Broadly if you view the contribution as an investment, how many years of pension payouts does it take to get your original investment back.
Approximately, if you collect for 4 years, you get more than you put in if you pay class 3; with class 2 it pays back in less than a year.
I got my letter yesterday confirming they took the final Class 2 payment and that it will not be possible to pay Class 2 going forward.
However, I can register to pay class 3 instead:
It did mention that if I don’t register before 5 April 2027, then the rules will change and I may need to meet other requirements to pay Class 3. Not sure what these other requirements are.
Reading up a bit more, it might have been unnecessary for me to have paid NIC at all since I might have been eligible to claim NIC credits since I have kids…
I haven’t received the letter to pay class 2 for 2025/2026, but my wife did. Do you know if I can contact them via the hmrc website or if I should call them? it probably got lost in the mail system
You can write or call them.
Not need just follow the link and apply: Apply to pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions for periods abroad - GOV.UK
Annoyingly you have to print out the form and post it to them, so now waiting for the reply as I have only one more year to contribute I opted for the pay annual one time payment.