Registering as sole trader - how to register for class 2 NICs?

[namechangeaaargh]

HMRC have told me I need to register as sole trader for the work I do as I earned some income in 2024-25 tax year (only 4k mind you) and my "employer" has told me I am self employed (I suspect false self employment but am doing what I am told). I already had Self Assessment on my personal tax account for declaring some ad hoc income but the account was dormant. I created a business tax account online as they told me to do but couldn't see what to do next.

Then I read I needed to do a CWF1 online and tick the self employed box, so I did that put my name as the company name. I already had a UTR from the personal account and HMRC told me to use that and that seemed to reactivate the dormant account. But the HMRC person on the chat told me I'd also need to register for class 2 NICs and I can't see where to do that. Do I need to wait for HMRC to send me something in the post?

Once I have done the NICs do I need to "Add a tax" on the business taxt account or do I just declare the income through SA? The "Add a tax" page didn't seem to make any sense - I'm just myself doing work for an IT company so I think it's probably the latter.

When I login and look at the business tax part there's a link to "complete an SA return" which seems to be exactly that so I think I have done that part correctly.

Thanks for any advice, I'm finding this very confusing and stressful.

www.gov.uk/pay-class-2-national-insurance

Thanks, sorry, still struggling to understand, maybe need to read it when I am less tired. That link implies that the NICs can be paid through the self assessment process or be paid voluntarily, am I understanding correctly?

What the advisor said (this was on webchat) was "The online self-employment
registration process includes registration for Self Employed Class 2
National Insurance Contributions" which I took to mean I must register for NICs or have to tick a box somewhere but I think she maybe meant that by registering as a sole trader I would automatically be registered for NICs - I don't think the CWF1 form asked me about or mentioned NICs.

The advisor did say that no tax or NI would be due on that amount so I'm guessing once I do SA I will just see zero for both under the calculation?

HMRC will eventually sort the situation, however, you have confused yourself.
To register as self employed you either set up a BTA or you send in a CWF 1, You do not need to do both!

That said, as you now have a tax record that says you are self employed everything to do with taxes for that will now be done via your annual self assessment tax return. You do not need to do anything else.

Taking your comments at face value, you have SE gross income of 4 k. I doubt you have many costs to deduct from that, so should claim the trading allowance instead. That leaves you with 3k of net taxable profit.

That level of profit is too small to trigger Class 4 NI and, significantly, it is also below the small profits threshold which would give you an automatic "free" credit for Class 2.

Do you understand that Class 2 is what gives the self employed an NI history entitling them to the state pension?
For the SE who do not get the automatic credit it is therefore necessary for them to manually decide if they want to voluntarily pay Class 2 so as to get that credit. You may not want to pay Class 2 if, for example, your main income is from an employee job where you earn enough that you pay NI on that employee job and get your pension credit via that.

If they want to pay, then they do so via their tax return by ticking the box that asks if they want to pay Class 2! The payment is then made as part of their tax return total owed. (If 4k comprises your only income for the entire tax year then you would have no income tax or Class 4 to pay leaving you only with the choice of voluntarily paying Class 2, or not.

(As an aside, I note your comment re potential false self employed. The penalties for getting that wrong rests entirely with your employer. that said, if HMRC decide your should be an employee, not SE, then HMRC can legally still chase you for any personal tax you may owe calculated at employee rather than SE rates.
Getting your employer to foot that personal tax bill would be a personal legal dispute between you and your employer. You would owe HMRC some tax, they don't care if you or your employer pays it, but they will make sure one of you does.
I appreciate you need an income and this is the "job" that gives it, but if you genuinely think this is false self employment then things could easily bite you down the line)

you will find this useful, and in respect of falsehoods pay particular attention to the page linked off it covering the status checker.
Self-employment: registering for tax and NIC | Low Incomes Tax Reform Group

Thanks, that makes sense. It was HMRC that said I needed to create a business tax account but they also said I needed to fill out info about my company name and nature of business and I couldn't see how to do that once I'd created the business tax account and googling led me to the CWF1.

I raised the false self employment question with them and they asked me some questions but couldn't answer definitively as to whether I'm employed or self employed but said that since I get paid monthly (paid per task though so amounts vary month to month) I should register as sole trader.

Apologies, I should have said in the OP: this is my only job, so surely I can earn upto £12570 pa before any tax would be due?

I understand about not getting NI credits. I don't know how long I will be doing this job, nor how much I will make this tax year (well under 12k by the looks of it) so I will either top up missing years later (within the 6 year limit) or return to conventional employment at some point.

Just jumping on to say that certain benefits, such as Child Benefit for a child up to 12 yrs, can provide NI credits too. You should check your NI record before voluntarily paying just in case. (Not an expert, but have looked into it previously myself.)

"Apologies, I should have said in the OP: this is my only job, so surely I can earn up to £12570 pa before any tax would be due?"

as I said:
If 4k comprises your only income for the entire tax year then you would have no income tax or Class 4 to pay leaving you only with the choice of voluntarily paying Class 2, or not

BTW if you want to follow up on false self employment then fill out the online checker as "HMRC will stand by all determinations given by the tool, as long as the information you give remains accurate and in accordance with our guidance"

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/check-employment-status-for-tax

if that says you are an employee then you ARE an employee and the person giving you the work is in deep do do for evading employment taxation.