Does anyone know anything about National Insurance Credits?

[N1Co]

I can’t figure this out:

For the past 4 years I’ve been self employed. I’ve filled in my Tax Return every year and so assumed my National Insurance is included in that.

But I’ve just checked my National Insurance Record and it says ‘This Year is Not Full’ on my past 4 years!

Where have I gone wrong?!

There are two questions about National Insurance in the Tax Return:
• One asks if you are exempt from Class 4 Contributions. I’m not exempt so I click ‘none of these apply. If none of these apply you are not exempt’.
• The other says ’Your self employment record shows you owe Class 2 NIC amount: £158.60’. (I assume this total is added to the very end amount as it doesn’t give me an option to pay here?).

If I’ve filled in the form correctly how can I not have made a full years worth contributions? 😣

They usually charge for Class 2 on completion of the tax return.

That’s helpful, thank you! And what about Class 4? Is that a part of the final amount? It’s so annoying that you’re not given a breakdown of what you’re paying for but just one lump sum.

I’m wondering now whether I wasn’t earning enough and should pay voluntarily to top it up.

Back to trawling through So Much Information(!) to try and figure out what to do for the best…

If you earned less than the minimum amount then they won't have charged you. I think it is optional then. Class 4 is for earnings higher than the Class 2. If you google it it should state how much you have to earn.