SEISS: Two more Grants! (neither played by Ross Kemp)
Read through this guide to understand the changes for SEISS grants and how it may affect you.
The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) is made up of four taxable Government grants for self-employed individuals and is the main financial lifeline for the self-employed.
It provides critical support to the self-employed in the form of 4 taxable grants. The first two are now closed with the third available for three month periods covering November 2020 to January 2021 and the forth not ready until February 2021 to April 2021.
UPDATE 26th NOVEMBER : It will now offer 80% of average trading profits capped at £7,500 for the WHOLE three-month period between 1 November to 31 January.
If you were not eligible for the first and second grant, you will not be eligible for the third.
You can apply for the grant from 30 November 2020 - 29 January 2021
The grant does not need to be repaid if you’re eligible, but will be subject to Income Tax and self-employed National Insurance and must be reported on your 2020 to 2021 Self Assessment tax return.
Grants under the Self-Employment Income Support Scheme are not counted as ‘access to public funds’, and you can claim the grant on all categories of work visa.
How much Moolah ?
You can get as much as £7,500 ☺️
You will get a lump sum covering a maximum of 80% of three months' worth of average monthly profits up to a total of £7,500. WOOHOO !
The max amount has been upped THREE TIMES since SEISS 3 was first announced. Initially £1,875 (20% of average profits) > then upped to a max of £3,750 (40% of average profits) > then increased to a max of £5,160 (55% of average profits)
GOOD OLD ELF ON THE SHELF (And Uncle Rishi of course) 😎
How to apply ? On the 30th of November you can apply for the third grant (yay!) via the official Government claims portal on or before 29 January 2021
Who can apply ?
Kinda the same as the first two lifelines .. but with some ket differences
You must be a self-employed individual or a member of a partnership. You cannot claim the grant if you trade through a limited company or a trust. If you claim Maternity Allowance this will not affect your eligibility for the grant.
You must also declare that: 1.you intend to continue to trade. 2.you reasonably believe there will be a significant reduction in your trading profits. In order to claim, you must reasonably believe that you will suffer a significant reduction in trading profits due to reduced business activity, capacity or demand or inability to trade due to coronavirus during the period 1 November to 29 January 2021.
You must keep evidence that shows how your business has been impacted by coronavirus resulting in less business activity than otherwise expected. Before you make a claim, you must decide if the impact on your business will cause a significant reduction in your trading profits for the tax year you report them in.
You must have traded in both tax years: 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year and 2019 to 2020
You must earn more than 50% of your total income from self-employment. HMRC will first look at your your 2018/19 tax return to see if it was the case then. If you're not eligible based on 2018/19 alone, it will then look at the tax years 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 to see if the average of your trading profits across the three years were more than 50% of your total income. Income from property, dividends, savings, pensions and taxable benefits all count as "non-trading income" and, to qualify for the SEISS, the total of these combined must NOT exceed 50% of your total income.
Your average trading profit must be less than £50,000/year. Those whose average annual trading profit is more than £50,000 (say .. £50,000.01 and above) won't be able to get any support from this scheme. CRIKEY! However .. if on average over the last three years you earned less than £50,000 and made more than half your income from self-employment, you'll be eligible. SWEET!
You CAN keep working if you claim the grant. Although you need to declare your business has been impacted for the period you're claiming for you do not need to prove coronavirus impact. Obviously HMRC will check for fraudulent claims.
You don't need to have applied for an earlier grant to get the others. As long as you meet the eligibility criteria, it is possible to apply for just one or any combination of the four grants.
You can also apply for and get universal credit (SEISS doesn't make you ineligible). However, once you start receiving self-employed income support too then this will be classed as income, meaning the amount of universal credit you receive will decrease.
You must be actively trading and intend to continue to trade.
You can claim the SEISS grants on top of local lockdown payments. If you own a business premises that needs to shut, you can get both, however you must be trading and intending to continue to trade at the time of application for the SEISS grant. See more on what local lockdown payments are available.
How to apply ?
On the 30th of November you can apply for the third grant (yay!) via the official Government claims portal on or before 29 January 2021
To apply, or check, you need the following information:
Government Gateway user ID and password – if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you make your claim
UK bank details (only provide bank account details where a BACS payment can be accepted) including the: bank account number, sort code, name on the account, address linked to your bank account.
IMPORTANT: You must make the claim yourself. Your tax agent or financial adviser must not claim on your behalf as this will trigger a fraud alert.
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