COVID SUPPORT

The SEISS was announced to help support self employed individuals throughout the Coronavirus outbreak. For this, self employed includes sole traders and members of partnerships.

Who is eligible?

-You MUST have been self employed and filed a self assessment return to include your self employed profits on a tax return for the year ended 5th April 2019. Unfortunately, at this time this means that anyone who because self employed after that date does not currently qualify.

-Your average self employed profits must be less than £50,000 to qualify.

-Self employment income must make up at least 50% of your total income on your tax return

-You must continue to be self employed for the remainder of the 2020/21 tax year. Unfortunately, this would mean that people who have now transitioned their business into a Limited Company would likely not qualify. 

How much can I claim?

If you meet the criteria about you will be eligible for up to 80% of your average monthly taxable profits for the past 3 tax years, capped at £2,5000 per month (similar to the employed scheme).

In practice, this would look like:

2016-17 £30,000

2017-18 £25,000

2018-19 £45,000

Average of above £33,333 x 80% = £26,667

Monthly payment £26,667 / 12 = £2,222

Just remember to note that this is a taxable grant, so anything received will need to be included on your 2020/21 tax return, with tax & national insurance being charged accordingly.

Where can I find out my taxable income?

If you’d like a copy of the tax returns that we’ve completed just drop a message to Hello@CompleteHQ.co.uk and we can arrange for copies to be uploaded to your Portal.

How do I claim?

As things stand, HMRC have advised that they will contact everyone who is eligible to claim and provide them with an invite to make a claim online. It’s likely that there will be an online portal for this, but as we write there’s still no specific detail.

We’re also advised that the grant will be paid in one lump sum, likely to be paid some time in June.

If there is going to cause you any cashflow issues we’d strongly encourage you to explore options available under the Universal Credit scheme. You can start a claim for this here https://www.gov.uk/how-to-claim-universal-credit