HMRC published a statement on Class 2 National Insurance Contributions (NICs) not included in a taxpayer’s Self-Assessment (SA) calculation which as a result go unpaid. HMRC started to collect Class 2 NICs through SA from 2015/16. However, implementing this change has been fraught with issues.

According to HMRC, most people are correctly registered for SA and Class 2 NICs and do have their Class 2 NICs included in their SA calculation. Where this doesn’t happen HMRC have found that, in the majority of cases, the underlying reason is that the self-employed person has not correctly registered as self-employed.

They have registered for SA (via the Self-Employment system) but not registered for Class 2 NICs (on the National Insurance and PAYE Service system (NPS)). As it is the NPS system that determines the amount of Class 2 NICs due this prevents Class 2 being included in SA calculations.