From 8am today those eligible for the self-employed income support scheme will be able to apply for a grant. The government has released the scheme ahead of its original schedule.
The government have introduced the self-employed income support scheme to allow individuals to claim a taxable grant of 80% of your average monthly trading profits. This will be a single instalment and will cover a 3-month period with a cap of £7,500.
This payment is expected by May 25th or within 6 working days of each claim.
Applicants will be given a specific date and time slot on which to make their claim between the 13th and 18th May. This will be based on the individuals unique tax reference number and this can be checked on HMRC’s online checker
Click here to access HMRC’s online checker. Anyone can use this online checker and it will tell you whether your eligible for the claim.
You need your:
- Self-Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number
- National Insurance number
The grant will be subject to Income Tax and Self-employed National Insurance. This is a temporary scheme but may be extended by the Chancellor.
If you receive the grant you can continue to work or take on other employment including voluntary work
Who is eligible for the claim?
- You can claim if you’re a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership
- you traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self-Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
- you traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
- you intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
- you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by Coronavirus
HMRC work out your eligibility by looking at your 2019 Self-Assessment tax return. Your trading profits must be no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income.
If you’re not eligible based on the 2018 to 2019 Self-Assessment tax return, they will then look at the tax years 2016 to 2017, 2017 to 2018, and 2018 to 2019.
HMRC have noted that some individuals who are eligible for the claim have received a ‘not eligible’ response from the online checker. They have advised to wait a couple of days and then try again and if it still shows not eligible contact HRMC and ask them to review your eligibility.
Unfortunately, we cannot make the claim for you, you must do this yourself, but we can guide you through the process offering help or support.
What happens if I am not eligible for the claim?
There are other options available if you are not eligible for the claim:
- Universal credit
- Deferral of Self-Assessment Income Tax and VAT payments
- Grants for businesses that pay little or no business rates
- Business Interruption Loan Scheme
- Bounce Back Loan
- Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme
If you would like to discuss the other options that are available for you or if you need any help or support on anything we have mentioned in above, please click here to contact us now or call 0191 586 1615.