National Insurance Number: Tax & Superannuation

National Insurance. Now you’re going to become very familiar with this term when you move over to the UK. What it is is a percentage of your wage that is taken out by the government to put away in the equivalent of the superannuation fund. Because we don’t get old here and we’re not British citizens, we’re actually entitled to getting this national insurance back. This is known as an NI rebate. You get this back at the end of every tax year and you can use agencies such as First Contact to do that. What happens is it gets rolled over from over here to your superannuation fund back in Australia so when you are old, you’ll have lots of pounds.

The way to pay the right National Insurance is by being allocated a National Insurance number otherwise known as NI number. Now it’s like our tax file number and it puts you in the right bracket to pay the right National Insurance contribution. Now I know it sounds a little difficult but wait until you try and get the number.

So how do you get this elusive National Insurance number? Well, it’s not easy. What happens is you’re allocated a temp number as soon as you enter the country but it is recommended that you get a permanent National Insurance number. Firstly because recruitment companies like it that way and secondly it’s going to help you get your NI rebate at the end of the year.

There’s a few ways you can get your National Insurance number. You can go on the web site and look up job center plus otherwise you can call the job center plus nearest your area. Now to do this you can call directory assistance 118 118 and ask to be put through to your local job center plus.

So why are you calling your local job center plus? Well you need to set up an interview to get your National Insurance number. The interview is the easy bit. What you need to take is 4 weeks worth of wage slips, so yes you’ve had to have worked for 4 weeks, a utility bill and your passport. The interview only takes about 20 minutes. They’ll ask you some questions, fill out a  manzana form and then allocate you your National Insurance number.

Once you’ve walked out of your job center plus, after your 20 minute interview and you’ve filled out all of your forms, wait just 7 weeks, yes, yes 7 weeks to get a little plastic card in the mail with your National Insurance number on it. Entitles you to NI rebate, loss of pounds when you 60 or 70 or whenever you need them when you retire.

Ok so most of you are probably asking yourselves, what the ^%&* is an NI or National Insurance number?!

Well, It’s the UK’s equivalent of a tax file number if you’re from Oz, IRD number if you’re from NZ, or a xx if you are from SA.

You will need a National Insurance number when you start work, so that
a. You are taxed at the right amount
b. Your National Insurance Rebate, which is similar to Superannuation, is claimable once you leave the UK and return home.

It’s not an easy number to get, the system to get the number is annoying, long and illogical but it’s worth the pain of getting it –It makes claiming for tax and NI rebates much much easier – Actually it’s near impossible to get any money back from the UK government without one.

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