Refund of National Insurance contributions

Class 1 and Class 2 National Insurance contributions

If you are employed or you are both employed and self-employed there are National Insurance rates above which you are not required to pay any further contributions.

If you have paid £38.50 or more above your Class 1 and 2 maximum, you will normally be notified by HM Revenue & Customs, National Insurance contributions Office, who will invite you to apply for a refund of the overpaid contributions.

The Class 1 and 2 maximum and refund arrangements apply to employee contributions only. There is no maximum for employer contributions.

If you think that you are due a refund of overpaid Class 1 and 2 contributions you can write to:

HM Revenue & Customs
National Insurance Contributions Office
Refunds Group
Benton Park View
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ

as soon as the tax year ends. You should send with your request evidence of how much Class 1 contributions you have paid, for example:

  • form P60
  • statements from your employers which show the categories and amounts of National Insurance contributions deducted from the pay you received during the tax year

You should also send evidence of the Class 2 contributions that you have paid for example your quarterly bill receipt.

If, after you have paid Class 4 contributions you think that you may have paid too much you should write to:

HM Revenue & Customs
National Insurance Contributions Office
Deferment Services
Benton Park View
Newcastle upon Tyne
NE98 1ZZ

Deferment Services will check how much Class 1, 2 and 4 contributions you have paid and they will send you a refund application form CA5610. You should be aware that a refund for Class 4 contributions cannot be claimed until the Class 4 self-assessment for the year in question has been finalised and fully paid.

If you think that you pay above the National Insurance rates you should consider applying to defer some of the contribution liability.

Refunds of Class 1 and 2 contributions are not made if the amount to be refunded is less than £3.71. Refunds of Class 4 contributions are not made if they are below £0.50.

Voluntary Class 2 and Class 3 National Insurance contributions

If you are paying voluntary Class 2 or Class 3 National Insurance contributions and:

  • you have paid them in error, or
  • you have paid them for part of the tax year;

and you think you are due a refund, you should be aware that the Government has published a White Paper titled “Security in retirement: towards a new pensions system (Cm 6841)” setting out its proposals on Pension Reform. Therefore, before you make any decisions to receive a refund of voluntary contributions you must read the important information carefully.