Self-employed: how to pay National Insurance

1 min read
Last updated 15 Nov 2022

While full-time employees have their income tax and National Insurance contributions (NI) paid through their employers (called the PAYE system), as a self-employed you have to calculate and pay them yourself.

Here is how you do it.

If you pay self-employed National Insurance through Self Assessment

Most self-employed people pay NI as part of their Self Assessment tax bill.

You need to pay 2 types of National Insurance in the 2022/23 tax year:

Contribution	Profits from self-employment	How much you pay
No contribution	Less than £11,909	£0
Class 2	over £11,909	£3.15 each week
Class 4	£12,570 – £50,270	9%
Class 4	over £50,271	2%

Check out our National Insurance calculator

Your situation

Tax and profit

Total earnings
£49,000
£1,000 tax-free Trading Allowance
?
NI contributions
£3,795
Class 2 NI: £164
Class 4 NI: £3,632
Income tax
£7,086
What you’re left with
£38,119

How your National Insurance contributions are calculated

When you’re self-employed, you have to pay your National Insurance contributions yourself in your annual Self Assessment, together with any income tax you might owe.

National Insurance breakdown

You pay no NI contributions on the first £12,570 that you make.

You will need to pay Class 2 NI worth £164.

You will also have to pay £3,632 (9%) on your income between £12,570 and £48,000.

If you don’t pay NI through Self Assessment

You don’t pay self-employed National Insurance through Self Assessment if you’re:

Living overseas
A non-UK resident who’s self-employed in the UK.

You can still make voluntary Class 2 National Insurance payments – for example to make sure you get the full State Pension or to cover gaps in your National Insurance record.

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Self-employed: how to pay National Insurance

If you pay self-employed National Insurance through Self Assessment