Chancellor further improves Self-Employment Income Support Scheme
The previous Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) came to an end in August. Successor schemes (the third and fourth in the series) were announced as part of the winter economy plan in September. As lockdown restrictions tighten and in the face of concerns that the self-employed would suffer to varying degrees due to reduced support in areas medium infection, the Chancellor has outlined further additional support in October and improved upon that in November. The SEISS has proved a popular scheme so far with 2.6 million applications producing grants of over £7.6 billion.
Payments will arrive as a single sum as for the previous schemes.
The new scheme is the third in the series and applies only to those currently eligible for SEISS and who actively continue to trade, but who are impacted by reduced demand due to COVID-19. The third grant amount now covers 80% of average profits for November to January inclusive with a cap set at £7,500 (was £3,750 as recently as October). A fourth scheme will then follow.
On top of this, around 11 million self-assessment taxpayers will be able to benefit from a separate additional 12-month extension from HMRC on the “Time to Pay” self-service facility, meaning payments deferred from July 2020, and those due in January 2021, will now not need to be paid in full until January 2022 under the instalment option.
How to make a claim
At the moment, the first three of the schemes taken together can provide grants of up to £17,820 for those who meet the qualifying conditions, although those who do receive grants will need to remember to pay income tax on them in due course.
Applications for the first and second grants are now closed. Details of the application dates for the third and fourth grant will be released in due course on the government website GOV.UK.
If you need any help with making, or reviewing your claim, please get in touch with your usual Crowe contact.
