Self Employment Income Support Scheme
The Government has announced increased support for the UK’s army of self-employed individuals, by raising the level of grant available under the SEISS.
The SEISS was originally introduced to provide 80% of a self-employed individual’s average monthly trading profits up to a maximum of £7,500 for March through to May.
A second cash lump sum was then made available for June through to August, equating to 70% of average monthly trading profits up to a maximum of £6,570.
The scheme was later extended for a further six months to cover the period from November 2020 to April 2021, with the first grant covering the period November to January.
This grant will cover 80% of average profits and be capped at £7,500 – this matches the amounts available when the scheme was originally introduced.
HMRC has also confirmed that it will pay this more generous grant sooner than planned. The window for claiming will open on 30th November, with the current claim portal believed to remain open to facilitate payments.
As with the previous grants under the same scheme, the payments will be subject to tax and national insurance contributions.
Self-employment Income Support Scheme – at a glance
- HMRC will use the average trading profits from tax returns in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 to determine the size of the grant, deducting any trading losses arising in those years from any profits.
- In order to be eligible, you must have trading profits of no more than £50,000 and more than half of your total income come from self-employment for either the tax year 2018/19 or the average of the tax years 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19.
- You must have completed and submitted a self-assessment tax return for the 2018/19 tax year.
- You must intend to continue to trade and either:
* are currently actively trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus; or
* were previously trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
The claim can be made online from 30 November.
It cannot yet be submitted but keep an eye on the government website for further details.
If you’d like to know how we can help you with this, or with anything else, feel free to phone 01942 734455 or email me at pb@hca.org.uk
Paul has been engaged in the accounting profession since 1988 after leaving the University of Manchester with a BSc (Hons) in Computer Science & Accounting. He qualified with Price Waterhouse Coopers in 1991. After a successful period in industry and a spell working in a local firm of Chartered Accountants, Paul decided to go it alone and established Haywards in 1994. In his spare time, Paul enjoys going to the gym, running, learning guitar and tormenting his Jack Russell, Arnie, and his Jackapoo, Stig. Along with his daughter (his wife hates football!), Paul is also a keen, but distressed, Wigan Athletic fan.