Research and analysis

Understanding self-employed customer experiences of bringing payment of Class 2 National Insurance contributions into Self Assessment

HMRC commissioned research with self-employed individuals and tax agents to review the change in payment mechanism for Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs).

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HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) commissioned research agency Ipsos to conduct research to explore how self-employed individuals and tax agents experienced a change that brought payment of Class 2 National Insurance contributions (NICs) into Self Assessment. This change aimed to make the payment of Class 2 NICs easier for self-employed individuals and tax agents.

The research focused on tax agents and self-employed individuals who had paid Class 2 NICs before and after the change in payment mechanism came into effect in April 2015, including self-employed individuals who had also claimed Maternity Allowance.

The research aimed to understand the impact of the change on self-employed individuals and tax agents paying Class 2 NICs.

The research consisted of in-depth telephone interviews with 25 self-employed individuals (five of whom had also claimed Maternity Allowance) and five tax agents. Fieldwork took place between January and March 2022.

The views in this report are the authors’ own and do not necessarily reflect those of HMRC.

Updates to this page

Published 26 January 2023

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