Class 3 confusion

Thirteen taxpayers claimed refunds of Class 3 National Insurance (NI) made by them to the Revenue. The issues arose because of the reduction in the number of years’ full NI contribution record required for a full state pension in April 2010 to 30 years.

The proposal was made in 2006 and enacted in the Pensions Act 2007 coming into force in September 2007.

The taxpayers made additional payments to reach the previous thresholds however as they already had 30 qualifying years before making the additional payments once law changed the additional contributions were surplus to what they needed.

They therefore claimed that they had paid them in error and asked for the sums to be refunded. HMRC refused their claims.

The First-tier Tribunal allowed two of the taxpayers' appeals but dismissed the other 11. Six of the...