Applications for final Self Employment Income Support grant close tomorrow

3 mins read

Wednesday 29 September 2021

Tags: coronavirus, grants, self-employed

If you’re a self-employed person whose business has been adversely affected by Coronavirus you might be eligible for the fifth and final grant made under the government’s Self Employment Income Support scheme. However, if you’ve not applied yet, you’ll have to act quickly – applications close tomorrow (Thursday 30th) at 11.59pm. 

Who can apply for a grant?

The grant is aimed at people who lost profits as a result of the Coronavirus outbreak during the period May-September 2021. You can apply even if you still have some income from self-employment. You don’t have to show that you had no work coming in. 

You’ll need to show that there has been a significant reduction in your trading profits between May and September 2021 and that this reduction was caused by reduced demand, activity or capacity or being temporarily unable to trade due to the impact of coronavirus. You will need to make a declaration confirming this as part of the application process.

You must also meet the following rules:    

  • You are already in self-employment and have filed a tax return for year 2019/20 on or before 2 March 2021. This means the scheme is not open to those who started self-employment more recently. 
  • You have traded during tax years 19/20 and 20/21 and intend to continue trading in 2021/22.
  • Your trading profit is no more than £50,000.
  • The majority of your income is from self-employment rather than from other types of taxable income. 

How much of a grant will I get?

The grant will either cover 80% or 30% of average profits – which of these two rates you’ll get depends on how much your turn-over has dropped by. You’ll need to give HMRC two different turnover figures so they can compare how your business fared during the pandemic with how it performed before. Normally they will compare turnover in 20/21 with turnover in 19/20, although 18/19 can be used instead in some circumstances.

How can I apply for a grant?

Applications for the 5th grant close at 11.59pm on Thursday 30 Sept. You can lodge a claim on-line by searching for ‘SEISS’ on the Gov.uk website.  

To make your claim, you’ll need:

  • Turnover figures for April 2020 to April 2021 and 2019/20 and/or 2018/19.  
  • Your National Insurance number
  • Self Assessment Unique Taxpayer Reference (UTR) number
  • Government Gateway user ID and password
  • Bank account number and sort code, and roll number for a building society account  

If you need help applying, you can contact HMRC via webchat or phone. But you’ll need to take into account that the telephone helpdesk will only be open 8am – 4pm on Thursday 30 September. Webchat will only be available until 7.30pm. 

Any income you receive under this grant scheme will be treated as earnings when calculating entitlement to means tested benefits and tax credits. For Universal Credit, a payment from the scheme is only treated as earnings in the monthly assessment period in which the grant is made to you.