NIM20500 - Class 2 National Insurance contributions liability: Payment methods: Quarterly billing
Regulation 89 of the Social Security (Contributions) Regulations 2001 (SI 2001 No. 1004)
For periods of Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs) liability from 11 April 1993 up to 9 April 2011, if a person did not pay Class 2 NICs by Direct Debit, HMRC sent them bills issued every quarter. This was referred to as ‘quarterly billing’ and the bills that were issued were referred to as quarterly bills (QB). HMRC issued the last QB in April 2011.
The table below shows for Class 2 NICs due in respect of the 2010/11 contribution year when HMRC issued QBs and which period of liability each payment covered. HMRC was required to issue the bills within 14 days after the end of each quarter.
| QB issue date | Period of liability | Number of contribution weeks |
|---|---|---|
| July 2010 | 11/04/10 to 10/07/10 | 13 |
| October 2010 | 11/07/10 to 09/10/10 | 13 |
| January 2011 | 10/10/10 to 08/01/11 | 13 |
| April 2011 | 09/01/11 to 09/04/11 | 13 |
Where the amounts shown as due on the QBs were unpaid, any subsequent QB included any arrears of NICs as well as any amounts due for the period of liability covered by the most recent quarter.
The due date for payment was 28 days after the date of issue on the QB. But where the QB included NICs which were paid after the original due date, they may be treated as paid late or extra late, see NIM23001.
There were provisions within the legislation to allow HMRC to issue ad-hoc bills outside of these dates, for example, where a person asked for a revised bill because they ceased self-employment part way through the period of liability covered by the QB.