Looming Deadlines – Self Employed Income Support Scheme

Coronavirus, Sole Trader,

The third grant of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) closes for claims on Friday‌‌ ‌29th‌‌ ‌January. If you are eligible and are yet to make your claim, please do so quickly!

Can I claim?

To make a claim for the third grant your business must have been impacted by coronavirus on or after 1st November 2020. You can make a claim for the third grant if you’re eligible, even if you did not make a claim for the first or second.

Who can claim

You must meet all the eligibility criteria to claim the third grant. Please check that you meet these criteria before making your claim. They are different to the criteria for the first two grants!

This time around, you have to declare that your trading profits will be substantially less than you anticipated, whereas for the first two grants you purely had to say that your business had been affected by the pandemic.

HMRC have said ‘This reduction needs to be due to reduced activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus during 1 November 2020 to 29‌‌ ‌January‌‌ ‌2021.’

What if my business recovers later?

The Guidance has been clarified to say that if your business recovers after you have made your claim, you do not have to repay it. As long as you can show that you made the claim based on the figures in your business and your expectations at that time, HMRC have said that you are entitled to the grant.

As before, we would recommend that you keep careful and very clear records as to why you feel you are entitled to claim, as there are bound to be enquiries into recipients later. Whilst we can’t predict how many people will be affected, keeping records now will save you having to recall and recreate them later.

What you will need to make your claim

You will need your:

  • Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR)
  • National Insurance number
  • Government Gateway user ID and password (if you have one, or you can set one up during the claim process).
  • UK bank details including account number, sort code, name on the account and address linked to the account

How do I claim?

Visit this page on gov.uk.

What about the Fourth Grant?

As soon as we have more information, we’ll pass it on, but as yet none is available.

 

Please remember that details of this and any previous claim through the scheme must be included in your tax return for the year ended 5th April 2021, but that, as a grant, the amount you receive is not repayable.

As advised before, we cannot claim on your behalf, but are very happy to help you through the process if we can, so please get in touch if you’re unsure of your eligibility or any of the details you may need to make your claim.

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