We act for a CIS subcontractor who is domiciled, resident and ordinarily resident in Eire, and whose only permanent establishment is in Eire. He reports his world-wide CIS profits on his Eire tax return; he pays to the Eire authorities the equivalent social security charges and he has the appropriate certification to prove it (form A1, formerly form E101).
He is also UK resident by reference to domestic law. However for Income Tax purposes he is "treaty resident" in Eire by reference to the Anglo-Irish Double Taxation agreement. He never has any permanent or deemed permanent establishment of business in the UK and therefore no UK self-employment pages are attached to his UK self assessment tax return.
That DT agreement does not appear to cover NI contributions, but there are separate EU regulations governing migrant self-employed workers. An obligation to pay class 2 NIC in the UK potentially arises under somewhat stricter tests than apply to the IT regime, but for exemptions granted to EU migrant workers in possession of A1 certification of paying the equivalent contributions in their primary EU state.
So our client appears to be safe from an obligation to pay Class 2 NIC were he to rely on his A1 exemption. The trouble is, he would prefer to pay this NIC, if he can legitimately do so. Many of his colleagues of the previous generation receive a state pension from both UK and Eire, and he would like to join that club when he retires assuming that the cost is £2.50 or so per week (for the UK element).
Presumably he could join the club by paying voluntary class 3 NIC, but that is a bit expensive. He is only interested in class 2.
My understanding is that you can only pay class 2 under an obligation. So my question to you all is: Can he opt to disregard (or surrender) his A1 exemption and thereby induce an obligation to pay class 2?
With kind regards
Clint Westwood