how complicated it gets after the forms arrive.
On the HRMC side I have to say I’m dreading having to go through the details from 1989 I have changed countries 14 times since then!
I will definitely reach out for help as I go through the process.
You shouldn’t need an accountant. The hardest bit is finding the information and an accountant can’t help with that. You need patience and persistence, especially waiting for phones to be answered, but it is quite straightforward.
You will only be able to top up 6 years now, but by all accounts (ie Martin Lewis) this is worth doing as the payback period is short.
A bit like me in a way, but here with the French equivalents and only back as far as 2010. They stopped asking for contributions after that and now are asking me to agree to pay up, thankfully the law only allows them to go back to 2023.
Best of ;luck with it, I am at present waiting for yet another letter.
My advice would be to (if possible) register for a Government Gateway account - that will give you access to see your current contribution record and also a pension calculator.
I see that this is probably in the web page that Chris has pointed you to …
I went through the process and paid my top up around this time last year. The increased pension, including arrears from my application date, hit my bank account in January. It was a nobrainer, payback period of about a year. I could have bought more years at a much higher rate but the payback period was somewhat more uncertain. So I just went for the low hanging fruit.
There is at least one firm, I can’t remember if accountants or solicitors, that offer to process the whole thing for a fee. I did it myself, the process isn’t complicated but it does take time. I found the people I dealt with in DPW and HMRC very pleasant and helpful, but the machine grinds slowly.
It’s theoretically once a year I think. It will apparently be replaced by something called OneLogin that I was forced to have a brush with recently - all I can say is for now, steer clear. The numpties that designed it assume all-forward processing and error handling almost absent.
Yes they do do this - they deleted my mother’s account!
And to reinstate it they wanted a driver’s licence or passport - no other forms of ID. Neither of which she has or is likely to have again, given that she is 100!
We ended up appointing a tax filing representative the old-fashioned way - by filling in a paper form!
Even as an accountant not sure this is one thats easy to help with…hmrc are ok but slow at recognising agents for income tax, not even sure there is an option for national insurance. Maybe I missed it.
Anyway i would echo the comment that you can do yourself but its sloooow. Gets there eventually.
One last word to the wise / original poster - make sure you have or will have made the minimum number of years of contributions to get a pension - sure that you have checked this out but dont give them the money until you are sure you benefit.
Yes, one of the more amusing interactions I had with DWP was when they told me HMRC could take six months or more to transfer the top-up payments I’d made to them. HRMC are a bit more spritely when they make a demand.
I do recall reading somewhere that if one makes a voluntary NI payment which doesn’t give you extra pension (e.g. you’ve already reached the maximum years) it will be returned? (Eventually!)
Sort of…in theory you can ask for a refund within 6 years if you made an error…but you will not get it if there is a “change in circumstances”. If ever there was a good catch all excuse phrase that has to be one.
Thanks for that Peter, I managed to log into that thanks to the fact that I haven’t updated the address for my UK driving licence, for the wife not possible to set up an account - which led to us making making a call from Delhi. One of the outcomes from that call was that we need to update HMRC to be able to establish a log in and I guess pay our top ups on NI - we shall see when we get to fill in the initial forms.
