07 May Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

COVID19 7 MAY 2020

The HMRC, have recently announced the finer details of its Self-Employed Income Support Scheme and you may already have received a letter about this from the HMRC. Please read the email carefully if you are self-employed and your business has been adversely affected by COVID-19.

The online service will be open on 13 May 2020, but you can check if you are eligible now by using HMRC’s online eligibility tool (see link below).

The scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant of 80% of your average monthly trading profits (based on the last three tax years 2016/17, 2017/2018 and 2018/19), covering 3 months, and capped at £7,500 altogether. This is subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance. The grant amount is worked out by the HMRC from the information you provide when applying and from the information they already have regarding your tax returns. If you are eligible, the grant amount will be paid directly into your bank account, in one single installment within 6 working days.

Even, if you receive the grant you can continue to work, start a new trade or take on other employment including voluntary work, or duties as an armed forces reservist.

When you make your claim

You will need:

•  Self Assessment UTR
• National Insurance number
• Government Gateway user ID and password – if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you check your eligibility online. You will be sent various security codes to the email address you have supplied. An activation code will be sent through the post by HMRC which can take up to 7 days to arrive, we would therefore recommend that you set up your Government Gateway account as soon as possible.
• bank account number and sort code you want us to pay the grant into (only provide bank account details where a Bacs payment can be accepted)

Check if you’re eligible to claim

You can use the online tool to find out if you’re eligible to make a claim.

You’ll need your:

• Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number 
• National Insurance number

Click here to check your eligibility

Who can claim

You can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and:

• you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
• you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus (you will be asked to confirm this)

Your business could be adversely affected by coronavirus if, for example:

• you’re unable to work because you:
• • are shielding
  • are self-isolating
  • are on sick leave because of coronavirus
  •  have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus

• you’ve had to scale down or temporarily stop trading because:

• • your supply chain has been interrupted
  • you have fewer or no customers or clients
  • your staff are unable to come in to work

You cannot claim the grant if you’re above the state aid limits or operating a trade through a trust.

To work out your eligibility the HMRC will first look at your 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax return. Your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income. If you’re not eligible based on the 2018 to 2019 Self Assessment tax return, the HMRC will then look at the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019.

The HMRC provides some clear examples of how it works out eligibility and its use of different years, as well as whether your personal circumstances might affect the claim, for example if your return was late Check if your circumstances affect your eligibility, 

Please do contact us if you have any questions.

Wishing you and your family well and safe and Happy VE Day celebrations tomorrow!