Self Employed Grants Will Be Available Earlier Then First Announced

The Government has launched the self-employed grant claim earlier than expected. That is good news for many.

Who can claim?

• If you are self-employed
• a member of a partnership

Plus, if: –

• You traded in the tax year 2018 to 2019 and submitted your Self-Assessment tax return on or before 23 April 2020 for that year
• You traded in the tax year 2019 to 2020
• You intend to continue to trade in the tax year 2020 to 2021
• You carry on a trade which has been adversely affected by coronavirus
• You have trading profits of no more than £50,000 and at least equal to your non-trading income.

Please Note:

You will need your own Government Gateway Account

and even though EasyBooks is your agent, we are unable to do the claim on your behalf as HMRC have not opened the portal to agents.

However, we can assist you if you need it when you use the online tool. Plus, we can check if you are eligible. Please feel free to get in touch with us if you do require any help with this. The online tool is there for you to find out if you are eligible to make a claim.

The online service will be available from 13 May 2020.

You will need your:

• Self-Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number
• National Insurance number 
• Government Gateway user ID and password  –  if you do not have a user ID, you can create one when you check your eligibility online
• Bank account number and sort code, you want HMRC to pay the grant into (only provide bank account details where a Bacs payment can be accepted)

N.B. Online services may be slow during busy times. Find out here are any problems with this service.

If You Are Eligible

HMRC will give you the date you will be able to make a claim from and ask you to add your contact details.

They will use these details to remind you when the online service will be available.

If you are eligible, HMRC will tell you the date you can make your claim from. If your claim is approved, you will receive your payment within 6 working days.

Somethings to Consider Before You Make A Claim

You will have to confirm to HMRC that your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus.

If you claim the grant HMRC will treat this as confirmation you are below the state aid limits.

HMRC will check claims and take appropriate action to withhold or recover payments found to be dishonest or inaccurate.

How Much You Will Receive?

Here is the maths bit. You will receive a taxable grant based on your average trading profit over the 3 tax years:

• 2016 to 2017 – 2017 to 2018 – 2018 to 2019
• The grant will be 80% of your average monthly trading profits,
• paid out in a single instalment covering 3 months,
• and capped at £7,500 altogether.

The online service will tell you how they have worked out the grant.

Find out how they will work out your average trading profits, including if you have not traded for all 3 years here

After You Have Claimed

Once you have submitted your claim, you will be told immediately if your grant is approved.

HMRC will pay the grant into your bank account within 6 working days.

The grant amount they work out for you will be paid directly into your bank account, in one instalment.

You must keep a copy of all records in line with normal self-employment record keeping requirements, including:

• the amount claimed
• the claim reference number for your records
• evidence that your business has been adversely affected by coronavirus

You will need to report the grant:

• on your Self-Assessment tax return
• as self-employed income for any Universal Credit claims
• as self-employed income and that you are working 16 hours a week for any tax credits claims

Time to Check If You Are Eligible to Make a Claim

Well now that you have thoroughly read though all of this, it is time to check if you are eligible to claim.

 Click on the link to find out. gov.uk/guidance/claim-a-grant

If You Are Not Eligible

If you are told you that you are not eligible to make a claim, you can ask HMRC to review this after you have used the online tool.

If you want to do this at a later time, you will be able to do so as you can use the online tool more than once.

To find other help and support you may be able to get click here

How different circumstances can affect your claim, please click here

Advice From HMRC

If you’re unable to claim online an alternative way to claim will be available. Updates regarding this will be coming soon.

You do not need to contact HMRC now, as this will only delay the urgent work being undertaken to introduce the scheme.

If you receive texts, calls or emails claiming to be from HMRC, offering financial help or a tax refund and asking you to click on a link or to give personal information, it is a scam. You should email it to phishing@hmrc.gov.uk and then delete it.