Self Employed Income Protection Scheme

 Happy Fri-yay!

 

We’ve almost made to the weekend everyone – well done!

 

Just one update today as a result of a few questions we’ve had about the Self Employed Income Protection Scheme.

 

Some of you have held off applying for the second grant because you’re not sure what the words ‘adversely affected’ mean… remember you can only claim the grant if your business has been ‘adversely affected’ but Coronavirus.

 

Unfortunately I can’t tell you if you class as having been adversely affected but HMRC has published guidance on what it means.

 

Here is what the gov.uk website has to say about it:

 

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:

 

1. ·         your supply chain has been interrupted
2. ·         you have fewer or no customers or clients
3. ·         your staff are unable to come in to work
4. ·         one or more of your contracts have been cancelled
5. ·         you had to buy protective equipment so you could trade following social distancing rules

 

The website also goes on to say:

 

If your business recovers after you’ve claimed, your eligibility will not be affected.

 

There are some examples on the gov.uk site too.

 

So, please do remember the grant isn’t only for you if your business had to stop completely (and actually one of the eligibility criteria is that you intend to continue to trade in 2020 to 2021), it’s also for you if your costs have gone up or your income has gone down – even if you continued to trade.

 

You can read more about eligibility on gov.uk here:

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-coronavirus-covid-19-self-employment-income-support-scheme#check

 

And there’s a useful step by step guide to making a claim on the TaxAssist Accountants website here:

 

https://www.taxassist.co.uk/resources/articles/how-to-submit-your-self-employment-income-support-scheme-claim

 

That’s it for today…

 

See you on the other side – well, Monday (or Tuesday if you get the Bank Holiday) and if you have the weekend off please do have a good one.

 

Speak soon.

 

Rowena

Tuesday 18th August - Self Employed Income Support Grant

 Hello Everyone

 

Happy Tuesday update… hope your week is going well.

 

Today is all about the Self Employed Income Support Scheme grant.

 

So, if you are self employed the second SEISS grant is now open for claims.  You can make a claim even if you didn’t claim the first grant.

 

HMRC will be in touch to let you know if they think you are eligible.  They are also staggering the dates you can apply from to help manage the number of people using their website at any one time.

 

You can check whether you are eligible by following this link:

 

https://www.gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant-through-the-self-employment-income-support-scheme

 

You’ll need your Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) and your National Insurance Number.

 

If you use this link to check whether you can claim you’ll also be advised the day you can enter your claim from.

 

I entered details for a friend this morning and the date she could claim from was 20^th August.

 

Remember – you must have been adversely affected by the pandemic on or after 14^th July – although that doesn’t mean all your work must have dried up.  It could be that sales have dropped or costs have increased.

 

The grant is capped at £6,570.  The amount is calculated as three times average monthly profits, based on profits in 2016/2017, 2017/2018 and 2018/2019… or the average of as many years as you have been self employed.

 

You must have submitted your 2018/2019 self assessment tax return.

 

Once your claim has been accepted payments will be made directly to a UK bank account within six working days.

 

Finally, you have until 19^th October to make your claim.

 

We can’t make these claims on your behalf – but if you have any questions please do get in touch – happy to answer any questions you have.

 

See you all very soon.

 

Rowena