Following the Government statement on 25th September in relation to the extension of the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), we set out below the scope of the scheme and the extent of third and fourth grants to be paid out.

If you want to know more detail about the Scheme, follow this link:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/921386/FINAL_SE_factsheet.pdf

  

  1. Introduction
  • The extension will provide two grants and will last for six months, from November 2020 to April 2021;
  • Grants will be paid in two lump sum instalments each covering a three month period;
    • The first grant will cover a three-month period from the start of November until the end of January, providing a taxable grant covering 20 per cent of average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months’ worth of profits, and capped at £1,875 in total.
    • The second grant will cover a three-month period from the start of February until the end of April, although the Government is yet to announce the level of the second grant to be set.
  • If you only had a few months’ self-employment in the last tax year (2018/9), your earnings will be counted as your total profit for the year, they will not be pro-rata’d to reflect average monthly earnings over the worked period;
  • The grants are subject to Income Tax and National Insurance Contributions, and will be taxed upon your 20/21 tax return;
  • Again, the you may continue to work whilst in receipt of support;

 

  1. Who Is Eligible?
  • Anyone who is currently eligible for the SEISS (see previous posts) – you do not however have to have claimed the previous grants to be able to claim the extended grants;
  • There are two new self certification requirements to the extended Scheme, and further guidance on these is expected to be published in due course:
    • You must be able to declare that you are currently actively trading and intend to continue to trade;
    • You must be able to declare that you remain impacted by reduced demand due to COVID-19 in the qualifying period, the qualifying period for the first grant is between 1 November and the date of claim;
  • The requirement to be actively trading will mean that if you have been forced to close during the Pandemic and have not re-commenced trading then you will not be eligible to claim under the extended Scheme
    • It is understood that this policy decision is designed to ensure that only viable businesses are supported
    • This aligns the Scheme to the newly announced Job Support Scheme that replaces the Job Retention Scheme simultaneously.

 

  1. How Do I Claim?
  • HMRC will provide full details about claiming and applications in guidance on gov.uk in due course.