Taking a 2nd job

[Tobytyke]

I work 2 days per week and earn £10 K but have been offered another job also 2 days also paying £10K. I nderstand that I will need to pay BR tax in the second job as all my allowanxce would be 'used up' from the first one. My question is about Ni. I have calculated that you would pay less Ni from having 2 jobs @ £10K than one paying at £20K. (about £50 per month) Am I right in thinking this as Ni is not a cumulative tax?

I found this paragraph here

National Insurance

If you take a second job with an employer, they still need to deduct National Insurance contributions from your salary, as long as your earnings are above the Earnings Threshold. However, if you make more than the Upper Earnings Limit, you can defer some of your contributions to avoid paying too much, and mean you avoid having to claim a refund. But if you find you have paid too much, you can claim a refund from HM Revenue and Customs, although you?ll need to provide proof in the form of pay stubs and P60 forms.

Would suggest that you talk this through with both your employers but also request a self-assessment form to complete at the end of the year so that you're not paying too much/insufficient tax and NI between the two.

NI doesn't get included on your self-assessment form even if you complete one so that one you have to check yourself. I was told by HMRC last year that they should automatically check that your NI is paid correctly and would refund any overpayments but I would take that with a pinch of salt. Certainly didn't happen in the case of the clients I was dealing with at the time.

To answer your actual question: no, NI is not a cumulative tax in this respect. There are maximum levels to take into account but each employment is counted as separate for class 1 NI purposes. As you will be making 20k in total then maximum levels will not be relevant in your case.

yes you are correct in what you are saying that you save NI by having two seperate employments rather than one employment.

What Chil1234 is refering to is where you are paying over the upper limit of NI on one job you don't have to to pay again at the standard rate in the 2nd employment, which isn't relevent in your case on the salary figures you are referring to (unfortunately!!)

Thanks for your help

I didn't want to be landed with a huge extra bill for NI because I have underpaid.

It does seem odd that you are better off with two jobs paying £10K than one job paying £20K. Perhaps more people could take advantage of this (£50 per month is quite a lot)