Defer your National Insurance

Where a person has multiple employments, or employment and self-employment, and expects to pay National Insurance contributions on earnings in one employment (for the whole year) at the Upper Earnings Limit some National Insurance contributions may be deferred until an end of year review.

Deferring employee Class 1 National Insurance contributions (NICs)

The law states that you must meet all National Insurance contribution (NIC) liabilities as an employee in all of your employments.

However, if you have more than one job and expect to pay Class 1 (employee) NICs on earnings over the Upper Earnings Limit throughout the whole tax year in any one job, you can ask to defer paying some of your Class 1 NICs in any other job(s) you have, until we can calculate the correct amount of NICs due after the end of the tax year.

We do not usually allow deferment for the tax year in which you reach State Pension Age, so we would not expect you to apply.

If you think you qualify for this you can complete and sign Form CF379 under the National Insurance section of the Forms page.

When to apply

You must submit the form before the start of the tax year but we will accept forms up to 31 January in the tax year.

After you apply

If we grant deferment we will send the relevant employer(s) a deferment certificate. This asks them to deduct employee NICs at a rate of 1% on all your earnings above the employee’s Earnings Threshold during the tax year. We will ask them to adjust their records and give you a refund of any over-deduction which may have already occurred during the current year. We will not give your employer(s) any information about your other job(s).

At the end of the tax year

When the employer returns have been allocated to your record we will look at your NI record to check that you have paid enough Class 1 NICs in your main employment(s). If the NICs received are as expected then no further action is taken and you will be invited to renew your application for deferment the following year. If you have not paid enough Class 1 NICs and you owe money, we will write to you to ask for payment to be made within 28 days. You may not be invited to renew your application for deferment for the following year.

Deferring self-employed National Insurance contributions (NICs)

The law states that you must meet all National Insurance contribution (NIC) liabilities as an employee and as a self-employed person in all of your employments.

However, if you are employed and self-employed and expect to pay Class 1 NICs as an employee and Class 2 and Class 4 NICs for your self-employment you can ask to defer some of your Class 2 and/or Class 4 NICs, until we can calculate the true amount of NICs due after the end of the tax year.

You may only defer your Class 2 and 4 NICs if you are likely to pay Class 1 (employed) NICs on earnings over the Upper Earnings Limits (UEL) in the Isle of Man for the whole tax year.

Please note: If we allow you Class 4 deferment, you will still have to pay Class 4 NICs at a rate of 1% on all profits and gains above the Lower Profit Limit.

If you think you qualify for this you can complete and sign Form CF359 under the National Insurance section of the Forms page.

When to apply

You must send us your deferment application form as soon as possible before the start of the tax year.

After you apply

When we consider your application we may ask you to send us some of your payslips. If we can allow you to defer, we will write and tell you what classes of NICs have been deferred. If we cannot allow you to defer we will write and tell you why.

At the end of the tax year

We will look at your NI account to check that you have paid enough NICs in the tax year. If you have, there is no further action and a renewal application will be sent to you for the new tax year. If you have not paid enough NICs we will write to you to ask for payment within 28 days and you may not be invited to renew your application for deferment.