COVID-19: Fourth Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) announced
The eagerly awaited fourth SEISS grant will be available to claim from April but there has been some dismay as the online claims service for this fourth grant will not be available until late April 2021 and will then be open until 31 May 2021.
HMRC’s policy paper published on 3 March states:
‘If you are eligible, HMRC will contact you in mid-April to give you your personal claim date. This will be the date that you can make your claim from.’
Click here for full details on how to submit your claim if you are self-employed.
5th March 2021
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Chris Bowles See profile
Chris Bowles, a director at Old Mill’s Wells office comments ‘It’s somewhat mystifying why this group, many of whom are hard-pressed in terms of cash flow need to wait so long to access this money… many are getting desperate and are in need of this cash to keep going. So, it’s now more important than ever to be on top of your finances and understand up-front what’s needed to submit your claim as soon as you receive your personal claim date.
‘On a more positive note, it’s good news for the 600,000 newly self-employed that have previously been excluded from the SEISS. So, anyone who had to file a tax return by midnight on 2 March is now entitled to claim both the fourth and fifth grants.
‘An important point for people to consider is that eligibility will now be based on submitted 2019-2020 tax returns which may also affect the amount of the fourth grant which could potentially be higher or lower than previous grants that claimants may have received.’
- The fourth SEISS grant is worth 80% of three months’ average trading profits, capped at £7,500
- To be eligible the claimant must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership
- To work out your eligibility, HMRC will first look at the 2019-2020 tax return to ensure that trading profits are no more than £50,000 and at least equal to non-trading income
- Where the claimant is not eligible based on their 2019-2020 tax return, HMRC will also look at the tax years 2016-17, 2017-18, 2018-19 and 2019-20
- The claimant must also have traded in both tax years: 2019 to 2020 and submitted a tax return by 2 March 2021 | 2020 to 2021
- The claimant must either: be currently trading but is impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus | have been trading but temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
- The claimant must also declare that: they intend to continue to trade | they reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in their trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus
- Future support will be available through a fifth and final grant covering May to September, with claims possible from late July.
For more information or to discuss any of the above in more detail please click here…