Voluntary UK NIC Contributions

[Wizbit]

Hi Peeps, hope somebody can help me out with this one....
- I've been living in Spain 7 yrs and in that time I have paid 1 yr into the Spanish system as a contracted Employee and 3 yr as an Autonomo ( I am no longer paying anything in Spain as I am out of work ).
- I have also paid 6 yrs Voluntary National Insurance Contributions back to the UK , which means that I now have paid 24 yrs in total to the UK.

My question is this : Can the 4 yrs that I have paid to Spain be transfered across to the UK in order to count towards my total. If so, do I do this now or just before I am due to take any Pension benefits out of the UK system. Who would I liase with to do this ?

[davidgoodall]

The UK agency you need to liase with when it comes to contributions is HMRC.

I found a web address which might help, in fact it deals with voluntary contributions and working abroad. It may not give the final answer you seek but its a starting point.

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/cnr/osc.htm

David Goodall
Financial Pages in Spain

[Wizbit]

Thanks David. I called them and they said that because I am of an age where I could still work in either country, and that my circumstances could change before I claim anything, I should get in touch with them closer to retirement age. As long as my 4 yrs (so far!) can count towards my 30 in the UK system I'm happy.

[Jimbo]

So, hypothetically, if you had paid 4 Years into the UK when you worked there, and paid 26 Years into Spain, could you transfer the UK contributions to count towards the Spanish contributions? Can you choose which country you wish to draw a Pension from, or does it have to be the country where you live at the time, or have contributed the most payments to?