RhinoRacer

Thanks for your reply.

Use the HMRC online chat service, it's way more efficient than telephoning. You'll achieve your goal much faster. State exactly what you require when the Bot answers, then ask to speak to a human.

Yes, well what's left of it: your remaining starter rate for savings = 17,570 - (non savings income). You also get a personal savings allowance of up to 1,000 depending on your tax income band.

Sorry to say, but it's 824.20 per year. It can still be very good value and so long as you live at least four years (depends on your tax position) after increasing your pension you should get your money back and be in profit. Like any pension, it's a bet but unless you've health issues or are very old the odds are likely to be in your favour.

You need to get a different code. Also always pay the exact amount agreed for the code they give you.

I made a class 3 NIC payment very recently and it only took three working days to update my NI record. It's not right to ask people to wait 8 weeks before taking action when the majority of payments go through in a few days. I recommend using HMRC's online chat system when you do this as you can download the entire conversation, and that will contain the 18 digit reference number. Also download the payment confirmation from your bank. That way you know for sure the payment was made correctly and that it went to the right place. Will give you more peace of mind.

When calculating the 2016 starting amount for your state pension the part of the calculation under the old rules currently takes £156.20 and multiplies this by 'your number of full years' divided by 30. For example, say you have 18 full years up to 5th April 2016. Then the calculation is (18/30) x 156.20 = 93.72 But there is a small amount added on for the number of those years that were NOT contracted out, we're talking pennies here. Let's say 15 of those 18 years were contracted out. My question is: How does one complete the calculation for the 3 years that were not contracted out? Cannot find the answer anywhere on the internet. Most people content themselves with the first part of the calculation (even those aware there is more), as it gets close enough for many, but it's not the exact figure that HMRC arrive at. The difference is only pennies, but I would like the full calculation. Thanks to anyone who can help.