Refunds of National Insurance

It is possible to overpay National Insurance. This may happen, for example:

• if you pay Class 2 National Insurance as a self-employed person and later find that your profits were below the small earnings exception limit,
• if you have paid National Insurance after reaching the state pension age,
• if you are highly paid and have more than one employment or are employed and self-employed on high earnings and didn’t apply for deferment.

There are different time limits for applying for refunds, depending on the sort of National Insurance and the reason for the overpayment. The shortest time limit is the one for reclaiming overpaid Class 2 National Insurance because you were on low earnings. These claims must be made by 31 January following the end of the tax year (within 10 months of the end of the tax year).

There is more information on refunds on the HMRC website here.