DMBM527390 - Debt and return pursuit: NIC: deferred NICs: debt pursuit by the DTO

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Child Benefit Overpayment Section (CBOS) will transfer deferment debts on IDMS and the DTO is responsible for enforcing payment.

The debts can be Class 1, Class 2 and/or Class 4. The class of contributions will be confirmed in T/P NOTES AND ASSETS on IDMS.

Remember that deferment is granted to the employee. A Class 1 deferment debt will be the employee’s contributions only and is payable by the employee not the employer (as is the case with Class 1 NICs collected with PAYE).

Initial action following receipt of a debt from CBOS

The deferred NICs work item will appear on “C/W Miscellaneous” work list with a next action of ‘New’ and a next action date of ‘Today.’ Although the debts are on IDMS, they should not follow the fully automated process and so the County Court Bulk Centre (CCBC) should not be used.

The work item reference will be in the following format: District No (*303)/Hod Type (E)/NINO). (*This is a pseudo number and has no association with a tax district and so you should only filter on ‘dist no’ ‘is equal to’ ‘303’ to filter for the cases on the worklist.)

There is no new work item type of E Deferred NIC and so to identify these cases you should refine your work list by creating the following profile with two elements to the search criterion:

  • ‘Work Item Type’ ‘is equal to’ ‘Class 2 NIC’ and
  • ‘File Ind’ is equal to’ ‘E’ (If you do not enter the file indicator part of the search you will get all the HOD type D raised for Class 2 NIC).

You should

  • review the debt to identify if there are any other debts for this customer and if so
  • cross reference and (if appropriate) link the debts to work them together.

CBOS have issued a final demand for these NICs debts, including the certificate of debt that must be issued to the debtor prior to levying distraint. This means you can enforce deferred NICs debts immediately.

Enforcement costs

The DTO is responsible for accounting for all enforcement costs incurred in relation to these debts.