Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.

This week HMRC will start contacting people who may be eligible for the new Self-Employment Income Support Scheme.  

What is the scheme?

The scheme will allow you to claim a taxable grant worth 80% of the average trading profits from the last three tax years ie 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19. This is subject to a maximum of £2,500 per month for an initial three months.

The grant will be taxable and subject to National Insurance.

Eligibility

Not all self-employed individuals will be eligible for this grant and HMRC have produced an online eligibility checker which you can access using the following link https://www.tax.service.gov.uk/self-employment-support/enter-unique-taxpayer-reference. You will need to enter your Unique Tax Reference (UTR) and National Insurance number.

You will be eligible for the grant if you filed a tax return for 2018/19 showing self-employed or partnership profits and have continued to trade, or would have been at this point, had it not been for COVID-19. You must be intending to continue your trade in the 2020-2021 tax year. 

 In addition to this, your trading profits must be below £50,000 and make up more than half of your total income. 

How will the scheme work?

The full online service will be available from 13 May 2020 but we would recommend that you check your eligibility and get set up now rather than wait as demand is likely to be high. Once you have confirmed that you are eligible using the link above, HMRC will advise you of the date from when you can make your claim.  

You will need a Government Gateway user ID and password - if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you check your eligibility online, but it will take 7 days to set up the account so you should do this now. You can do this using the link above. At present, you will not be able to make the claim without one.  

Once you have submitted your claim, you will be told straight away if it has been approved and you should receive the grant into your bank account within 6 working days. 

When you make your claim, you will need your UTR and National Insurance number along with the bank account number and sort code you wish the grant to be paid into.  

As agents, we are not able to make this claim on your behalf however please do not hesitate to contact us should you have any problems with the process or any questions regarding eligibility.

Further details at: updated guidance on GOV‌.UK,  for information on eligibility, how to make a claim and how grants are calculated.

Published Date: 
Tuesday, 5 May 2020