Class 2 or Class 3 confusion: What is HMRC up to?!?

[PrincessOlga]

I am trying to pay voluntary NI contributions for the missing years 2006 to 2016. After graduating from university back in 1993 I lived abroad and still do, despite a brief return to working in UK from 2017-2020. I am self-employed and was self-employed since 2010 (bar 2017-19).

I have been corresponding with HMRC ever since this was first announced years ago and usually had to wait a whole year for a letter to be answered. I believe that I should only pay Class 2 contributions and I got a letter in April 2024 to say that I could. But then in May I got a follow-up letter saying not to send anything until I answer six more questions.

Are they trying to get me to pay in Class 3 contributions instead? The six questions are:
1. Exact date I briefly returned to UK in 2016/17
2. Month and year of all university education
3. Employers in UK when I was at university and worked part-time
4. Employers/self-employed business when abroad
5. Type of work I did while employed/self-employed abroad
6. If I do not meet the conditions to pay Class 2, do I want them to process CF83 to start paying Class 3 voluntary contributions as of now?

I am also being asked to send proof of my current employment/self-employment abroad.

I am trying to understand what HMRC is actually after. Are they trying to get me to provide evidence so that they can row back on the April letter of Class 2 and make me pay more (Class 3) for the missing years?

I understand I probably need to provide a bit more information here, but I would be interested to get a bit more insight on the workings of HMRC from someone who has had the same/similar experience. They seem to be making things so hard for everyone in general with these voluntary contributions, that I cannot help thinking everything is being done with an ulterior motive...

Does this help?:

https://www.gov.uk/voluntary-national-insurance-contributions/who-can-pay-voluntary-contributions

Class 2 contributions relate to Self Employment and can help with some benefits in the UK, particularly New Style ESA for ill health.

Class 3 only relate to the pension.

I suspect the HMRC questions relate to whether you can pay Class 2.

You want to pay class 2 NI for the years you lived paid tax and were self employed abroad? What makes you think you are eligible for this class of NI?

Do you have outstanding student loans?

They seem to be looking at your financial affairs with a fine tooth comb now.

Once you are in the HMRC radar they will leave no stone unturned.

Surely if you'd been submitting SA returns showing your self employment figures for all those "missing" years, you'd have been paying class 2 NIC on the profits anyway. Or were the profits too low to exceed the thresholds? You could have ticked the boxes on each year's return to pay the class 2 voluntarily.

HMRC rules are that you can pay class 2 if you're self employed in the UK, OR, you get some kind of certificate/proof that you're exempt from social security contributions in the country where you live and work.

HMRC will look at each year individually. It is feasible in some years you met the self employed criteria and so are eligible to pay Class 2 for that year only.

In other years you may not meet the self employed criteria so need to pay Class 3.

The best thing to do is a table and for each tax year set out how you met the Class 2 eligibility criteria or not.