Chancellor Rishi Sunak confirmed in last week’s Budget that further extensions would be made to the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) with the fourth grant covering the period February 2021 to April 2021 and the fifth grant covering May 2021 to September 2021.
The Government has estimated that due to the new criteria, over 600,000 individuals may be newly eligible for the fourth and fifth SEISS grants, including many newly self-employed.
Fourth SEISS Grant
The fourth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant will be set at 80% of 3 months’ average trading profits, paid out in a single instalment, capped at £7,500.
It will take into account 2019/2020 tax returns as long as they were submitted by midnight on 2nd March 2021.
The grant will also be open to those who became self-employed in tax year 2019/2020.
To be eligible for the fourth grant you must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership.
You must either:
- be currently trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus
- have been trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus
You must also declare that:
- you intend to continue to trade
- you reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity, demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus
You must also have been trading in both tax years 2019-2020, and 2020-2021.
When/how to claim:
The online claims service for the fourth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant will be available from late April 2021 until 31 May 2021.
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.
HMRC has stated that all claims must be made by the applicant themselves. Unfortunately, we as your accountant can not do this for you. We are able to use the online eligibility checking tool on your behalf, but will not be able to submit the claim.
Fifth SEISS Grant
The fifth and final grant will cover May to September.
If you are eligible for the fifth grant, you will be able to claim from late July.
More details will be provided on the fifth grant in due course.
Further information:
You can submit a new claim for the SEISS scheme even if you haven’t claimed on the scheme before.
As these are classified as grants, if you are eligible and make a successful claim, you will not have to repay the support that you get however money paid to you will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance. Because of this, you’ll need to include the SEISS grant you receive on your Self Assessment tax return.
Applicants for the SEISS grant will find out if their claim is successful straight after submitting the claim.
HMRC aims to pay successful grant applications within six working days into the chosen bank account.
For more info on how to claim the fourth Self-Employment Income Support Scheme grant, please visit gov.uk
