Pay voluntary Class 3 National Insurance
Set up a Direct Debit
If you know you’ll have gaps in your National Insurance record in the current tax year, you can make regular payments to cover the shortfall.
You can only use Direct Debit to make voluntary Class 3 National Insurance contributions for the current tax year (6 April 2024 to 5 April 2025) and future tax years.
To set up monthly payments, download and send the Direct Debit form to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). The address is on the form.
Allow 21 days to set up a new Direct Debit.
HMRC will send you a letter telling you when payments will be taken and how much they will be.
Payments appear on your statement as ‘HMRC NI-DD’.
Your payments will usually start in May. You can pay arrears for the current tax year through your first payment if you set up the Direct Debit after May.
If you’ve not used your Direct Debit for 2 years or more, check with your bank that it is still set up.
If you want to pay quarterly, you can ask HMRC online. If you cannot arrange to pay quarterly by asking HMRC online, you can contact HMRC another way.
They’ll send you a payment request every July, October, January and April.