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Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS)

For Self-employed Individuals Only.

As HMRC has already begun to contact taxpayers who may be eligible for the Self-employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS), IBISS & CO has discussed the working of the scheme below:

HMRC is contacting the eligible one's.

Emails, SMS messages and letters are being sent to taxpayers who HMRC thinks may be entitled to claim an SEISS grant. These are started to arrive during the week beginning 4 May 2020, some letters may not be received until the following week.

Each taxpayer will receive one form of contact:

  • where HMRC holds an email address it uses that;
  • SMS is used where HMRC holds a mobile number, but not an email address; and
  • a letter is sent where HMRC holds neither.
Note that to guard against fraud the emails and SMS messages from HMRC do not include active links. If a taxpayer receives an email or SMS purporting to come HMRC which includes an active link, that email or SMS is a scam.

This initial contact explains what the taxpayer needs to do to be ready to claim when the claims portal opens. 

HMRC is contacting all those who may be eligible, but not all recipients will, in fact, be eligible.

The eligibility checker is available on gov.uk and is open to anyone to use, not just those who have been contacted by HMRC.
To check you are eligible you need:
  • Self Assessment UTR
  • National insurance Number
We highly recommend you to do this now.
The checker tells potentially eligible taxpayers when they can make a claim (the dates and times are randomly allocated by HMRC to manage demand on the system). The taxpayer is then presented with an option to either log in to their government gateway account or to create one. They are then asked to confirm or provide their contact details including email address.

How to apply

Applications will open to taxpayers on a staged basis between 13 and 18 May, with the portal opening on different days for different taxpayers.

Taxpayers can use the eligibility checker to check the application portal is now open for them.

Taxpayers then log in to their government gateway account (or select the option to create an account) to complete the application process. They are presented with a detailed calculation and are asked to:

  • read and accept the eligibility criteria;
  • complete declarations, including to confirm that the business has been adversely affected by coronavirus; and
  • supply the bank account details into which they would like the grant to be paid.

The taxpayer does not need to provide any information about their income – the calculations are all done by HMRC based on the tax returns submitted.

HMRC will check the claim and expects to make payments from 25 May 2020 within six working days of the application being submitted, whichever is later. 
 

Important things you must know:

Who can claim: Self-employed individuals or a member of a partnership (as long as certain conditions are met.

How much can be claimed: 80% of trading profits up to a maximum of £2,500 a month.

How long does the scheme run: Three months, but it may be extended.

When will grants be issued: From 25 May.

Who makes the application: Claims have to made by the taxpayer themselves and cannot be made by agents.

Who does the calculations: HMRC does all the calculations needed for the claim, using the information in the submitted tax returns. The taxpayer does not have to provide any figures.
 

We hope the above is clear and informative, we highly recommend all self-employed individuals to use eligibility criteria check using the links above and create an online government gateway account (If do not have one before) as we do not hold this information on your behalf.
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