Wokingham Accountants
The payment of National Insurance contributions is linked to entitlement to the state pension. If sufficient National Insurance contributions of the right type are paid for a tax year, that year counts as a qualifying year for state pension and benefit purposes. A person may also secure a qualifying year if they are awarded National … Read more
One of the key announcements in the Autumn 2024 Budget was the rise in employer’s National Insurance contributions from 6 April 2025. From that date, the rate of secondary Class 1 National Insurance contributions is increased by 1.2 percentage points, from 13.8% to 15%. In a further blow, the secondary threshold – the point above … Read more
Class 2 National Insurance contributions are flat-rate contributions which for 2023/24 and earlier tax years are payable by the self-employed where their profits exceed the relevant trigger threshold. For 2023/24 and 2022/23, the liability to pay Class 2 contributions arose where profits exceeded the lower profits threshold (set at £12,570 for 2023/24). For those years, … Read more
To qualify for a full state pension, you need 35 qualifying years. You can earn these through paying National Insurance contributions or being awarded National Insurance credits. If you will not have sufficient qualifying years for a full state pension when you reach state pension age, you can ‘buy’ additional qualifying years through the payment … Read more
As far as National Insurance was concerned, the 2022/23 tax year was a tricky one featuring in-year changes to the primary threshold and in-year changes to the Class 1, 1A, 1B and 4 rates. This resulted in some strange numbers, with average rates applying for the purposes of Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 … Read more
The National Insurance increases that came into effect from April 2022 have been reversed. How does this affect you if you are self-employed?
If their profits are high enough, the self-employed pay two classes of National Insurance contribution – Class 2 and Class 4. Class 2 contributions are flat rate contributions of £3.15 per week for 2022/23. It is the payment of Class 2 contributions that enables a self-employed earner to build up entitlement to the state pension … Read more
Although the National Insurance rates and thresholds for 2022/23 had already been set, at the time of the Spring Statement in March 2022, the Chancellor announced increases in the primary threshold which would align the starting point for National Insurance with the personal allowance from 6 July 2022. However, as the increase does not take … Read more
For 2022/23 only, the rates of Class 1 (employer and employee) National Insurance contributions are increased by 1.25 percentage points, along with the rates of Class 1A, Class 1B and Class 4 contributions. The NIC increases are a temporary increase pending the introduction of the Health and Social Care Levy from 6 April 2023. The … Read more
To help meet the costs of health and adult social care, a new levy, the Health and Social Care Levy, is introduced from 6 April 2023. Payment of the levy, which is set at the rate of 1.25% of qualifying earnings, is linked to the payment of National Insurance contributions. Prior to the introduction of … Read more
