The fourth Self-Employed Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant is now live and HMRC has set out the penalties for abuse of the scheme.
An overclaimed SEISS grant includes any amount of grant which the self-employed individual was not entitled to receive or was more than the amount HMRC said the applicant was entitled to when the claim was made.
Employees who are working from home will need to make new claims for tax relief for the 2021/22 tax year, HMRC has stated.
From 6 April 2020, employers have been able to pay employees up to £6 a week tax-free to cover additional costs if they have had to work from home.
On 19 April, a government-backed mortgage scheme to help people with 5% deposits get on to the housing ladder was made available to lenders.
First announced at the 2021 Budget, the scheme will help first-time buyers or current homeowners secure a mortgage with just a 5% deposit to buy a house worth up to £600,000. The government says this will provide 'an affordable route to homeownership for aspiring homeowners'.
The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has urged the government to extend the Kickstart Scheme to help young people who are bearing the brunt of the subdued job market.
The Kickstart Scheme was launched in September and promised to pay the wages and associated employment costs for businesses taking on 16 to 24-year-olds in receipt of Universal Credit up to six-month contract periods.
The Association of Independent Professionals and the Self-Employed (IPSE) has stated that the recent changes to the rules relating to off-payroll workers, commonly known as IR35, 'undermine the self-employed at the worst possible time'.
On 6 April, the Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) was introduced to replace the government's coronavirus lending schemes.
The RLS provides financial support to businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The scheme gives lenders a guarantee of 80% on eligible loans between £25,000 and £10 million to give them confidence in continuing to provide finance to UK businesses.
On 21 April, the online service for applications for the fourth Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant was opened for claims, HMRC confirmed.
All applications must be submitted by the individual self-employed worker and cannot be handled by accountants or tax advisers.
The fourth grant will be 80% of three months' average trading profits, to be claimed from late April 2021.
The government is to extend business rates relief with a £1.5 billion fund targeted at those businesses unable to benefit from the current COVID-19 support.
Retail, hospitality and leisure businesses have not been paying any rates during the pandemic, as part of a 15 month-long relief which runs to the end of June this year.
The details of the Finance Bill 2021 have been published by the government.
The Bill outlines the key measures set to be brought into legislation, including many measures announced in the recent 2021 Budget.
The government has published over 30 updates, consultations and documents on the UK's first ever Tax Day.
The announcements, which would traditionally be published at Budget, have been released later to allow for scrutiny from stakeholders.