National Insurance for the self-employed in 2026/27

Class 4: the one you actually pay

For the 2026/27 tax year, Class 4 contributions on self-employed profits are:

Worked example: on profits of £30,000, Class 4 is 6% of (£30,000 − £12,570) = £1,045.80. It is calculated on your Self Assessment return, paid with your income tax, and included in payments on account.

Class 2: no longer compulsory, still worth knowing

Since 6 April 2024, nobody is required to pay Class 2. But the class still exists, and it matters because Class 2 is what historically bought State Pension qualifying years. The current position:

• Profits of £7,105 or more (the 2026/27 Small Profits Threshold): you are treated as having paid Class 2 automatically. Your pension record is protected and there is nothing to pay.
• Profits below £7,105: no automatic credit. You can pay voluntary Class 2 at £3.65 a week (about £190 a year) to keep the year counting towards your State Pension and contributory benefits.

That voluntary payment is one of the cheapest ways to buy a pension qualifying year that exists, and it is the detail most often missed by people with small side businesses or a low-profit first year. Check your State Pension forecast before deciding; a year you already have from employment does not need buying twice.

When profits pass the upper limit

The 6% band stops at £50,270; above that, the rate on further profit drops to 2%. On profits of £60,000 the calculation runs in two slices: 6% of the full £37,700 band between the limits (£2,262.00) plus 2% of the £9,730 above the upper limit (£194.60), a total of £2,456.60.

Thinking in marginal terms makes the shape obvious: between £12,570 and £50,270 each extra £100 of profit costs £6 of Class 4 on top of income tax, while above £50,270 it costs only £2, at the same point higher-rate income tax takes over. And because Class 4 is part of the Self Assessment bill, a strong year feeds straight into payments on account: the £2,456.60 joins the income tax bill that gets halved and charged in advance the following January and July. A good year costs you twice in the same winter, once in settlement and once in prepayment.

Watch the thresholds move

The Small Profits Threshold has risen each year recently (£6,725 in 2024/25, £6,845 in 2025/26, £7,105 now), while the £12,570 and £50,270 limits have been frozen in line with income tax bands. Frozen thresholds plus growing profits mean more of your income drifting into the 6% band each year without any rate rising, which is worth remembering when comparing bills year on year.

Where your records come in

Class 4 is charged on profits, so every legitimately claimed expense reduces NI as well as income tax; at basic rate the combined saving is 26p per £1 of allowable expense. Complete expense records are therefore worth real money. If yours are a shoebox of receipts and a year of statements, our free receipt scanner and bank statement analyzer will turn them into categorised, SA103-aligned lists you can carry into your return.

Checking the record all of this feeds

The point of every pound of NI is your contribution record, and the record is worth checking rather than assuming. The Check your State Pension forecast service on GOV.UK shows how many qualifying years you have, which years are incomplete, and what filling a gap would cost. Two habits pay off: check the record after each filing season, so a year you believed was covered has actually landed as a qualifying year, and check it before paying anything voluntary, because someone who will comfortably reach 35 qualifying years by retirement may not need to buy more. Gaps can normally be filled going back six years, so a discovery today is rarely a disaster, but the price of a voluntary year rises over time and the deadline is real.

Frequently asked questions