The government has extended the voluntary National Insurance deadline by four months, giving taxpayers until 31 July 2023 to make additional payments to help increase their State Pension entitlement.
Taxpayers can usually only fill gaps in their National Insurance Contributions (NICs) record from the preceding six years. However, this extension allows taxpayers more time to fill gaps in their NI record between April 2006 and April 2016.
The change has been made following public concern over the original deadline of 05 April 2023.
HMRC will also accept all voluntary NIC payments at current 2022/23 rates until the end of July 2023. From August 2023 onwards, taxpayers will be required to pay the higher 2023/24 rates.
Taxpayers need at least ten years of NICs to qualify for the State Pension and 35 years of contributions to qualify for the full State Pension. If a taxpayer has contributions between 10 and 35 years, they will receive a proportion of the full State Pension. Because of this, HMRC is urging those eligible not to miss out on the opportunity to boost how much they receive when they retire.
Victoria Atkins, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said:
“We recognise how important state pensions are for retired individuals, which is why we are giving people more time to fill any gaps in their National Insurance record to help bolster their entitlement.”
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