As you may have seen or read in the news the government extended the furlough scheme for PAYE employees and soon after announced an extension to the SEISS for self-employed individuals, but things fell silent after the announcement.
The first thing to note is that the deadline for the first SEISS claim was 13/07/2020.
The 1st SEISS grant covered a 3-month period for loss of income due to COVID-19 from April to June. If you were eligible for this grant, you had until 13th July 2020 to make the claim. After this date, the applications closed, so you will have no means of applying for it.
However, the SEISS has been extended for a second term which is believed to be the final grant the government will offer the self-employed. If your business has been adversely affected as a result of the coronavirus pandemic on or after 14th July 2020 you can now make a claim (from 17th August 2020) for the second SEISS grant.
You can make a claim for the second grant if you’re eligible, even if you did not make a claim for the fist grant, but your eligibility for the 2nd grant is made by meeting the same criteria as those outlined for the 1st grant:
- 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 as self-employed in the tax year 2019 to 2020
- you intend to continue to trade as self-employed in the tax year 2020 to 2021
- your trading profits are less that £50,0000
- you carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus
Your business could be adversely affected by coronavirus if, for example:
- you’re unable to work because you:
- are shielding
- are self-isolating
- are on sick leave because of coronavirus
- have caring responsibilities because of coronavirus
- you’ve had to scale down, temporarily stop trading or incurred additional costs because:
- your supply chain has been interrupted
- you have fewer or no customers or clients
- your staff are unable to come in to work
- one or more of your contracts have been cancelled
- you had to buy protective equipment so you could trade following social distancing rules
The second and final SEISS grant is a taxable grant, meaning that like the 1st, the amount received will need to be declared as income on your 20/21 tax return. It will be 70% of your average monthly trading profits, paid out in a single instalment covering further 3-months of profits, and capped at £6,570. In comparison, the 1st grant was capped at £7,500 and 80% of your profits for 3-months.
If you have been putting it off, have not checked your eligibility status, or unsure how to do so, then please call Taxfile on 020 8761 8000 and we can help you.
Taxfile will be in touch with existing clients around the time that the 2nd grant becomes available. If you are not an existing Taxfile client, please do call us if you would like us to help you make the claim.
