Working past retirement age

There are many taxpayers who have reached the State Pension age and continue to work. In most cases they no longer need to pay any National Insurance Contributions (NICs).

At State Pension age, the requirement to pay Class 1 and Class 2 NICs on employed or self-employed earnings ceases. However, you will remain liable to pay any NICs that were due to be paid on earnings before you reached the State Pension age. If you continue working, you usually need to provide your employer with proof of your age to make sure you stop paying National Insurance. If you would rather not provide proof of age to your employer you can request a letter (known as an age exception certificate) from HMRC confirming, you have reached State Pension age and are no longer required to pay NICs. Your employer remains liable to pay secondary Class 1 employer NICs.

Certain jobs have a compulsory retirement age after which you are no longer allowed to work. An employer must have a good reason for setting a compulsory retirement age, for example, if there is an age limit set by law, or the job requires certain physical abilities. However, apart from these special circumstances there is no official retirement age and you usually have the right to work as long as you wish. There is also no requirement to provide your date of birth when applying for a new job.

If you are self-employed you will need to pay Class 4 NICs for the remainder of the year in which you reach State Pension age but will be exempt from the following year. We can help you check if you think you may have overpaid NICs and arrange for a refund of any overpaid NICs.

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