Self-employment Income Support Scheme – further increase to grant

In light of new lockdown measures announced on 31st October 2020, the Government has increased the level of Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) grant available to self-employed workers and partners in trading partnerships.

 

The SEISS was originally introduced to provide 80% of a self-employed individual’s average monthly trading profits up to a maximum of £7,500, for March through to May, as the coronavirus lockdown took hold.

A second cash lump sum was then made available for June through to August, equating to 70% of average monthly trading profits up to a maximum of £6,570.

The scheme was later extended for a further six months to cover the period from November 2020 to April 2021, with the first grant covering the period November to January.

The November to January grant was planned to be worth 55% of average monthly trading profits, and capped at £5,160 in total. 

However, it has now been announced that this grant will increase to 80% of average profits and be capped at £7,500 – this matches the amounts available when the scheme was originally introduced.

HMRC has also confirmed that it will pay this more generous grant sooner than planned. The window for claiming will open on 30th November, with the current claim portal believed to remain open to facilitate payments.

As before, HMRC will look to accountants to support clients through the eligibility checking and application process.

As with the previous grants under the same scheme, the payments will be subject to tax and national insurance contributions. 

Self-employment Income Support Scheme – at a glance

• HMRC will use the average trading profits from tax returns in 2016/17, 2017/18 and 2018/19 to determine the size of the grant, deducting any trading losses arising in those years from any profits.
• In order to be eligible, you must have trading profits of no more than £50,000 and more than half of your total income come from self-employment for either the tax year 2018/19 or the average of the tax years 2016/17, 2017/18, and 2018/19.
• You must have completed and submitted a self-assessment tax return for the 2018/19 tax year.
• You must intend to continue to trade and either:
  * are currently actively trading but are impacted by reduced demand due to coronavirus; or
  * were previously trading but are temporarily unable to do so due to coronavirus

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Date published 29 May 2020 | Last updated 13 Nov 2020