Coronavirus Self Employment Income Support Scheme
Coronavirus Self Employment Income Support Scheme
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) has been extended to allow a further claim
Individuals can continue to apply for the first SEISS grant until 13 July. Under the first grant, eligible individuals can claim a taxable grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of profits, and capped at £7,500 in total.
Those eligible have the money paid into their bank account within six working days of completing a claim.
Applications for the second grant will open in August. Individuals will be able to claim a second taxable grant worth 70% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering three months’ worth of profits, and capped at £6,570 in total.
The eligibility criteria are the same for both grants, and individuals will need to confirm that their business has been adversely affected by coronavirus.
An individual does not need to have claimed the first grant to receive the second grant: for example, they may only have been adversely affected by COVID-19 in this later phase.
Further guidance on the second grant will be published on Friday 12 June.
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme
What is it?
The Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will support self-employed individuals (including members of partnerships) whose income has been negatively impacted by COVID-19. The scheme will provide a grant to self-employed individuals or partnerships, worth 80% of their profits up to a cap of £2,500 per month.
HMRC will use the average profits from tax returns in 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19 to calculate the size of the grant. The scheme will be open to those where the majority of their income comes from self-employment and who have profits of less than £50,000. The scheme will be open for an initial three months with people able to make their first claim by the beginning of June.
Am I eligible?
To be eligible for the scheme you must meet all the criteria below:
- Be self-employed or a member of partnership;
- Have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19;
- File a tax return for 2018-19 as self-employed or a member of a trading partnership. Those who have not yet filed for 2018-19 will have an additional 4 weeks from this announcement to do so;
- Have traded in 2019-20; be currently trading at the point of application (or would be except for COVID 19) and intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
- Have trading profits of less than £50,000 and more than half of your total income come from self-employment. This can be with reference to at least one of the following conditions:
Your average trading profits and total income across up to the three years between 2016-17, 2017-18, and 2018-19.
What about new start-ups?
The scheme does not apply to individuals who commenced self employment in 2019-20 ie within the last 12 months.
How do I access it?
HMRC Claims Service
The claims service, which will help self-employed people access the SEISS opened on 13 May 2020 and it will be down to each individual to make a claim on their own behalf.
Full details are available here:
If you’re eligible, HMRC will tell you the date you can make your claim from.
Set up a Government Gateway Account
If we file your tax return you may not have a Government Gateway Account. If not, we recommend you create a Government Gateway Account as soon as possible. Once you have applied for the account HMRC will send you a letter containing an activation code. It can take up to seven days for you to receive this important information which you will enable you to log in to your online account.
You can do this by clicking here.
You will need your UTR and National Insurance numbers when setting up the Government Gateway Account and will need to prove your identity as part of the set up process. This usually requires proof of identity such as a current UK passport or UK driving licence.
HMRC has said the claims process will be simple and that those individuals that are eligible for the scheme will see the grant paid into their bank account by 25 May, or within six working days of completing a claim.