Last updated on March 9th, 2011 at 03:32 pm
If you are a self employed you will know that you should currently pay class 2 national insurance contributions (NICs) at a flat rate of £2.40 per week in 2010/11 (this rises to £2.50 per week from April 2011 and this new rate will apply to the tax years 2011/12 onwards).
At the moment, these contributions are paid by quarterly account billing or by monthly direct debit. However from April 2011 onwards, the due dates for payment will be aligned with the self assessment payment dates for income tax and Class 4 NICs. This will mean that the payment dates will change for 2011/12.
If you are self-employed and do not currently pay by direct debit you will receive just two payment requests from HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) in the year (instead of four bills) in October and April, showing payments due by 31 January and 31 July respectively. You do not need to wait until the due date to make payment.
If you curently pay bu direct debit, to meet the new due by dates, collection of monthly Direct Debit payments will be delayed by HMRC to bring the payment dates into line. This means that:
The end result of these changes mean that by January 2012 six instalments will have been paid, equal to half the liability for the year. By July 2012, the liability for the year will have been paid in full. Unlike income tax and Class 4 NICs there will be no balancing payment on 31 January 2013, as Class 2 is a set amount and does not need to be estimated.
As already mentioned above, there will be an alternative option to pay Class 2 by two six monthly direct debits, one on 31 January in the tax year and one on 31 July following the end of the tax year, instead of paying monthly direct debits.
More information on these Class 2 NIC changes can be found on the HMRC website