If you have private practice earnings as well as your NHS salary, you could be paying far too much National Insurance (NICs). There is a cap on the level of National Insurance payable per tax year at the main rate, which is based on annual earnings of £33,540 (for 2006/07). If your NHS salary exceeds this, you should only be paying the extra 1% NIC on your private practice income, not the full 8% due for class 4 plus £2.10 per week for class 2.
If you act quickly you can apply to defer the class 2 and 4 NIC payable for 2006/07 by completing the form CA72B which can be downloaded from the HMRC website. This form must reach the Inland revenue NIC office by 5 April 2007 to be effective for 2006/07. You should also apply to defer payment of NICs on your private income for 2007/08 by completing a separate form CA 72B for that tax year.
You may well have already paid class 2 National Insurance Contributions by direct debit for 2006/07, but these contributions can be reclaimed by writing to the NIC Refunds Group at Longbenton Newcastle. You can also reclaim overpayments of Class 4 NIC made in earlier tax years with no restriction. However, you may have to provide evidence of the salary you received, the National Insurance deducted from it and the other NI charges you paid, as the Inland Revenue may not have kept full records of payments made more than six years ago.
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