Chancellor’s Announcement 26 March 2020
The Chancellor has announced the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme as part of the package of measures to support the economy. The new Self -Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) will give a direct cash grant worth 80% of their average monthly trading profit over the last three years, up to a maximum of £2,500 to eligible self-employed individuals. The SEISS has just been announced and the details will need to be clarified but at this point we understand that :
- The scheme will be open to those with a trading profit of less than £50,000 in 2018-19 or an average trading profit of less than £50,000 from 2016-17, 2017-18 and 2018-19
- To qualify, more than half of their income in these periods must come from self-employment
- To minimise fraud, only those who are already in self-employment and meet the above conditions will be eligible to apply
- The income support scheme, which is being designed by HMRC from scratch, will cover the three months to May. Grants will be paid in a single lump sum instalment covering all 3 months, and will start to be paid at the beginning of June.
How to access SEISS
- HMRC will identify eligible taxpayers and contact them directly with guidance on how to apply
- Individuals should not contact HMRC now
The scheme excludes those who pay themselves a salary and dividends through their own company. Those individuals will be covered for their salary by the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme if they operate a PAYE scheme.
Update 27 March 2020
The Government has now released guidance on how to claim a grant through the coronavirus Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) You can apply if you are a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership and you:
- have submitted your Income Tax Self Assessment tax return for the tax year 2018-19 – if you have not done this, you must do so by 23 April
- traded in the tax year 2019-20
- are trading when you apply, or would be except for COVID-19
- intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020-21
- have lost trading/partnership trading profits due to COVID-19
- your self-employed trading profits/partnership trading profits must be less than £50,000 and more than half of your income comes from self-employment.
YOU CANNOT APPLY for this scheme yet. HMRC will contact you if you are eligible and invite you to apply online.