Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, what recent steps his Department has taken to simplify the system of National Insurance payments for self-employed people.

The government is committed to simplifying the tax system and supporting the self-employed.

To support everyone, including the self-employed, the government has committed to raise the income tax Personal Allowance to £12,500, and the higher rate threshold to £50,000. By 2020-21, the government will have increased the Personal Allowance by over 90%, completing a decade’s worth of sustained increases.

The government has reduced the administration burden on the self-employed by £19 million a year by ensuring Class 2 NICs can be paid online via self-assessment. This has modernised the way Class 2 NICs is assessed and collected, making the system simpler and more straight-forward on the self-employed.