Application to pay missing class 2 contributions

The taxpayer reached state pension age in 2016. He requested a pension statement from the Department for Work and Pensions and discovered he had only 13 qualifying years. This was because he had not paid any class 2 National Insurance since becoming self-employed in 1983. He asked HMRC whether he could pay the missing contributions but HMRC refused. It accepted that failure to pay had arisen from the taxpayer’s ignorance. But he had never told the Department of Health and Social Security (DHSS) – as it was in 1983 – that he was self-employed nor had he made any enquiries about the National Insurance he should pay.

The First-tier Tribunal said the issue was whether the taxpayer whom it found to be a ‘credible and straightforward witness’ had exercised due diligence and care in relation to National Insurance. He had appointed an accountant when he became self-employed and...