UK Pension & Voluntary Payments Questions

[adamu]

paid the backpayments by bank transfer and sent a letter detailing which years I wanted to pay for.

That's a weird one. It's impossible to guess what's going on, I think you need to talk to them.

In my experience, they send you a letter saying exactly what to pay, and then you pay that. I don't think it's a good idea to send them an amount they are not expecting.

[beanhead]

However, my online HMRC record now reflects as if I am paying Class 3 contributions, with only a small number of years showing as fully paid (given the larger amount required for Class 3 payments). Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a chance they decided after all that I am only eligible for Class 3 contributions?

I think there may be odd things going on at HMRC. As Adamu says, call or write to them. I have found writing helps.

I have a minor issue with them which is somewhat similar. I paid my contributions just as on the letter they sent me. For some reason, just 1 of the years is showing as not fully paid up. Years before that and after that are correctly recorded, but just one in the middle is 'wrong'.
I have written a letter to them explaining the amounts I sent, for which years. Eventually I assume they will clear it up.

[Bushiman]

However, my online HMRC record now reflects as if I am paying Class 3 contributions, with only a small number of years showing as fully paid (given the larger amount required for Class 3 payments). Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a chance they decided after all that I am only eligible for Class 3 contributions?

I think there may be odd things going on at HMRC.

This situation just triggered my PTS from when I had to deal with HMRC ~5yrs ago...
I was finally (after a lot of faff) accepted to pay Class 2 contributions... I went about back-paying what I was allowed and then suddenly I got a letter with a quote for the following year's contributions or something and they were all at Class 3 numbers!? I quickly called back and the lady said something about how I hadn't updated my information or something and that I'd been moved to Class 3... I quickly said that nothing had happened/changed to my working situation in the last 6 months or since I'd been accepted for Class 2 contributions, and she went, "Oh. Ok. I'll just put you back on Class 2 then..." A few weeks/months go by and I get the new Class 2 figures in the post...
Phew...

So yeah, odd things may and do go on at HMRC...
Good luck!

[northSaver]

So yeah, odd things may and do go on at HMRC...
Good luck!

I just got another letter confirming that I've paid enough for a full state pension. It's exactly the same as the first one, and from the same department. Just one month later. They are a strange bunch indeed!

[aintokyo]

However, my online HMRC record now reflects as if I am paying Class 3 contributions, with only a small number of years showing as fully paid (given the larger amount required for Class 3 payments). Has this happened to anyone else? Is there a chance they decided after all that I am only eligible for Class 3 contributions?

I think there may be odd things going on at HMRC. As Adamu says, call or write to them. I have found writing helps.

I have a minor issue with them which is somewhat similar. I paid my contributions just as on the letter they sent me. For some reason, just 1 of the years is showing as not fully paid up. Years before that and after that are correctly recorded, but just one in the middle is 'wrong'.
I have written a letter to them explaining the amounts I sent, for which years. Eventually I assume they will clear it up.

Thanks for your advice. I ended up calling them. Took about 40 mins to get through, but they looked through their files and told me it was an error on their end that "a box that should have been ticked in their system wasn't ticked". They apparently ticked it and I'm now happily showing as having paid my Class 2 NICs.

[beanhead]

Thanks for your advice. I ended up calling them. Took about 40 mins to get through, but they looked through their files and told me it was an error on their end that "a box that should have been ticked in their system wasn't ticked". They apparently ticked it and I'm now happily showing as having paid my Class 2 NICs.

Nice one.

Public Service Announcement for all: be vigilant and follow up if it looks like HMRC have messed something up

[beanhead]

Thanks for your advice. I ended up calling them. Took about 40 mins to get through, but they looked through their files and told me it was an error on their end that "a box that should have been ticked in their system wasn't ticked". They apparently ticked it and I'm now happily showing as having paid my Class 2 NICs.

Nice one.

Public Service Announcement for all: be vigilant and follow up if it looks like HMRC have messed something up

Another warning about keeping on top of HMRC. As I wrote in this thread, when I back paid my voluntary contributions, I added up the amounts in the 'offer' they made and paid in full. Despite this, one year was listed as 'Not complete' or 'not full' on the gateway site.
I wrote to them to ask them to fix this, but no response.
Today, I called HMRC. (got through almost straight away).
The lady checked and agreed with me that my calculations and payments were correct, but that someone had 'messed up' the allocation. She could not fix it, since I am a Rest Of World person, which requires a special caseworker. She would pass it on to the correct department and it would be fixed, I was assured.

So, they do make mistakes, and may take ages to get back to you if you contact them. The Wiki page has a bunch of useful phone numbers. Make good use of them if necessary!

[Roger Van Zant]

Thanks for your advice. I ended up calling them. Took about 40 mins to get through, but they looked through their files and told me it was an error on their end that "a box that should have been ticked in their system wasn't ticked". They apparently ticked it and I'm now happily showing as having paid my Class 2 NICs.

Nice one.

Public Service Announcement for all: be vigilant and follow up if it looks like HMRC have messed something up

Another warning about keeping on top of HMRC. As I wrote in this thread, when I back paid my voluntary contributions, I added up the amounts in the 'offer' they made and paid in full. Despite this, one year was listed as 'Not complete' or 'not full' on the gateway site.
I wrote to them to ask them to fix this, but no response.
Today, I called HMRC. (got through almost straight away).
The lady checked and agreed with me that my calculations and payments were correct, but that someone had 'messed up' the allocation. She could not fix it, since I am a Rest Of World person, which requires a special caseworker. She would pass it on to the correct department and it would be fixed, I was assured.

So, they do make mistakes, and may take ages to get back to you if you contact them. The Wiki page has a bunch of useful phone numbers. Make good use of them if necessary!

Which telephone number did you call?
I need to call them. I am a Class 2 payer, but when I got my quotation for how much it'll cost me to back pay missing years, their calculations were based on a Class 3 payer.

[beanhead]

Which telephone number did you call?
I need to call them. I am a Class 2 payer, but when I got my quotation for how much it'll cost me to back pay missing years, their calculations were based on a Class 3 payer.

+44 191 203 7010

It"s on the wiki page.

[Yossarian]

Which telephone number did you call?
I need to call them. I am a Class 2 payer, but when I got my quotation for how much it'll cost me to back pay missing years, their calculations were based on a Class 3 payer.

I logged in to my account the other day and noticed the same thing.