Prepare to claim under the Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS)
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme will allow taxpayers to claim a taxable grant of 80% of their average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months, and capped at £7,500 altogether. We gave an outline of the scheme when it was first announced: see https://crozierjones.co.uk/blogs/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme/
Updated HMRC guidance now sets out details of how and when claims will be made later this month.
Who can claim?
Taxpayers can claim if they are self-employed individuals or a members of a partnership and:
- they carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus
- they traded in the tax year 2018/19 and submitted their Self-Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
- they traded in the tax year 2019/20
- they intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020/21
The business could be adversely affected by coronavirus, for example if:
- They are unable to work because they:
- are shielding
- are self-isolating
- are on sick leave because of coronavirus
- have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
- They have had to scale down or temporarily stop trading because:
- Their supply chain has been interrupted
- they have fewer or no customers or clients
- their staff are unable to come in to work
Check if you’re eligible to claim
You can use HMRC’s online tool to find out if you’re eligible to make a claim.
When can you make a claim?
The online claim service is not available yet. HMRC will aim to contact taxpayers by mid May 2020 if they consider that the taxpayer is eligible, to invite them to claim using the GOV.UK online service. Payment will be made by early June 2020 if the claim is approved.
If taxpayers are unable to claim online an alternative way to claim will be available. HMRC will update their guidance with more information soon.
Information required to make a claim
- Self-Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number
- National Insurance number
- Government Gateway user ID and password
- Bank account number and sort code you want HMRC to pay the grant into
Scams
You can only claim through the Government Gateway.
HMRC are aware of an increase in scam emails, calls and texts. If someone gets in touch with you claiming to be from HMRC, saying that financial help can be claimed or that a tax refund is owed, and asks you to click on a link or to give information such as your name, credit card or bank details, you should not respond. It is a scam.
Our Role as Your Agent
HMRC will not allow us to make the claim on your behalf. You will have to make the claim yourself through your Government Gateway account. If you don’t already have a Government Gateway account, you will need to set this up yourself; if you need help to do this, please let us know.
We will check that HMRC have correctly calculated the payment they make to you.
Further Information
