UK state pension

Does anyone know, if I create a company in the North of Ireland and pay myself payments for 3 years from today, can I avail of this scheme as well? I live in ROI.

Good article on this. There are residence conditions, but if on the border counties and carried out work in North Ireland then would be possible. Sole trader would be best option.

Otherwise you can get 3 years of NIC without actually working full 3 years. If you started a job in January 2026 and ended in June 2028 you would have 3 years due to the tax year starting in April.

Then once you got 3 years nic you continue to pay voluntary contributions and so on.

https://www.litrg.org.uk/international/nic-cross-border-situations/international-self-employment-and-nic

Friend of mine is being chased for £1600 going back pre 2014. Could be 2012/13/14.He is English and left the UK around those years 2014 I think.No letters nothing until he wanted to pay voluntary NICs which he did to bring him up to 2024 so far.He replied to first letter,heard nothing for mths.Then a letter to say it's written off.Then mths later again another demand.18 mths now back and forth with HMRC

maybe I wasn’t paying much attention to the actual date but I chef again when to receive a reply about paying my class 3 I was expecting something yesterday and the date did change to now April, but April 2026. Was it always this far out and I just didn’t notice?

Yes, 2026 would be correct!

Oh you right. I meant P85 form.

I need to make that same call, can you clarify what number you called? Was it +44 191 203 7010?

I had the same call today except no mention of the 72hrs turnaround so we'll see!

I am told that the issue was that the money I paid in February hadn't been allocated to the years I requested yet so the system allocated it automatically to the most recent tax year.

I've never had to say anything,I just listened to the instructions given asking for national insurance number,date of birth etc... when it gets to post code I just give a old post code I had in UK from years ago, sometimes saids not recognised, I just keep repeating it , untill it moves on to that annoying tune when you are on hold.

Never had a problem getting through to a human apart from being on hold sometimes for over a hour.

I do exactly as you post.Last time I was disconnected after 7 minutes-told by the bot that waiting times were 30 minutes and bye bye now.Usually cuts after 4-5 mins and telling wait time is 50 mins.But I delayed it by saying random things relating to my query hoping that would get me a human but it didn't work-got to 7 mins that way.

hi again,

Are you getting letters from the HMRC to pay for 24/25.?

Still waiting for a letter from them . Nothing appears online or on the app for 24/25.

I finally also got my letter yesterday which was posted on 5 Apr 2025 with details on how to pay for period 07/04/2024 to 05/04/2025 and have since paid the £907.40 today via IBAN.

How do I now pay prior years? Assume I use the same IBAN and ref number, but how do you tell them what prior years you want this to apply to when paying?

Anyone know how to get a human on the line when calling 01912037010

Thanks,Goldengirl.Can't use a landline and a mobile costs me 2p per minute.Will try no no no But I find the bot goes thru the same script on repeat before I get cut off.

Ok so for anyone that is ringing 01912037010. I rang twice last week.

At the start a bot will ask you questions which is perfectly fine. They will ask you to say in a few words what you are calling for.

You say: National insurance contributions.

They will ask you are you ringing from Abroad.

You say: Yes

Then they will ask you your National insurance number.

You say it (Don't forget if you have a 3 in it not to say tree but say free 😁*joke

They will repeat it and ask you is that correct.

You say: Yes

Then they will ask you your postcode.

I gave my eircode which they accept the second time you say it.

Then they will ask you do you know your previous postcode from the UK.

If you do then say it.

After this you get put through to somebody (human) and they will ask you some security questions.

All in all last week both times I was on less than 30 minutes for everything.

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