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NI contributions


Nicky France
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Hello there.  I have quite a complicated question but would greatly appreciate some advice from anyone with a little knowledge on the subject.  I am British and went to live in the Netherlands in 2000.  I then moved to France in 2005 and am planning to stay here.  I currently work for a British company on seasonal contracts (Feb/March to Oct) and am paid from the UK.  For 2005 and this year I have an NT tax code which means I do not pay UK tax however, I am still paying NI contributions.  Is there any point to this as I have been away from the UK for so long I am not sure I would be entitled to anything there anymore.  The NI helpline was not terribly helpful and just advised me to contact someone in France for some advice about getting into the French system.  I am totally confused and have no idea what my best course of action is.  Any advice would be a great help.

Thanks.

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[quote user="Nicky France"]

Hello there.  I have quite a complicated question but would greatly appreciate some advice from anyone with a little knowledge on the subject.  I am British and went to live in the Netherlands in 2000.  I then moved to France in 2005 and am planning to stay here.  I currently work for a British company on seasonal contracts (Feb/March to Oct) and am paid from the UK.  For 2005 and this year I have an NT tax code which means I do not pay UK tax however, I am still paying NI contributions.  Is there any point to this as I have been away from the UK for so long I am not sure I would be entitled to anything there anymore.  The NI helpline was not terribly helpful and just advised me to contact someone in France for some advice about getting into the French system.  I am totally confused and have no idea what my best course of action is.  Any advice would be a great help.

Thanks.

[/quote]

As I understand it, if you are not living in the UK and only doing contract work, then you should not be paying UK NI and you should subscribe to the French system if you are living and working here. How you subscribe depends on what you do.

I doubt if you will get anything from the UK system.

Be prepared for it be many times more expensive than the UK system!

 

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NickyF, we had a very straightforward situation with the NI people, and all their communication with us was very helpful.

I'm wondering if you got a 'bad apple', someone who couldn't be bothered to even pass you on to someone who could be bothered.

There is a pension forecasting service available to people living overseas, which may be useful to you. The whole site is very good, really. http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/index.htm

 

 

 

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Hi Nicky,

I can't be of much help to you as I've forgotten most of the stuff I used to know, but I did work in the Inland Revenue and also the Contributions Agency for donkey's years before moving to France......... so, allowing for the fact that things will have changed in the last 3/4 years here is my advice:-

1. As far as I am aware there is no provision for exemption from NI due to non-residency. (The only legal exemptions I can recall were for (a) Age and (b) Low earnings from self employment). I believe this is another one of those areas where provision has been made within the tax system for non-residency but the NI legislation hasn't been passed to complement this.

2. If I am right, then you may well fall into a "black hole" as far as NI legislation is concerned and this is likely why no-one in Newcastle is being particularly helpful - they simply don't know the answer. So, my best advice to you is to phone again and get the name and address of the most senior manager in charge of the "Overseas Section", then write (snail mail - they won't enter into protracted or complicated stuff on email) & set out your questions, asking for clear and definitive answers in writing. (If they write back and state that you cannot get exemption, then (depending on how much you earn/how much NI you pay each year) you might/should possibly/theoratically re-qualify for an E106 every year!

If you do get a reply can you post the results on here please!

 

 

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