Fourth Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) Grant

HMRC have provided more information around the timeline for the fourth Self Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant, as follows:

• Some self employed people have already received calls from HMRC who need to confirm eligibility for the grant, having processed the 2019/20 Tax Returns. Details requested will include proof of identity, such as a valid UK passport or UK photo card driving licence, and evidence of trade, being three months of bank statements for the business account for the 2019/20 tax year.
• From mid-April, HMRC will give those people who they feel are eligible for the fourth grant a personal claim date. As with the earlier payments, this date is the earliest point at which a claim can be submitted, which is likely to be in late April.
• All claims must be made by the 1st June 2021.
• From mid April, HMRC will be contacting those self employed people who have qualified for earlier grants, but who are ineligible for this fourth payment. This may be because their Tax Return wasn’t submitted by the 2nd March 2021 deadline, or because they do not meet the eligibility criteria once the 2019/20 Tax Return is taken into account.

How do I know if I’m eligible?

To be eligible for the fourth grant, self employed individuals must:

1. have submitted their 2019-20 tax return on or before 2nd March 2021
2. have trading profits that are no more than £50,000 and at least equal to their non-trading income, based on their 2019-20 tax return or an average of relevant tax years between 2016-17 and 2019-20
3. declare that they intend to continue to trade and are either:
   • currently trading but are impacted by reduced activity, capacity or demand due to coronavirus, or
   • have traded previously but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus (If they’ve been abroad and have to stay in quarantine or self-isolate, this does not count)
4. declare that they have a reasonable belief that there will be a significant reduction in their trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus.

For clarity, ‘Self employed’ in this situation is anyone who trades as a sole trader, and includes members of partnerships, but NOT Directors of companies.

How do I claim?

To claim, you will need to log into your Government Gateway account with your User ID and password. We’d recommend that you find these details and check that you can get logged in before your claim date arrives, so avoid delaying any payment.

Once your allocated date arrives you’ll need to have the following to hand before you can make your claim:

• Your National Insurance number.
• Your Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR).
• The account number and sort code details for your business bank account. You’ll also need the address details that this account is registered to, so your office or home address. This is NOT the branch address of your bank!

We cannot make the claim on your behalf, but if you have any questions or can’t find either your UTR or your National Insurance numbers, please get in touch.

If this is your first SEISS claim…

There are some self employed people who weren’t able to claim any of the earlier grants. If this applies to you, you’ll need some extra information when you log in, so that you can prove your identity. HMRC have advised that this may include any of the following that may be applicable to you, so it would make life easier if you’re prepared when you log on!

• your UK passport
• information held on your credit file (such as loans, credit cards or mortgages)
• your Self Assessment tax return (within the last three years)
• your tax credit claim
• your P60
• one of your three most recent payslips

A reminder…

As we’ve mentioned previously, these grant payment are NOT repayable, but ARE taxable, so please be sure to include the details of any or all that you have claimed when you send us the information for your Tax Return for the year in which you received the payment.

Also, please ensure that you keep careful records of the basis on which you are claiming. The eligibility criteria points 3 and 4 (above) are effectively opinions as of April 2021, so keep some notes as to why you feel you’re eligible to claim. You may be asked later to explain why you claimed and having these notes will make life easier than trying to recreate the numbers you’ve looked at.